The Fight Against Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection Immunodeficiency Syndrome ( Hiv / Aids )

Nearly three decades ago, there was an increase in deaths of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Developing countries have experienced the greatest HIV/AIDS morbidity and mortality, with the highest prevalence rates recorded in young adults in sub-Saharan Africa. In South Africa over three million people are killed by this disease (Macfarlene3). After this epidemic spreaded in Africa and killed people it branched out to other countries in the world.

HIV/AIDS has been responsible for one of the worst epidemics in history. In her book “The Invisible Cure” Helen Epstein details why Africa in particular was so devastated by the disease, which countries failed and which succeeded in the struggle to contain the virus, and why this happened. Epstein highlights a particular phenomenon, that first took place in Uganda, but which can be translated to many countries and situations, and which she calls “the invisible cure.”

In The Invisible Cure, Helen Epstein talks about why HIV/AIDS rate is so high in Africa compared to the rest of the world. Through the book, she gives us an account of the disease and the struggles that many health experts and ordinary Africans went through to understand this disease, and how different African countries approached the same problem differently. Through this paper, I will first address the different ways Uganda and Southern African countries, South Africa and Botswana in particular, dealt with this epidemic, and then explain how we can use what we have learned from these African countries to control outbreaks of communicable disease elsewhere around the world.

In the 21st century, everyone has heard of the frightening HIV and AIDS virus. The disease we first discovered in 1983 in Arica, when it killed millions of people, especially poor people and travelers. In the developing countries, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) are considered a death sentence, the world over, it is a frightening virus that has killed many people.

An upsetting pattern has risen inside of the previous couple of years, demonstrating a relentless increment of ladies being contaminated with HIV/AIDS every year. This pattern is particularly conspicuous in sub-Saharan Africa. While the illness is contaminating more ladies than any other time in recent memory and now represents about portion of those living with HIV around

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has been a major health concern due to its rapid ability to spread and high death rate. Although HIV can be found all around the world, it is most common in Africa. For decades, both sociologist and scientist have struggled to determine the specific causes that led to the wide spread of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. The novel The Invisible Cure: Why We Are Losing the Fight Against AIDS in Africa by Helen Epstein tells her journey as a molecular biologist trying to find a cure for HIV across Sub-Saharan Africa. Throughout her journey, Epstein is able to experience the various problems that the majority of people in the African continent face. The problems that Epstein encounters can easily be fixed, but because of the lack of effective government control in most areas they aren’t. Through cultural, political, and social factors, Epstein depicts the roots of the HIV outbreak and the possible cures that can be found within Uganda’s collective efficacy.

In the sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of the population suffers from HIV leading to AIDS. The culprits responsible for this epidemic include the lack of knowledge about the disease, disuse of condoms due to religious practices and the overall poor hygiene. If left untreated, the rampant surge of AIDS can terrribly impact the cost of their healthcare, the African economy and the welfare of the people. This implications justify immediately finding remedies to what ails the sub-Saharan population.

We found AIDS in 1981, and HIV in 1983. In 1983, there were a lot of infected people in the US. In case of Uganda, even though the country is very small, about 5% of people was infected person, and it might be the country had a hugest number of infected people.

The African countries south of the Sahara have some of the best HIV surveillance systems in the world. They provide solid evidence that the HIV infection rate has stabilized at a relatively low level in Senegal and that the extremely high rates in Uganda have been reduced. However, in most sub-Saharan countries adults and children are acquiring HIV at a higher rate than ever before: the number of new infections in the

HIV/AIDs are persistent killers in many developing countries. In 2007, Liberia had a population of

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region of the world that is most affected by HIV/AIDS. The United Nations reports that an estimated 25.4 million people are living with HIV and that approximately 3.1 million new infections occurred in 2004. To put these figures in context, more than 60 percent of the people living with the infection reside in Africa. Even these staggering figures do not quite capture the true extent and impact that this disease causes on the continent. In 1998, about 200,000 Africans died as a result of various wars taking place on the continent. In that same year, more than 2 million succumbed to HIV/AIDS (Botchwey, 2000).

The graph shown is the data of all the countries from 1979 to 1990 (first decade). This data also connect to another indicator, which is the government health spending per person. The data from Gapminder of the health spending indicator demonstrates that the government spend less than 50$ US on each person. Maldives, Israel and Luxembourg show a constant change in the amount of people living with HIV, though the amount of GDP per capita for each country increases. This finding also presents the fact that the government of these countries spends more money per person than anywhere in Africa. The graph on the right also shows that the amount of people living with HIV in Bahamas increases while the amount of income per person stay constant, which is similar to the data of Zimbabwe, but the amount of people increasing in the Bahamas in 1979 to 1990 is not as vast as Zimbabwe. The Gapminder data for Bahamas demonstrates that the amount of people affected by HIV in Zimbabwe is 3.6% in 1990. In comparison to Bahamas, the amount of people who are affected by HIV in Zimbabwe is 1000. Around 33% of people in Zimbabwe are found to be HIV-Positive in a year, and they are sexually active. Most individuals have about one to three sexual partners, hence why the amount of people with HIV increases rapidly in Zimbabwe during 1979 to 1990. In comparison to other countries, they have a small amount of people affected by HIV, and that is

The first case of HIV was reported in 1981 and since then, it has spread rapidly turning into a pandemic (WHO 2014). Thirty-five million people currently live with HIV worldwide and 2.1 million deaths were recorded in 2013 (WHO 2014). HIV in the WHO African region is the highest in the world as the continent bears 70% of the disease burden (WHO AFRO 2013). In 2013, 24 million people in Africa were reported to be living with HIV. One of the high burden countries in this region is Nigeria and it ranks as the second highest after South Africa (WHO AFRO 2013). Despite the efforts on the international and local fronts to curb this epidemic, the continuous rise in new cases has shown that more needs to be done.

The United Nation created eight Millennium Development Goals to reduce the increasing disparities between the developing and developed worlds. The sixth goal focuses on the combat of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Zambia is a prime example of how this goal was achieved. The HIV/AIDS epidemic in Zambia that started in the mid-1980s has since stabilized (HIV & AIDS). There have been large efforts made to reduce the number of new HIV infections each year and educate those at the age of most risk on how to avoid these diseases. Improvements in health and knowledge have

The human transmission of the virus has been documented during the 19th or the early 20th century. Around 75 million people are infected around the world, and around 36 million have died. The most affected region in the world is the sub Saharan Africa, where 1 in every 20 adults are living with HIV infection. (1)