The High HIV / AIDS Rate In South Africa

In South Africa, AIDS is one of the top causes of death. South Africa has the biggest AIDS/HIV epidemic in the world because of violence against women, poverty, and lack of education. Given this, “Africans account for nearly 70% of those who live with HIV and are dying of AIDS” (Morgenstern, Dr. Michael).

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.

When visiting South Africa, I was intrigued at the beauty of the country, but was also curious as to how the country was dealing with one of Africa’s largest problems, AIDS/HIV. With the AIDS epidemic having started over 25 years ago, the disease continues to affect the population of Africa, especially South Africa, the nation with 5.6 million people living with HIV, the most in the world. Much of South Africa’s history of struggle with the virus is attributed to misinformation given by Thabo Mbeki, a former president, who “questioned the link between HIV and AIDS” and his former health minister who misled the nation with ideas that the virus could be treated with “beets and

There are an immense amount of problems in Africa caused by the AIDS disease. Healthcare providers are available and located all over Africa. Even though they are available, they have only “enough medicine for long-term survival available for 30,000 Africans” (Copson, 3).

Moreover, HIV affects everyone across the globe. Today in the community HIV is known as the fear disease. In today society, everyone fears of catching the viruses although they are more dangerous disease out there still the norms about HIV are high. In the early 20s when the virus was first detected, treatments were poor, and the prognosis was death. However, in today society HIV made progress. The once known the death sentence virus turn tables to a manageable disease so how this disease continue to affect the community? First of all, the numbers of new HIV cases continue to increase according to the national Institute of Allergy and infectious Diseases (NIAID). Also according to NIAID more than 1.1 million people in the U.S population are infected and more than 20 percent are unaware of the fact they are infected. Also an average of 50,000 new cases reported each year not even mentions the ones unaware of their

As mentioned above, the spread of disease from mother to child was becoming an increasing problem in South Africa: by 2000, the prevalence of HIV among pregnant women had risen to nearly 21%; one rural

HIV disproportionately effects those living at or below poverty level. For many, lack of employment or underemployment can also mean a lack of insurance and access to consistent medical

The research provided me with the information the developing countries have a higher rate of HIV/AIDS infection than highly developed countries. The statistics from “ The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic” show that 36.7 million people in the world have HIV/AIDS, and of the 36.7 million, 19 million are in

Market failure by Increased demand for health care services and decrease in supply – during epidemic spread of HIV in 1990s there is a great demand in health services in terms of specialized doctors, skilled nurses, hand gloves to treat infected patients, drugs to treat infection, resurgence of drug resistant TB, chronic longer stay in hospitals etc but on other hand there is a fall in supply of required health force due to recent history of disease, lack of sufficient medicines leading to market

The AIDS crisis has been a very controversial issue in the history of South Africa beginning in 1982. During this time South Africa has made a government transition from apartheid to a democracy. Since many national issues needed to be address, the AIDS crisis was pushed aside, leaving a pandemic in the process. Many factors have contributed to the issues including: poverty, social instability, high levels of sexually transmitted infections, the low status of women, sexual violence, migrant labor, limited access to quality medical care, and a history of poor leadership in the response to the pandemic. After three decades of controversy in South Africa dealing with issues involving the government, medicine, and conflict the country is still feeling the after-effect today regarding the largest AIDS pandemic.

HIV/AIDS also affects Tanzania’s food industry directly. Since Tanzania is an agricultural based country, the Tanzanians tend to eat the fresh food grown on farms. Women are usually the primary workers on these farms. Truth is, sixty percent of all HIV/AIDS infections in sub-Saharan Africa are women and only six percent of the women are offered treatment. If the women are sick with

The HIV/AIDS virus is a powerhouse in many ways and forms. Over time there have been so few epidemics that both manage to create instant fear/ignorance in a culture as well it’s ability to spread around the world. The virus shows no favoritism as it can infect any person it can come into contact with regardless of sex, lifestyle, or skin color. A growing factor in its journey from a once simple virus to powerhouse epidemic relates to a value commonly found in culture: poverty.

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).

Currently, there are no vaccines and no cures for HIV or AIDS, although scientists are researching and finding new drugs and treatments. So far, scientists have discovered a variety of drugs and medication that can be used to control and slow the virus and the progression of the disease. There are some drugs which interfere with the virus ability to make copies of itself by disabling a protein it needs, like Non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. If someone is diagnosed with HIV, it is important to start with treatments as soon as possible.

South Africa has the largest population of people living with HIV/ AIDS. In 2016, South Africa had an estimated 7.1 million people living with HIV/ AIDS [1]. This epidemic has ripple effects across micro & macro–levels of the economy. HIV/AIDS negatively impacts labor supply, total labor productivity & exports among other economic channels. Given the significant impact this disease has on the economy, this is a top priority for the business community and the government.