preview

The Repercussions of High Rates of HIV in Tanzania Essay

Decent Essays

Located on the east coast of Africa, Tanzania experiences high temperatures as well as high humidity year round. Year round, central Tanzania only gets around ten inches of rain. Tanzania is also located in an area called sub-Africa, which is the section of Africa located below the Sahara Desert. With a population around forty-eight million people, Tanzania is in the top fifty poorest countries in the world. Thirty-six percent of the population is below the poverty line and have a yearly income of only 280 US dollars. Tanzania is mainly an agricultural country, but most farmed products are not exported due to lack of food within the country. They harvest rice, potatoes, corn, sugar, and papayas. Unfortunately, Tanzania’s poverty comes …show more content…

HIV/AIDS brings about hunger indirectly first through the economy. It is normal to have more than one sexual partner at a time in most sub-Saharan countries and this creates a “HIV super highway”. In fact, seventeen percent of the health-care workers in sub-Saharan Africa died from AIDS since 2005, and this is a lot considering only 480 people out of 48,000,000 people work in health-care in Tanzania. To detect HIV, physicians use a CD4 test, which uses expensive equipment, electricity, and trained technicians. Even after detection, the ARVs are too expensive to stay on for two long. If ARV resistance does occur, more expensive second-line therapy may be necessary. Even Peter Piot, the director of an AIDS prevention program, said “Projections now suggest that some countries in sub-Saharan Africa will face economic collapse unless they bring their epidemics under control”. Tanzanians, who do get treatment, hardly have enough money to buy food for a week, and with an average of five kids per family, most will starve. 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

Get Access