Quote from AlJannah A. Sanni on January 12, 2023, 8:12 am

The purpose of this article is to discuss HIV/AIDS in length. According to a website called AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), it mentioned that “HIV stands for “human immunodeficiency virus”. It’s a virus that can only infect humans and leads to the weakening of the immune system. The immune system is the body’s system for fighting diseases. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS” (AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), 2022). The same website mentioned that “When HIV is left untreated, it can wreak havoc on a person’s immune system. As this happens, the body is less able to fight off infections. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome”, which means the immune system has been made less effective by HIV. When this happens, a person is considered to have an acquired immune deficiency syndrome or AIDS. It’s important to note that you cannot have AIDS without being infected with HIV” (AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), 2022). The World Health Organization (WHO), Africa Region stated in its website that “The most advanced stage of HIV infection is acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), which can take from two to 15 years to develop, depending on the individual” (World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region, 2023).

[caption id="attachment_28285" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Some where in Africa. Photo: Flickr | Jonrawlinson.[/caption]

This section would focus on the spread of HIV. Based on AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), it mentioned that “HIV is carried in semen (cum), vaginal fluids, anal mucus, blood, and breast milk. Most people get it through anal or vaginal sex or sharing needles and syringes. People can get HIV from

• Having vaginal or anal sex
• Sharing needles or syringes for shooting drugs, piercings, and tattoos etc
• Getting stuck with a needle that has HIV infected blood on it and
• Getting HIV infected blood, semen (cum), or vaginal fluids into open cuts or sores on your body” (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, 2022).

This area of the paper would focus on the signs and symptoms of HIV. According to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, “It can be years before symptoms of HIV make you feel sick, so many people may not know that they have it. At first, you may feel achy, feverish, or like you have the flu. These symptoms are your body’s first reaction to the HIV reaction. Common early symptoms include:

• Chills
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Mouth sores
• Muscle aches
• Night sweats
• Rash
• Sore throat and
• Swollen lymph nodes

These symptoms are the same in men and women, but a few more symptoms may be present in women. Common HIV symptoms in women include:

• Changes in menstrual cycles (heavier or lighter period or bad PreMenstrual Syndrome (PMS)
• Lower belly pain due to Pelvic
• Inflammatory Disease
• Pain during sex and
• Vaginal Yeast Infections”
  (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, 2022).

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This section of the article would give the statistical information of HIV/AIDS in the continent of Africa. According to an article titled HIV/AIDS in Africa published into the International Labor Organization (ILO), “While HIV now affects every country in the world, it has reached epidemic proportions across large parts of Africa. Nowhere is this more evident than in the region of Sub-Saharan Africa. Of the global total of 34 million women and men living with HIV today, the vast majority-an estimated 23.5 million or 69 percent-live in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the overwhelming majority-92 percent of the world’s children living with HIV live in this sub-region. Women are particularly affected, representing close to 58 percent of those living with HIV in the sub-region. The majority-71 percent- of all AIDS-related deaths worldwide in 2011 were recorded in Sub-Saharan Africa” (International Labor Organization (ILO), 2023). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region, “25.7 million people are living with HIV. 470,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2018. Key populations and their sexual partners accounted for over half of all new infections (an estimated 54%) for the first time in 2018. Key populations include: men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, people in prisons and other closed settings, sex workers and their clients, and transgender people. They are at increased risk of HIV infection irrespective of epidemic type or local context. Key populations, their clients and sexual partners accounted for 64% of new HIV infections in West and Central Africa, and for 25% of new HIV infections in the East and Southern African subregion” (World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region, 2023). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region, “The WHO Africa Region is the most affected region, with 25.7 million people living with HIV in 2018. The Africa Region also accounts for almost two thirds of the global total of new HIV infections. In 2018, about 1.1 million people were infected with HIV in the African Region” (World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region, 2023).

This area of the paper would discuss causes and results for the high rates of HIV spread in Africa. According to SOS Children’s Villages, “The reasons for the high level of AIDS spread in sub-Saharan Africa are manifold. The most common causes include:

• Poverty: About half of the world's people living in extreme poverty live in sub-Saharan Africa. That's almost 390 million people. The scarce money is usually not enough to be protected by condoms from infection, let alone for an HIV test or even an antiretroviral therapy.
• Inadequate medical care: Although in Africa, more and more people are getting access to AIDS tests and HIV medication. For example, babies can be protected from mother-to-child transmission. But health systems in Africa are still unable to cope with the fight against the AIDS epidemic. It lacks hospitals as well as doctors.
• Lack of prevention and education: Prevention and education campaigns have been launched far too late in many African countries. Many governments ignored the disease, with the result that it was able to spread unhindered for 20 years. Even today, the knowledge about the HI virus is inadequate in large parts of the population. Enlightenment is made difficult not least by the fact that the majority of people have no access to education.
• Taboo and stigma: AIDS is a taboo subject in many African countries. HIV-infected people are stigmatized and expelled from society. Many keep their illness secret - even before their sexual partners. Result: They knowingly infect others.
• Sexual Behavior: The polygamy and promiscuity practiced in different regions of Africa favors the spread of HIV/AIDS.
• Prostitution: Due to poverty, prostitution is also widespread in Africa. The suitors are often men who move from place to place in search of work and often have changing sexual partners. Prostitutes and suitors get involved and carry the HI virus on.
• Sexual violence against women: South Africa, one of the countries most affected by the epidemic, has one of the highest rates of rape in the world. Many women get AIDS because they were raped by an HIV-infected offender” (SOS Children’s Villages, 2023).

According to SOS Children’s Villages, “Poverty is not only the cause, but also the result of the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

Social consequences:

• Average life expectancy of the population is decreasing
• Number of orphans is growing
• Number of people living below the poverty line is increasing

Economic consequences:

• Loss of labor
• Reduction of production, especially in agriculture
• Rising health spending, which weighs on public budgets
• Decrease in tax revenues
• Decline in foreign investment
• Reduction of economic growth
• Development successes are nullified
  (SOS Children’s Villages, 2013).

This area of the article would talk about children who are orphaned by AIDS in Africa. According to SOS Children’s Villages, “There are 1.7 million AIDS orphans in South Africa, 1.2 million children in Mozambique and 670,000 children in Malawi - all of them have lost one or both parents to the immunodeficiency syndrome. In total, nearly 14 million AIDS orphans live in sub-Saharan Africa. In some parts of the Southeast African country of Malawi, the treacherous disease has killed every second adult and made orphans children. Many of them cared for their parents and at the same time had to look after their younger siblings and their livelihood for the family. If the orphans are not received by relatives after the death of their parents, they are completely on their own. Many of them then end up on the street with no hope for a future” (SOS Children’s Villages, 2023).

According to an article titled The Status of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa published into PRB, “AIDS is the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. Life expectancy at birth has plummeted in many African countries, wiping out the gain made since independence. The combination of high birth rates and high AIDS mortality among adults, including many parents, has meant that more than 90 percent of children who have been orphaned as a consequence of the HIV/AIDS epidemic are in this region. These statistics disguise an important part of the story, however, most of the worst affected countries form an “AIDS belt” in eastern and Southern Africa. The belt consists of about 16 countries and stretches from Djibouti and Ethiopia down to the east side of the continent through South Africa. These countries constitute only a little more than 4 percent of the world’s population but account for more than 50 percent of HIV infections worldwide. According to UNAIDS, all the worst affected countries (with prevalence rates over 20 percent) are contiguous to one another in the lower part of the continent. These include South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe have prevalence rates above 30 percent. Further north in the AIDS belt, Mozambique, Malawi, Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia all have adult prevalence rates in the 6-15 percent range. Adult prevalence in Uganda is estimated to be around 5 percent. Uganda is the one country in the region that has probably achieved a longstanding decline in HIV prevalence. Prevalence in Uganda may have peaked in the 12-13 percent range in the early 1990s before the onset of this decline. Elsewhere, Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Sudan have little or no data, and Madagascar remains an interesting case. Despite tourism, an active commercial sex trade, and high rates of other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and despite being separated from the African mainland by only 60 kms of water, adult HIV prevalence remains below 1 percent. Though overall adult prevalence rates are lower than in the eastern and southern parts of the continent, the middle part of Africa is undergoing a serious and generalized HIV/AIDS epidemic. Among the countries in the region, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, and Equatorial Guinea show adult HIV prevalence rates under 5 percent. Angola has been war-torn and chaotic for so long that it is difficult to know exactly what is transpiring with the epidemic there. However, UNAIDS places the adult prevalence rate at 5.5 percent. Elsewhere in the region, UNAIDS reports prevalence rates of 7.2 percent in the Congo, 11.8 percent in Cameroon, and 12.9 percent in the Central African Republic. Many of the worst affected countries in middle Africa have the highest rates of other STIs on the continent.
Among the 15 countries of West Africa, only a few countries have prevalence rates over 5 percent. These include Burkina Faso (6.5 percent), Côte d’Ivoire (9.7 percent), Nigeria (5.8 percent), and Togo (6.0 percent). With an estimated population of 127 million, Nigeria is the demographic giant of sub-Saharan Africa. After South Africa, Nigeria has more people living with HIV/AIDS (3.5 million in 2001) than any other place on the continent. Côte d’Ivoire receives a large number of male migrants from neighboring countries who are temporary workers. Along with a vibrant commercial sex industry, especially in the capital city of Abidjan, this helps explain why Côte d’Ivoire has emerged as the epicenter of the epidemic in West Africa ” (PRB, 2023).

This section of the article would discuss the prevention of HIV. According to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, “There are also many ways to prevent the spread of HIV. Using condoms and/or dental dams every time you have sex and not sharing needles can help protect you and your partners from HIV” (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, 2022). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region, “No effective cure for HIV exists at present but HIV can be suppressed by a combination of medicines called antiretroviral (ARV) therapy consisting of three or more ARV drugs. Antiretroviral therapy does not cure HIV infection but suppresses viral replications within a person’s body and allows an individual’s immune system to strengthen and regain the capacity to fight off infections. People with HIV can enjoy long, healthy lives by taking ARV treatments (World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region, 2023).