Orphans of AIDS

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It has been made clear that AIDS claims many lives all over Africa and a large group that is affected by this loss is the children of AIDS victims.  According to a 200 statistic the number of orphans from AIDS stood at about 1.2 million, with predictions saying the number would reach 20 million by 2010.  Orphans, or those that lose one or both parents, put strains on extended families and also on the government, who then must attempt to take over the care for them.  Africa simply does not have the resources nor the funding to take care of the adult citizens it has let alone the children.  Many groups have been created in the hopes of helping these children (an example would be the children's ministry commercials you see on TV asking you to sponsor a child) and while they have helped to an extent the problem is still growing.

The children that are orphaned end up living in such harsh and dire conditions that the chance of them reaching adulthood is slim.  The children are usually homeless or crammed into small houses with extended family and are usually lacking education and proper healthcare.  These orphans are not just from AIDS but also from the wars and conflicts that have continuously ravaged countries, though AIDS has created the most.  Religious groups are a major source of aid to help these children with a few examples being Missionaries of Africa and World Vision.

Women are at a higher rate as far as contracting HIV than men and this bodes even worse for the children.  Groups such as OrphanAid Africa work to help get mother's with HIV and AIDS treatment, knowing that children with a mother are more likely to grow up healthier and with an education.  The group also works to strengthen the family unit (what is left of it) and send these orphan children to school.

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These orphan children are the future of Africa and in order for Africa to survive and have any potential to thrive they must be educated both academically as well as how to prevent their fate from following that of their parents.  This generation must be cultivated and while their are groups doing amazing things for them more support and funding is needed from the government and not just the private sector if these changes are to really work.

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Healthcare for those with HIV/AIDS

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Just like the range of education services offered all over Africa the healthcare also differs depending on the country you are looking at.  A universal problem is the high cost of treatment and the lack of consistent resources such as antiviral drugs that are necessary for survival.

South Africa is looking to change this and has been ramping up their healthcare services over the past years in an effort to reduce the epidemic in the country.  South Africa has increased its treatment programs as well as its care available for those living with HIV.  The accessibility to antiviral medications is also being increased to better treat those already living with the disease.  The most interesting part of South Africa's healthcare system is its plans to implement a national healthcare system that will serve all South African's regardless of they employment status or ability to pay.  This system will provide care for those with HIV/AIDS (as well as other illnesses) and is part of the countries plan to upgrade to a country on par with the rest of the modern world.

Uganda has created a program to treat citizens titled 'Uganda Cares' which as of May 2011 treats over 50,000 adults and children who are affected by HIV and AIDS. Uganda is in eastern Africa and is a country that has greatly been affected by the AIDS epidemic. The Uganda Cares program has been around since 2002 and is responsible for bringing the first antiviral medications outside of the urban areas and to other areas of Uganda.  The organization is now one of the countries largest providers of HIV and AIDS care and its work has been recognized by groups such as the World Health Organization. The nice thing about the group is that they are a not-for-profit organization, although this does mean that they rely on donors in order to fund the resources they provide. Thankfully they have partnered with many organizations including Development Initiatives International and the Ugandan Ministry of Health in order to keep the programs running.

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Tanzania, like Uganda, is in eastern Africa and is actually the largest country in the region.  The country is extremely impoverished and much of the population lives in rural areas.  The HIV/AIDS population in the country is estimated at about 2.2 million and the number is only expected to grow.  The healthcare in Tanzania is only adding to the problem because the hospitals are referral based and they suffer large personnel shortages.  Over the last few years the country has tried to implement strategies to reduce the number of new infections including a push for male circumcision and a program to reduce the risk of injection drug users.  Tanzania also has a program similar to Uganda's if only by the name it is called 'Tanzania Care'.  The program is very similar to Uganda's in that the goal is to modernize the care provided in the country and train staff in how to better serve the growing HIV positive population.  Tanzania created the program in 2002 and while all goals have not been accomplished the country has significantly upgraded the care it provides to those living with the disease.


These are just a few examples of the healthcare that is offered in Africa in regards to those living with AIDS.  It does vary but it also shows the universal concept of improvement and the country is improving slowly.

Education and services to prevent HIV/AIDS (part 2)

The text lists an interesting point that I wanted to expand on regarding abstinence only education programs.  In America we are facing the same issue about sex education that some areas of Africa are and that is whether to promote sexual education (condom use, birth control, STD testing) or to promote abstinence as the only way to protect yourself from unwanted sexual issues.  Understanding Contemporary Africa explains that when the Bush administration became involved in the AIDS crisis in Africa they pushed a more conservative abstinence-only education system, the same one they were pushing in the states. The administration and the funding it puts towards what the text calls "ABC" education in Africa has shown to be ineffective.

The text explains that the abstinence focus ignores the prostitution industry and thus men having extramarital relations (as explained before the culture does not necessarily say is wrong) are more apt to carry the disease back to their wives.  "ABC" education in Uganda was the first educational program the country implemented in 1987 and the idea of not having sex and of delaying sex has been promoted even now.  Funding is contributing to this because organizations such as PEPFAR fund abstinence-only programs and thus groups that attempt to educate citizens on prevention are more apt to stick to abstinence as a way to gain funding for resources. This idea also ignores young brides who obtain the virus from their husbands. They waited until marriage and because of a lack of focus on condom use and testing they are still infected with the disease and can pass it on to their children.

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The fact that education about testing and condom use is necessary is something no one can ignore in the quest to rid Africa (as well as the rest of the world) or the HIV virus.

Education and services to prevent HIV/AIDS (Part 1)

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The AIDS epidemic has affected every major continent in the world although each has reacted to it differently.  While the United States and United Kingdom both dove into research and prevention Africa has been a late comer to the world of healthcare and healthcare services.  In terms of resources and knowledge Africa is not the most up to date continent but they have done much over the last 30 years to try and stop the disease before it wipes out the population.

The text lists many examples that I wanted to expand on with one being the regulation of sex workers and the way they are tested and registered by the government.  Prostitutes are tested monthly for STDs and every six months for HIV.  Through this testing the HIV rate in the country has remained consistently below 2 percent since the first cases were reported in the 1980s.  Men known to frequent sex workers were also educated about condom use and testing, and counseling was made available to both the workers as well as the clients.  Senegal has implemented a broad education program aimed at changing the way its citizens act in regards to sex.  Educational materials were not only handed out via health centers but also the government got the support of religious leaders who then educated their congregations on preventing HIV and AIDS.  This combining of religion and healthcare is genius because it breaks that silence and stigma associated with AIDS and allows people to act without being ostracized. The churches also provided support and counseling which even further opened the lines of communication and has no doubt helped people to understand the facets of this disease.

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Another country that is making active strides to educate its citizens about the disease is South Africa.  AIDS is currently the leading cause of death in South Africa and many attempts have been made to lower this.  Since 1999 the country has increased education in schools about HIV and AIDS with the goal of prevention and destigmatization.  The other goal of the schools is to provide a safe environment for youth to talk about the disease and how it plays a part in their life.  By talking about it the government hopes it will increase the confidence that children have in themselves and their ability to prevent themselves from getting the virus.  In addition to this the government has created a peer education system so that youth can learn from people their own age, (which they may listen to more).


These are a few examples of educational programs and regulations that are helping to change the course of HIV and AIDS in Africa and if more countries adopted this proactive approach (some are!) the amount of people who die every year from AIDS is bound to lessen.

Cultural reasons why HIV/AIDS spreads

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While other nations in the world were gripped with terror when the AIDS epidemic hit Africa was silent.  Africa was not only silent publicly but the people themselves were silent as well.  Why would a continent that is seeing this deadly disease spread so quickly and with such devastating affects remain quiet?  The answer lies in the distinct traditional cultures that reside in Africa.  Sex and sexual practices are traditionally not discussed in Africa and the idea of sexual education is not in line with these traditions either.  In sub-saharan Africa this silence, coupled with the large prevalence of extramarital and premarital sexual relations is what has caused the epidemic to reach the levels it has.
The text, Understanding Contemporary Africa, explains the tradition of silence about sex matters a few different ways.  Just like in many areas of America the text states that African's hold the belief that by education youth about sex they are increasing the chances that adolescents will partake in it.  By educating youth on how to protect themselves they could help the future lower their risks of obtaining the virus, but it goes against cultural values to advertise information regarding premarital sex except the lesson of 'do not have it.'  The text also mentions the idea that some African's have that men are programmed to need more sex and therefore extramarital sexual relations are common and quietly accepted among married couples, which also helps to spread the disease.  The final point the text mentions about the cultural issues is that women are of a lower class than men in Africa and especially single women.  In order for these women to survive economically they do turn to sex work, which increases the chances both of them obtaining the disease and of them spreading it.
Another reason I found while doing research, about why the disease spread to the level it has and why it is continually spreading is because of the reproductive traditions in Africa.  Breast feeding is a tradition among many cultures and is also a practice that has taken place for hundreds of years and is proven to increase a child's immunity and strength.  Breast feeding when the mother has HIV or AIDS though passes the disease on to the child.  Breaking this tradition in Africa has been hard because of the traditions and ceremonies associated with childbirth.  The idea that a mother would not breast feed a child is shunned in many cultures and this, coupled with the silence surrounding the disease, means it is still being spread from mother to child even today. (There is much controversy surrounding how many mothers pass HIV to their children though UNICEF statistics state that between 15 and 25 percent of infants get HIV during pregnancy or birth and 15 percent can get it during breast feeding).

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HIV/AIDS in Africa (past)

As mentioned below HIV and AIDS were traced back to chimpanzees and monkeys in Africa as long ago as the 1930s, and it reached epidemic proportions in the 1970s and 1980s.  Where did AIDS begin in Africa though is of importance because it explains how the epidemic traveled and spread throughout the continent.  The exact beginning of AIDS is clouded with many theories and ideas but the majority agrees that the Congo was the first major area to be affected by the disease, though it is said it was brought to the area from either Cameroon or Guinea-Bissau.  Evidence that traces back to the 1960s shows a large prevalence of people with the disease in the Congo and the epidemic broke out in the capital of Kinshasa in the 1970s.  The urban environment in the capital and the prevalence of sex and sex workers is believed to be what caused the disease to spread so quickly and reach the proportion it did in such a short period of time.
Because it grew so much in an urban environment it also had the ability to spread fast.  If the disease had originated in a rural village with limited accessibility to the outside world it would not have had the ability to grow as fast but because it grew in an area with a large population and with many people traveling in and out of the city it was able to spread.  From the Congo the disease spread to eastern Africa and the countries of Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.  The disease spread even quicker and with more devastating affects in eastern Africa because of the high number of migrant men in an urban area, the health system as it was then, and the sex workers of the area.  Condom use was almost non-existent as was circumcision (circumcision lowers the risk of passing disease due to the increased ability to clean).
After eastern Africa was hit by the disease it spread to western Africa in the 1980s.  Certain cities such as Gabon and Cameroon did not see an epidemic level of the disease because of the distances between the major cities.  The lack of close urban areas and the insecurity that was going on in the region at the time (as most of Africa saw during the period after gaining independence) hindered the spread of the disease to an extent.  The only country that reached a comparable position with eastern Africa was the country of Guinea-Bissau which reached the highest level of HIV in the world by the mid-1980s.
The last region in Africa to gain the disease was southern Africa, although it is now the region that shows some of the largest numbers.  The southern countries of Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana show rates that could easily overtake those shown in eastern Africa.

Source: http://cdegrego.wikidot.com/ministry-of-health-departments

The reasons why the HIV virus spread are numerous but geographically they spread or did not spread because of the locations of urban areas and the cultural traditions of the time which I will discuss in the next post!
Source for info: http://www.avert.org/history-aids-africa.htm

The origin of AIDS

Source: (http://www.globalchange.com/aidsafrica.htm)

HIV and AIDS are extremely prevalent in Africa today, although the first recognized case was diagnosed in the United States in the early 1980s. The disease originally arose among gay men, although now it is recognized as a more universal disease.  The young gay men were showing symptoms and illnesses that were not seen before of people their age and thus people became aware that a new disease was out there.  Like I mentioned above the disease was originally thought of as a homosexual problem and if one did not engage in homosexual activities they would be fine.  This is obviously a very naive concept but at the time and with the knowledge people had at that time it fit.  The idea of bisexuals, or people that could obtain the disease from a homosexual and then pass it to a heterosexual was not a concept the public could understand.  The next group that was targeted were individuals who used needles to inject drugs, as the disease could be passed through the needles themselves if they were not properly sterilized.
While AIDS was first diagnosed in the United States it had been growing undetected in Africa for many years.  The virus that causes HIV and AIDS was found in chimpanzees and traced back as far as the 1930s.  Evidence proves that the first epidemic of AIDS began in the Congo in the 1970s and it was spread heterosexually.  The disease then spread from urban area to urban area and by the time it reached Eastern Africa in the 1980s it was a worldwide epidemic.  African doctors were beginning to gain knowledge about the disease that was popping up in America and the United Kingdom and the links between the two were beginning to form.  The question now was how did a disease travel so far so fast? Many groups were targeted as those who could have spread the disease including migrants, sex workers and truck drivers, all due to their sexual practices and ability to move around.  Around the late 1980s the disease stopped growing among gay men in Africa but was already a huge heterosexual problem and one that remains an epidemic in Africa today.

Part 2!

So for my second project I wanted to cover information about HIV and AIDS in Africa and how it effects people both in the continent and world wide.  I will discuss where the epidemic originated and where the disease stands now and how Africans are coping with it.  HIV and AIDS are a huge problem in Africa and an increased knowledge about it can only help.  Enjoy!