aids and africa essays

aids and africa essays The following are facts cited in Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome by Gerald J. Stine. Worldwide, about 9,000 persons a day become HIV-infected. The majority of all HIV infections worldwide occur in people ages 15-24. Over 1 million people die of AIDS each year. The number of HIV-infections worldwide has tripled since 1990! It is estimated that there will be a 20% decline in population in East Africa by the year 2001 due to AIDS (Stine, 360). AIDS is the leading cause of deaths among adult men and the second leading cause of deaths among adult women in Africa (Bethel, 135). The first for women is pregnancy and abortion related. It is extremely difficult to judge the exact extent of AIDS in Africa, either geographically or in the population so rather than focusing on Western Africa alone, it is most feasible to acknowledge modes of transmission across the African continent as a whole (Bethel, 138). Also, we can assert that AIDS cases do not occur on the African continent in a uniform fashion but rather form an AIDS Belt in central, southern, and eastern Africa (Bethel, 138). First, by mentioning the fact that the Third World contains three fourths of the Earths population, and combining that fact with that of those worlds having an overall lesser knowledge upon transmission, prevention, and AIDS in general, it is not surprising that these countries populations are greatly impacted by mortality. Africa, with about 12% of the worlds population, is now reporting about 25% of the worlds AIDS cases. It is estimated to have over 65% of the total number of HIV-infected adults and 90% of the worlds HIV-infected children (Stine, 364). An astonishing fact that further allows the realistic comprehension of the diseases dominance in Africa is that 6,000 Africans become HIV-infected each day which is 250 persons per hour or four ...