Current Issues: AIDS and HIV

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Infected and Uneducated

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Sarah Schuette
World History-Hjelmgren
5/19/09 Period 1
AIDS. It’s one of the deadliest diseases in Africa, particularly in Tanzania, where about every 30th person is a victim. Though it has been surviving, Tanzania needs help. They need knowledge. Because it’s a fairly recent disease and the antibiotics are very expensive, America and other helpful, wealthier countries should educate Africa more. Another issue with the AIDS pandemic in Tanzania is that it has one of the highest mortality rates due to AIDS. This shows that Tanzania needs to gain a better education of AIDS.

            Firstly, AIDS is a fairly new disease, and is thus still being studied and aside from preventing it, there is no cure that could be supplied to all of Africa. It is a sexually transmitted disease that has spread throughout Africa and now through the rest of the world. “HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is the virus that causes AIDS. AIDS stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.”

Excerpted from: “What is HIV and What is AIDS?” American Social Health

Association. http://www.ashastd.org.

It weakens the immune system, leading to infections, the possibilities of numerous diseases, and eventually death. Because there is no cure, Africans don’t take any precautions before doing anything that might cause the disease to spread. Thus, the diseased population multiplies.

            Another problem is that, since AIDS is an STD, it spreads quickly due to the very casual customs Africans maintain on sex, where a man doesn’t have to be married or even in a relationship with the person they  (oftentimes unknowingly) end up transmitting the disease to. “Distributing more condoms would not, on its own, stop the spread of AIDS. Lots of measures are needed: improving education, encouraging monogamy, delaying the age of first sexual encounter, helping young women to win a greater say over their sex lives and widening access to antiretroviral drugs that lessen sufferers’ infectiousness.”

Excerpted from: “Sex und Sensibility” The Economist. 16 May 2009.

    http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13326176


            In conclusion, the AIDS virus is a very serious disease that has been spreading throughout Africa. Africans know little about what they can do to keep themselves from getting the disease, and need to be better educated. They would then be able to know that if they’re not going to use a condom then they shouldn’t have sexual relations with anyone. No matter what way one looks at it, it’s clear that Tanzania deserves to have a better education on AIDS.

Bibliography:
“Tanzania: HIV/AIDS” Global Health Reporting.  http://db.jhuccp.org/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll?BU=http://db.jhuccp.org/ics-wpd/exec/icswppro.dll&QF0=DocNo&QI0=181556&TN=Popline&AC=QBE_QUERY&MR=30%25DL=1&&RL=1&&RF=LongRecordDisplay&DF=LongRecordDisplay


 “Sex und Sensibility” The Economist. 16 May 2009. http://www.economist.com/opinion/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13326176
 

“What is HIV and What is AIDS?” American Social Health

Association. 17 May 2009. http://www.ashastd.org
Last updated by: Sarah Schuette 05/24/09