The HIV/AIDS virus is a sexually transmitted disease that attacks the immune system. AIDS, furthermore, has no cure. The devastation of AIDS can be seen specifically in sub-Saharan Africa where the AIDS war becomes only an occasional matter on the scale of concern.
More nations are directly affected by AIDS than any other single affliction. AIDS has global implications, including social and economic instability. The reasons for AIDS' wide destruction in Sub-Saharan Africa can be narrowed to three key points.
AIDS' origin in Africa has allowed the disease to spread much more widely. Lack of education from African government facilitates AIDS' spread. Apathy and naïve beliefs of cultural immunity from Western society, combined with weakened African economies prevent AIDS relief efforts. AIDS is ultimately so devastating in Africa because of the origin of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa along with weak health care, lack of education, and apathy from the West combined with weak African economies.
The AIDS virus originated in Africa sometime between 1930 and 1960. “Given the evidence we have already looked at, it seems highly likely that Africa was indeed the continent where the transfer of HIV to humans first occurred” (BBC News).
During this time Sub-Saharan Africa was still in the early stages of decolonialization. Most governments in the region at this time had little to no health care for their citizens, including any sort of virus detection or treatment program, which encouraged the spread of AIDS from the origin. Since the origin of AIDS “the worst of the epidemic…is [in] sub-Saharan Africa where…there were an estimated 25.3 million people living with AIDS…and three quarters of the global death toll”(Piot 968-73). Analysis of the origin of AIDS allows for the breakdown of other factors of why AIDS is so detrimental in sub-Saharan Africa.
Much of the high death toll surrounding the origin of AIDS is a result of “health care costs, including those of importing anti-retroviral AIDS drugs from the West, are a new burden on many African states” (Sahn 51). The reasons for such high health care costs stem from “the inability of poor African nations' abilities to provide life long treatment, testing, and personnel for an incurable disease…treatment in Tanzania ran up to $800 per year” (Stencel). $800 per year for AIDS treatment is far above the affordable range for most Africans infected with AIDS. In addition to high health care costs, Africans are “unable to afford or reach medical treatment once they have become infected” (Connolly 31) because of the vast distances they need to cover to reach health care stations.
Even if they are able to attain transportation, the cost of treatment deters many. As health care costs rise, more people are unable to get treatment which furthers the devastation AIDS has in the region of its origin. The history of the spread of AIDS is critical in understanding the factors of why AIDS is so detrimental in sub-Saharan Africa today.
Flaws in AIDS education also contribute to AIDS' impact on sub-Saharan Africa. One flaw current education systems contend with is failure to address that “many traditional African societies frown on the types of safe sex protection (particularly condoms) that have slowed the spread of HIV” (Connolly 22). Unprotected sex allows for AIDS to spread very easily, because there is no barrier preventing bodily fluids from exchanging and passing the disease from person to person. Condoms are considered the best defense against AIDS, yet there is reluctance to introduce them into sub-Saharan education systems because of cultural beliefs.
Another daunting challenge in AIDS education is “a popular myth that sex with a virgin is the cure for AIDS” (Govender Sunday Times). This myth, “widespread among Zulu men, particularly those from rural areas” (Govender), only increases the amount of cases of AIDS by causing those already infected with the virus to spread HIV to uninfected virgins. While the myth that intercourse with a virgin seems to be easily deconstructed, “the myth is more prevalent than …educators are prepared to acknowledge” (Govender). Another obstacle is “poor funding for education and health combines to keep people ignorant about HIV” (Connolly 22).
Another problem with effective AIDS treatment is that various African leaders have stated that HIV does not cause AIDS. Despite numerous medical studies which indicate that HIV must cause AIDS, the endorsement of contrary theories by African leaders only serves to hamper education movements. In order for effective education programs to be established these concerns must be addressed.
Without education the impacts of AIDS will only worsen. “The key to curbing the AIDS epidemic… [is] to design effective prevention education programs” (Brown). By using education the number of new infections will “drop below the number of deaths from the disease, thus shrinking the number of those who are capable of infecting others” (Brown), setting sub-Saharan Africa on a path of recovery.
The AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa, lastly, continues because of apathy from Western governments and weak African governments. Western governments often neglect the seriousness HIV/AIDS despite the potential to cause extinction. “The battle against [AIDS] has acquired…a dangerous attitude (Feachem). Countries such as China and the United States believe in “the myth of cultural immunity and the naïve belief that "it can"t happen to us.'…the lethal mix of ignorance and apathy is at our collective failure to act” (Feachem).
Given the content contained in most of the articles on HIV on this site, I must say this article is quite well done. In general your topics are well researched, but I do have three important comments to add:
1. Describing HIV as a sexually-transmitted disease is not totally accurate; in fact, some of the fastest-growing epidemics (in Eastern Europe and Asia) are driven by intravenous drug use, combined with sexual transmission. While sub-Saharan Africa certainly has a head-start, these regions are in for a roaring epidemic without some quick intervention. And of course as you've mentioned, vertical transmission (mother-to-child) is a major issue as well. The picture is, of course, rounded-out by transmissions through blood transfusions or improperly sterilized medical equipment - both of which still occur in some developing countries. Advice: don't oversimplify the transmission of this incredibly crafty virus.
2. Currently, ARVs can be obtained for between $100 and $200 a year in most developing countries (not the $800 quoted in this article); moreover, most patients can actually obtain them for free (more on that below). I'm not faulting you, because the data referenced is probably only a few years old (and this article is now a year old!), but my advice: know that this is a rapidly changing field, and drug prices are falling all the time.
3. You mention the apathy of the "West" repeatedly, yet fail to touch on PEPFAR or the Global Fund, which have provided billions of US dollars worth of drugs and capacity-building programs in the last 4 years; this is why any HIV-positive Ugandan can walk into a health center and obtain life-saving medications for free. This is true in many other sub-Saharan countries, as well as some throughout the rest of the developing world; these programs are still in scale-up phase, and will have contributed well over $50billion in their first 10 years of existence. I agree that the West has been apathetic for far too long, but things are changing, quickly. I'm not saying that these programs are without their flaws, but they're doing the best they can in systems that are limited by the other factors you've rightly identified. Advice: stay up to date - this field is evolving in the blink of an eye, and some things are getting better, quickly. Now our effort needs to turn more heavily to prevention...
In the interest of full disclosure, this is my life's work, so I know these details like the back of my hand. No shame in not knowing them, but I just wanted to share them for anyone who may be reading this otherwise well-informed article.
1. Describing HIV as a sexually-transmitted disease is not totally accurate; in fact, some of the fastest-growing epidemics (in Eastern Europe and Asia) are driven by intravenous drug use, combined with sexual transmission. While sub-Saharan Africa certainly has a head-start, these regions are in for a roaring epidemic without some quick intervention. And of course as you've mentioned, vertical transmission (mother-to-child) is a major issue as well. The picture is, of course, rounded-out by transmissions through blood transfusions or improperly sterilized medical equipment - both of which still occur in some developing countries. Advice: don't oversimplify the transmission of this incredibly crafty virus.
2. Currently, ARVs can be obtained for between $100 and $200 a year in most developing countries (not the $800 quoted in this article); moreover, most patients can actually obtain them for free (more on that below). I'm not faulting you, because the data referenced is probably only a few years old (and this article is now a year old!), but my advice: know that this is a rapidly changing field, and drug prices are falling all the time.
3. You mention the apathy of the "West" repeatedly, yet fail to touch on PEPFAR or the Global Fund, which have provided billions of US dollars worth of drugs and capacity-building programs in the last 4 years; this is why any HIV-positive Ugandan can walk into a health center and obtain life-saving medications for free. This is true in many other sub-Saharan countries, as well as some throughout the rest of the developing world; these programs are still in scale-up phase, and will have contributed well over $50billion in their first 10 years of existence. I agree that the West has been apathetic for far too long, but things are changing, quickly. I'm not saying that these programs are without their flaws, but they're doing the best they can in systems that are limited by the other factors you've rightly identified. Advice: stay up to date - this field is evolving in the blink of an eye, and some things are getting better, quickly. Now our effort needs to turn more heavily to prevention...
In the interest of full disclosure, this is my life's work, so I know these details like the back of my hand. No shame in not knowing them, but I just wanted to share them for anyone who may be reading this otherwise well-informed article.