Treating AIDS in Africa: Challenges and Solutions

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Cancer and HIV/AIDS are both treatable but incurable illnesses yet somehow society has given them two very different connotations. It is not the man with lung cancer’s fault that he got cancer. He smoked for 40 years and he knew the risks but it is not his fault. If there is blame to be placed, place it on the unfinished pack of cigarettes in the bedside table. This man’s disease is a misfortunate accident. The woman in the room beside him, however, made herself sick. She knew the risks and she had sex anyways. That whore has slept with three men her entire life! The third is the one who did her in. He knew he was HIV positive but he was in denial. He did not want to admit to his girlfriend of 6 months, he was too embarrassed. Innocent until proven guilty, he thought, well now they are both marked by the beast. It is her fault that she did not know.
This was the attitude originally associated with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. There was no sympathy for the victims because they did not deserve it. Even children born with the disease were looked down upon; it was their parent’s faults and, therefore, it was their fault. Luckily, much of this speculation has changed throughout the years in America and other developed nations. On the other hand, there still remain countries of poverty in the dark of the reality of this illness. On continents such as Africa the countries are not only lacking resources, but education on how to deal with this pandemic, much of this due to lack of communication and understanding. Not only does this virus pose a direct threat to those infected but emotionally it takes a toll as well, especially when they are constantly victimized due to a sickness that is beyond their control. The fact of the matter is that “st...

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... Edgar, Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, and Vicki S. Freimuth. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992. 147-72. Print.

Oppong, Joseph R., and Ezekiel Kalipeni. "Chapter 3: Perceptions and Misperceptions of AIDS in Africa." HIV and AIDS in Africa: Beyond Epidemiology. Ed. Ezekiel Kalipeni, Susan Craddock, Joseph R. Oppong, and Jayati Ghosh. Malden: Blackwell, 2004. 47-57. Print.

Poku, Nana K. Aids In Africa: How the Poor Are Dying. Malden: Polity, 2005. Print.

Rankin, William W., Sean Brennan, Ellen Schell, Jones Laviwa, and Sally H. Rankin. "The Stigma of Being HIV-Positive in Africa." PLOS Medicine. PLOS, 19 July 2005. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.

Schoepf, Brooke G. "Chapter 1: AIDS, History, and Struggles over Meaning." HIV and AIDS in Africa: Beyond Epidemiology. Ed. Ezekiel Kalipeni, Susan Craddok, Joseph R. Oppong, and Jayati Ghosh. Malden: Blackwell, 2004. 15-28. Print.

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