AIDS Prevalence and Awareness in South Africa

Of all Aids deaths since the epidemic started, eighty-three percent have been in the region. These numbers sound even more astonishing considering only one-tenth of the world’s population lives in Africa, south of the Sahara. The amount of Africans affected by the epidemic is frightening. Since the start of the epidemic, an estimated 34 million people living in sub-Saharan Africa have been infected with HIV. Approximately 11.5 million of those people have already died, one-fourth of them being children.

In 1992, 20% of Botswana, Africa was infected with HIV-AIDS. In 1995, 1/3 of the country was infected. Today over 40% of Botswana is infected with HIV-AIDS, and these numbers continue to increase (Epstlen 70). The rest of Africa is mimicking these same numbers as infection rates continue to rise. Of the 27 million infected in Africa, 3.2 million were new cases diagnosed in 2003, and over 2.3 million people died in Africa because of HIV-AIDS last year (Frederickson and Kanabus HIV 1).

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% drop in population in East Africa by the year 2001 because of 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, 13).

Statistics “Worldwide, women account for more than half of all people living with HIV/AIDS. For women aged (15-49), HIV/AIDS was the leading cause of death and disease worldwide in 2009” (amfAr Making Aids History, 2011). Women are two times more likely to acquire HIV from men during sexual intercourse than men from women. “In Sub-Saharan Africa, women account for more than half (59%) of all people living with HIV/AIDS. Among young women aged 15-24, the occurrence rate of HIV is at least three times that of young men” (amfAr Making Aids History, 2011).

Behind this mounting death count are the signs of growing social disruption. For example, in sub-Saharan Africa, more than 1 million children have lost their parents to AIDS. And within four years, there will be more than 2 million AIDS orphans in the following seven countries combined: Dominican Republic, Kenya, Rwanda, Thailand, Uganda, the United States, and Zambia. Illness and death among young adults due to HIV have reached such proportions in some countries that overall national economics and productivity are affected. In Uganda, for example, 44 percent of all premature deaths are attributable to AIDS.

Sub-Saharan Africa has recently recorded the highest incidences of death from HIV/AIDS with a total of 29.4 million people living with the disease. Among these, ten million are young people aged fifteen to twenty four while three million are children under the age of fifteen. In the year 2002, 3.5 million new infections were reported (UNAIDS 2). One reason for this seemingly recent rise in the number of infections is the result of years of denial and silence about the existence of HIV/AIDS. Recent statistics indicate that Botswana’s adult prevalence Sex, HIV/AIDS and Silence 45 rate for example, has peaked to 38.8 %, Lesotho 31%, Swaziland 33.4% and Zimbabwe 33.7%.

With all the research and evidence available from various government and non-profit organizations dealing with HIV and AIDS prevention far too many Americans believe that the epidemic is over in the United States. Among minorities, women, and the poor the worst may yet to be come. African Americans represent 12 percent of the American population, which is about 35.000.000 people, but about 50 percent of the new HIV cases (www.statehealthfacts.org). In the United States some 80 percent of all women infected are women of color. In addition African-American women are becoming infected at younger age compared to their white peers primarily through heterosexual contact.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) states, “In 2011, an estimated 23.5 million people living with HIV resided in sub-Saharan Africa, representing 69% of the global HIV burden” (UNAIDS, 2012). The World Health Organization (WHO) reinforces this point by saying, “Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected region [of HIV], with nearly 1 in every 20 adults living with HIV. Sixty nine per cent of all people living with HIV are living in this region” (WHO, 2013a). The statistics of infected people living in the United States is alarming but there are other countries, like Africa, which have higher rates of HIV due to very limited

There were approximately 36.9 million people who were living with HIV, with about 2.0 million people are newly infected with HIV in 2014 globally (CDC, 2016). In the United States more than 1.2 million people have HIV infection and many are unaware about their infection. About 50,000 new HIV cases are diagnosed each year. Some groups are affected more than others (CDC, 2016). Previously, HIV was considered a disease associated with young persons.

This means that Botswana loses 288,000 people per year, which is almost the same as the number of people infected. HIV positive citizens are dying very quickly. The birthrate is high, yet one out of every eight infants are born HIV positive. With the death rate so high, and still increasing, it is predicted that Botswana is going to experience a negative growth rate in upcoming years. The growth rate now is .76 while developed nations is more like 1.02.