Of these, half are women ages 15-49. Over 40% of pregnant women are HIV-positive. The impact of AIDS in South Africa is overwhelming. The disease has orphaned 370,952 children 95,000 children have been infected with AIDS. The adult prevalence rate of HIV is 20%.
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).
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).
In addition African-American women are becoming infected at younger age compared to their white peers primarily through heterosexual contact. Hispanics present about 14 percent of the US population, about 40.322.930 people, and 20 percent of HIV-AIDS cases. The HIV infection rate among Native Americans is approximately one and a half time that of whites and they die from AIDS much faster than the whites due to late diagnosis. I share the opinion that the higher rate of HIV infection in the world stems in part from failure of personal responsibility and inattention to warnings from HIV/AIDS advocates, physicians and community organizations. However there are other elements that play an imperative role in the devastation that HIV/AIDS is causing in poor and minority communities according to the article “America’s Epidemic” by Gloria Browne Marshal.
In Uganda, for example, 44 percent of all premature deaths are attributable to AIDS. In terms of years of labor productivity, AIDS is responsible for more than 66 percent of Uganda's economically significant losses. The virus is also spreading into new areas. For example: -During the last three years, HIV-infection rates among Vietnamese prostitutes jumped from 9 percent to 38 percent. -Infection rates among blood donors in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh have soared from 0.1 percent to more than 10 percent.
This continent faces a triple challenge of providing health care, antiretroviral treatment, and support to a mounting population of people with AIDS. In addition, the test of sinking the annual toll of new HIV infections by facilitating individuals to protect themselves and others. Finally managing with the impact of millions of AIDS deaths on children and other survivors, communities, and national development. Both AIDS frequency rates and the measure of people dying from AIDS fluctuate greatly between African countries. In Somalia and Senegal the AIDS occurrence is under 1% of the adult population, whereas in Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe around 10-15% of adults are battling with AIDS.
Thirty-three million people have AIDS in the world. Africa has two-thirds of that number. According to the United Nations Aids Program on HIV/Aids, and World Health Organization (WHO), estimates, seven out of ten people newly infected with HIV in 1998 live in sub Saharan Africa. Among children under 15, the proportion is nine out of ten. Of all Aids deaths since the epidemic started, eighty-three percent have been in the region.
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.
it undermines the bodies defences against viruses, infections and malignancies. According to UN, at the end of 2004, 39.4million people in the world were living with HIV/AIDS, 4.9million people acquired it and 3.1million people died because of it. Approximately 95% of those suffering from HIV/AIDS live in the developing world. In 2004, 65% of sufferers were living in Africa, south of the Sahara. The infection rate is estimated at 8% of all adults compared with 1% world rate and more than 13million Africans have lost their lives to HIV/AIDS since it was identified.
HIV in South Africa The problem of HIV has been a growing concern around the world, but in no country has HIV had a greater effect on the population than in South Africa. Research has found that there are approximately 6.4 million people infected with HIV in South Africa, giving the country an overall infection rate of 12.2%(Shisana et al., 2014). This makes South Africa the country with the world’s highest rate of HIV-infected people. New infections occur at an approximate rate of 100,000 cases per year (Republic of South Africa, 2012). While other countries have managed to slow the spread of HIV, in South Africa, the problem has become a major public health concern.