The millennium development goal reports in 2013 shows that South Africa stands at fourth place out 87 countries under the 2012 Social Institutions and Gender Index of the organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development. It is marked as the highest in the continent of Africa and according to this index; it indicates a strong legal framework of the country regarding gender equality and women’s rights. South Africa also performs well when compared to specific indicator of goal number 3 of the millennium development goals. This goal focuses and aims on improving gender equality as well as women empowerment. South Africa stands at second place with 45% next to Rwanda in women presentation. Statistics show that in 2005, a percentage of 87% was spent on South African GDP health care, of which an estimated 42% was spent on government expenses. HIV and AIDS remain one of South Africa’s biggest concerns with an estimated 5.3 million people said to be living with the virus in the country. The South African National HIV Survey estimated that 10.8% of all South Africans over 2 years old were living with HIV in 2005. There is an average estimates 1,000 deaths of AIDS a day in South Africa.
MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS
“The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have been the most successful global anti-poverty push in history. High progress has been made in reaching a number of these of the targets—including halving the number of people living in extreme poverty and the number of people without sustainable access to improved sources of drinking water” ,says the UN Secretary –General, Ban Ki Moon . The number of people living in slums also decreased. Outstanding gains have been achieved in the fight against malaria and other diseases. There...
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...hem. Over 2.5 billion people still don’t have access to improved sanitation facilities, of which of those one billion continue to practice open defecation, which is a major health and environmental hazard. The countries resource base is in serious decline, with continuing losses of forests, species and fish stocks
In conclusion, reports show that the achieving of these development goals is not even between countries. Children from poor households and rural areas are more likely to be out of school as opposed to rich and children living in urban areas. There is still varied gaps in basic knowledge regarding HIV and the prevention of the virus among young men and women. With less than 1000 days remaining, even though some of the targets have been met before 2015, much attention needs to be paid and work still needs to be done in other areas in meeting the targets.
Furthermore, more lives could be lost due to the spreading of diseases. With such extreme lacks of sanitation, clean water...
There are still many issues that the government has been trying to address. One barrier that continues to exist is the stigma of HIV/AIDS. People avoid getting tested and sick individuals would wait until they were extremely ill before seeking treatment. The government has countered social stigma through a public health campaign to promote HIV testing. As more people participated in testing, public attitudes started changing (Glassman, 2016, p.28). Still, many traditionally at risk groups continue to be vulnerable. Female sex workers, young adults, and men who have sex with men, have lower rates of HIV testing and have less knowledge about HIV prevention (Glassman, 2016, p.28). Addressing these populations will require additional social
The author mentions a few key take away main points. First of all, solutions must address the underlying causes of HIV risk among women. This mainly includes poverty and disempowerment because women in lower living standar...
The control and eradication of HIV/AIDS should be of the upmost importance for the whole of the global community. Though many modern countries have effectively treated and controlled the disease in the last few decades in their own societies, it is vital for third-world countries and poorer nations to control the disease in order to advance as a population. Currently, the methods in place to control HIV/AIDS do not work in poor countries due to stigmas attached to the disease and to a general lack in understanding of it. In “The Wisdom of Whores,” Elizabeth Pasini presents a new method of studying the disease from a scientific perspective that is both viable and promising as a solution to AIDS/HIV problem. Her proposal is very strong and well documented. She uses her own experience working in UNAIDS, the CDC, and the WHO to help support her claims from a first hand account and cities a lot of her own, as well as other, scientific research to explain why the focus should be on the tracking patterns and spread of HIV/AIDS, instead of simply on the control of it. Her general argument is very persuasive and provides information from a viewpoint not normally assessed. Proponents of NGOs and religious groups who go in to help prevent the spread of the disease would be the only real dissent against her argument. They would argue against her suggestion that NGOs and religious groups have hurt HIV/AIDS prevention in the past or are currently affecting the control of the disease in a negative way.
The HIV/AIDS Epidemic is undoubtedly the major problem associated with low life expectancy in South Africa. AIDS is caused by HIV which attacks the immune system of the human body leaving the body defenseless against all other ailment. Though the AIDS virus is principally transmitted through sexual intercourse there are several other ways it can be transmitted which includes; mother to baby transmission, skin penetration from unsterile infected object. It is therefore suggested that most HIV and AIDS related deaths in South Africa are generally between wi...
The AIDS epidemic has reached disastrous proportions on the continent of Africa. Over the past two decades, two thirds of the more than 16 million people in the world infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which causes AIDS, live in sub-Saharan Africa. It is now home to the largest number of people infected, with 70 percent of the world’s HIV infected population. The problem of this ongoing human tragedy is that Africa is also the least equipped region in the world to cope with all the challenges posed by the HIV virus. In order understand the social and economic consequences of the disease, it is important to study the relationship between poverty, the global response, and the effectiveness of AIDS prevention, both government and grass roots.
Illness such as AIDS impacts the economics because a person who is unwell is unable to work, it reduces the opportunity to have access to food, adequate housing and clothing due to limited income. SA is known to have the highest number of people affected with HIV, the study by Lou, Chen, Yu, Li & Ye states that the difference in the incidence and prevalence of HIV might be mainly due to economic instability and other factors. Although SA is a developed country in terms of its infrastructure, it is also a country with a major social and economic problems. In SA females affected are denied employment which leads to their loss of income. As income plays an important role in an individual when women with the loss of their income as a result of their sickness they are majorly impacted. The loss of income limits access to adequate housing, health care, and literacy and so this could lead to death as they unable to afford their treatments to maintain their
The unfathomably high number of people cannot dwindle if nobody is to contribute towards this cause. Over 826 million people in the world do not live in proper areas because no one has offered any aid fo...
By the year 2000, 58 million people have been infected by HIV/AIDS and alarming numbers such as 22 million would have already died. And the epidemic continues to spread. HIV/AIDS historically is considered to be one of the longest running worldwide epidemics that we have ever seen, and figures cannot be placed on the true death tolls or estimation of the damage as the cycle still is yet to reach an end (Whiteside 2002). With Africa being the worst hit continent in the world in terms of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the severity of it’s prevalence; one can only begin to question whether HIV/AIDS and poverty and directly connected or the inter-linkages exacerbate one or the other. This paper aims to argue that HIV/AIDS is a manifestation of poverty, and simultaneously poverty contributes to growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. Development in response both to poverty reduction and to HIV/AIDS is complicated when both have multi-dimensional and multi-faceted impacts on a society, whether it be social, economic or human development impacts. This paper will argue that pre-existing socio economic conditions within a country such as high levels of poverty, poor sanitation, malnutrition, environmental degradation and poor public healthcare systems and limited access to preventative care are crucial factors in contributing to the transfer of the infection (Pasteur: 2000, Mann: 1999).
This article focuses on the collaboration of private and public partners to address and aid the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Brunne states that the success of these partnerships is dependent and influenced by the make-up of society. One thing that can have a major lasting impact on society is its history. In this case, the society's apartheid past plays a big role in the ability of public and private partners to come together and respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This will be a good source to reference in my paper as I'm explaining the steps being taken to eradicate or at least slow down the spreading of this devastating epidemic.
Nearly 50,000 people, including 30,000 children, die each day due to poverty-related problems and preventable disease in underdeveloped Countries. That doesn’t include the other millions of people who are infected with AIDS and other incurable diseases. Especially those living in Sub-Saharan Africa (70%), or “the Third-World,” and while we fight to finish our homework, children in Africa fight to survive without food, or clean water. During the next few paragraphs I will give proof that poverty and disease are the two greatest challenges facing under developed countries.
After thirty plus years into the HIV and AIDS pandemic, it remains one of the top serious challenges to global public health. Awareness
South Africa is undergoing a transformation process after many years of one of the most brutal socio-political systems, the Apartheid; affecting every sector of the society including medical education and the delivery of healthcare services, (de Villiers, 1999). Apartheid was characterized by dividing the country according to the color of the skin, giving favoritism to the white man. Health care in South Africa was a dream until 1994 to the majority of the population which is black. With a more humanitarian social system in place, the country is trying to overcome the difficulties of present time, which is even harder after half a century of destruction, diseases and fraudulent administration. On the other hand, Aids and violence are the leading indicators regarding mortality rates of the South African population. There were over twenty one thousand murders in 2002 and almost eight million people are living with HIV/AIDS as of 2006, (Dixon, 2006).
The United Nations recently published a list of goals they hope to accomplish by 2030 called the Sustainable Development Goals. These goals will replace the Millennium Development Goals, which were set in 2000, when they expire at the end of 2015. Some of these goals include ending poverty, promoting gender equality, and improving water and sanitation conditions. Arguably, the most important goal is to “end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture” (in text citation- NY Times Article). Hunger was also an important goal on the MDG list, yet it was not fully accomplished (in text citation- Progress chart). The goals was to reduce hunger by half, and yet, the number of people who go to bed hungry
HIV does not only affect the well-being of individuals, it has large impacts on households, communities and even nations as a whole. Peer discussions and personal research has also made me realize that some of the countries suffering from this HIV epidemic also rather unfortunately suffer from other infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, relative poverty and economic stagnation. Despite these setbacks, new inte...