After the discovery of the fatal virus HIV in 1981 that causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), it was believed that it could be comprehended accordingly but the map showed a completely different picture, especially in South Africa. Even after nine years of its discovery, the infection rate among the adults was less than 1% and now the figure has escalated to more than 15%.
The consequences of AIDS in southern Africa are so devastating that people believe that maybe smaller states would submerge under the strain.
The prevailing conditions are so pathetic in the nation that one would find funeral as a regular ceremony in their families. People are struggling to buy medicines and are borrowing money to pay the funereal expense.
Three of the African countries that have been worst affected by HIV and AIDS are Botswana, Malawi, and Zambia.
Causes:
1. The sole breadwinners have lost their lives, the families are diving deep into the bottomless ocean of poverty and hunger where they are becoming an eye of prey for the miscreants who further exploits them sexually.
2. The prevailing myth that sex with a virgin can cure AIDS has also augmented the spread of this venereal disease.
3. Extreme poverty force women to become prostitutes, in order to survive, and hence escalate the spread of the deadly disease.
Statistically:
1. 25 m people have died worldwide
2. 40 m are living with HIV, with 24.5 m living in Sub- Saharan Africa
4. The infection rate in southern Africa is 15% to 34%
5. The disease has orphaned 14.5 m children
Present condition:
1. The government is being pressurized to look into the matter of treatment however many HIV infected people have still no access to the relevant medications.
2. Many HIV pregnant women are not being provided with the required drugs that’ll considerably lessen the chances of mother-to-child transmission.
3. In far-flung areas, women are given secondary position. They are not allowed to question men or disobey them. Wives and girlfriends are desperately dependent on their men.
4. Families and communities fighting AIDS in Africa scarcely receive support from current domestic and international relief efforts.
5. Children affected by AIDS in Africa appear abandoned to their fate.
6. There is no serious effort to roll out complete antiretroviral clinical programs in Africa, a factor that can curb the spreading of AIDS in the nation.
What could be done:
1. If the state and community works in unison, the problem of mass orphanhood would be combated with the solution of extended family system. This would only be a success by reducing the stigma surrounding children affected by AIDS and in this way, they won’t experience any kind of discrimination.
2. Much can be done to ensure the legal and human rights of AIDS orphans. Certain laws should be framed to protect their land and property, since their relatives push them out of their property after their parent’s death.
3. Round the clock education should be imparted to the society so that they could come out of their shell and become aware of the endemic engulfing the nation.
4. African elite must recommit to end poverty and fight a more effective war on AIDS.
