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On 18 October 1983, the first case of AIDS in Africa was documented. Peter Post, a Belgian microbiologist, had been investigating the first outbreak of the Ebola fever. While carefully examining a patient, Part made a remarkable discovery. He had found the first case of AIDS in Africa. When researchers started looking for the newly identified virus, it turned up almost everywhere - in eighty percent of Nairobi prostitutes, thirty-two percent of Ugandan truck drivers, forty-five percent of hospitalized Rwandan children. (Malan, Rian - Rolling Stone, 22 November 2001, Issue 882, p 70) Experts immediately plotted graphs and concluded that scores of millions - maybe more would die unless something was done. (Malan, Rian p 70) AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency, is a deadly virus that kills and damages cells of the body's immune system. When the immune system is attacked, the body's ability to fight infections and certain cancers becomes considerably weaker. (Malan, Rian p 70) AIDS is caused by the human immune deficiency virus (HIV) and both can be transmitted through sex, contact with contaminated blood, sharing or syringes or needles, and through birth.
Africa, unfortunately, is home to the worlds largest number of victims suffering from the AIDS virus. (Malan, Rian p 70) Those experts who immediately began plotting graphs have seen their conclusion come true. Since 1983, when Part accidentally discovered that AIDS had spread around the globe, AIDS in Africa has grown at a rapid pace year by year. As the epidemic continues to spread, it has had a severe impact on Africa. The virus affects people of all ages throughout the entire continent. It is at the point where AIDS in considered no longer a public health crisis, but rather a mass murderer. (Time Magazine - Death Stalks A Continent - 12 Feb 2001 - Vol, 157 No. 6) Since that first case back in 1983, twenty-five million people have died from the horrific virus, three and a half million of them children under fifteen. (Time Magazine) Currently, it is estimated that twenty-eight million people are currently living with AIDS in Africa.
More than half of them will die. The twenty-eight million people who live with AIDS in Africa are three-fourths of the AIDS cases reported globally. In 2001 alone, the virus infected an estimated three and a half million people. (Aidsandafrica. com) That is roughly 9340 people infected a day or one person every twenty-six seconds. (Time Magazine) AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa, with statistics showing that roughly 6, 000 Africans die each day. (Royal, Leslie & Alleyne, Sonia - Black Enterprise, October 2001, Vol. 32, p 166). About 13 million children have been orphaned by AIDS in Africa. (Time Magazine) Those who have lost family are usually children under the age of 12 and must find ways to survive despite their dire poverty. (Time Magazine) AIDS itself as the disease, is not only the major killer of people. Many who have AIDS do not seek help for fear of fellow villagers discovering their problem and murdering them.
AIDS infected individuals have two options. They can either to let fellow neighbors know of their disease, seek treatment, and risk being alienated from their families and friends or even being killed, or they can keep their condition secret and die a slow, painful death. Even if they seek treatment, chances are they will receive none. In America, AIDS is no longer considered deadly because of the vast technological and medical advances we are fortunate to posses. There are many research projects underway in order to help find a cure for AIDS. There are few treatments that hinder the inevitable fate, however these beneficial treatments can be found only in industrialized countries such as America.
However, this is not the case in Africa. HIV infected Africans are rarely treated and usually die with a few months of infection because of the unaffordable prices pharmaceutical companies are putting on their therapeutic drugs. These obstacles make the prevention and cure of AIDS in Africa nearly impossible. Many scholars speculate that the AIDS epidemic is so severe now that twenty-five million more will soon die (Time Magazine), and some experts have made comparisons to the bubonic plague. (Aidsandafrica.
com) The U. S. Census Bureau projects that AIDS deaths means that by 2010, Africa will have 71 million fewer people than it would otherwise. (Royal, Leslie & Alleyne, Sonia) If this deadly epidemic does not decline, then it could lead to the downfall of the second largest continent in the world. Not only is the AIDS virus horrific for its death rates, but also for the effect it has had on many countries economies. AIDS related deaths reduce the skilled labor force and cause a shortage of workers. Studies show that by the year 2005, urban based sectors in Africa will lose an average of thirty percent of their employees to AIDS. (Royal, Leslie & Alleyne, Sonia) AIDS is also expected to use up seventy-five percent of the nations health budget. (Royal, Leslie & Alleyne, Sonia) Currently, AIDS is now the main reason for workers to be leaving their jobs.
Companies throughout Africa are losing workers and money to AIDS, which is making a big impact on the economy. The international community has had mixed reaction to the epidemic in Africa. It has become such a crisis in Africa, that it is one of the chief concerns of the United States. (Malan, Rian p 70) They believe that by the year 2010, Africa will be consisted of entirely of forty million orphans that will cause chaos and anarchy because they have no education. (Malan, Rian p 70)
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Research essay sample on Immune Deficiency Twenty Eight
