Why is AIDS so prevalent in Africa?
I think it comes down to the fact that Africa is mainly made up of very poor,poverty stricken third world countries. The virus is probably spread through unprotected sex as these people do not have the education, or the money, for condoms. This also leads to pregnancy, and of course a lot of children who are born to HIV infected mothers also have the disaease. Also the poverty factor also contributes when we think about other ways the virus is spread. For example, medical facilities are limited and equipment such as syringes etc are shared amongst many people. So I would say that the main factors are: poverty, lack of education, and poor medical facillities, although there are probably many other factors which I have not considered.
How prevalent is AIDS in South Africa right now?
The 2008 National Health survey estimated that 10.9% of all South Africans over age 2 are living with HIV.The 2010 survey of clinics taking care of pregnant women showed a range of 18 to 31% were infected with HIV.http://www.avert.org/south-afric...
Why is HIV/AIDS prevalent in South Africa?
The arrival of HIV in South Africa well and truly predated the end of Apartheid!HIV had spread a lot in Central Africa before it was even recognised and named in the early 1980’s. And any epidemiologist would confirm this….Also, South Africa was NEVER isolated from the rest of Africa, Apartheid and sanctions notwithstanding…The truth is, and was, that people were crossing borders, legally and illegally, in large numbers during the sixties and seventies and eighties, and some of them brought HIV with them…In Africa, for various reasons, most HIV positive individuals only became ill very late in the course of the disease, as measured by CD4 counts and ratio’s compared to other parts of the world. A lot of HIV transmission was occurring that was completely invisible at the time because no tests existed to find it and also people were only getting sick very late in the course of the disease.Some of my professors told me, in the early nineties, that had been seeing, on and off for at least twenty years strange wasting diseases and symptom complexes that they could not diagnose, but patients often died of opportunistic infections or rare tumours.Suddenly, in the early eighties HIV and AIDS arrived as a “thing” and suddenly it all made sense…Despite HIV being an eighties phenomenon for the press and the politicians South African doctors knew different…HIV, as an epidemic had been building up steam for decades and they had been seeing occasional cases for at least twenty years before with an increasing incidence from the late seventies and into the early eighties before the incidence then truly exploded!So, it is very likely that HIV made its entry into South Africa in the late fifties or early sixties, unknown and unheralded, and continued to be transmitted in South Africa throughout that time in slowly increasing numbers until by the early eighties there was actually a vast population (perhaps 5% of the total population at that point) of infected individuals in the country. And that percentage probably doubled by the early nineties!
Why is AIDS so prevalent in South Africa?
Statistically, the standards of Human Development and level of income inequality in countries coincides with the prevalence of HIV/AIDS.Botswana has one of the highest AIDS rates in the world, at over 27% of their population living with the disease (2011 estimate). Botswana’s HDI, as of 2014, is 0.698, which surpasses most of Africa and even parts of Asia and the Western World (Haiti, Bolivia, and even Moldova have lower HDI scores). Seems quite good, doesn’t it? How could they have such a high HIV/AIDS rate?The simple answer is: income inequality. As of 2013, Botswana’s GINI score (income inequality) sits at 60.5, which means, of course, poverty is widespread. As such, the HIV/AIDS rate can increase due to a lack of proper medical facilities, poverty, and a lack of education on the disease and its spread.Not to mention, countries like Nigeria, South Africa (as mentioned in your question), and other countries also have high HIV/AIDS rates; Swaziland having statistically, the highest AIDS rate in modern times.TL;DR, poverty and HDI are important factors.
Why is AIDS most commonly seen in African countries?
First, in Africa, Sex was a taboo and today somehow still. If we go back Ten years ago, when i was getting into my teenagers years, most kids (teen)knew almost nothing about sex, and parents would under any circumstances talk to them about it, even big brothers and sisters. if by mistake a boy talks about things like that, he would get into problems (insult or whatever). Let not talk about girls. In such environment, Kids grow up with knowing nothing or barely something about sex. So, when they know about it, they get excited and become uncontrollable. Uncontrollable because they hide their sex activities from the parents or any adult.Second, the medical system in Africa is the worst you can ever imagine, especially in the villages. do you think a poor African will use money to buy a contraceptives? no. He would think of how he would use that money to buy something to eat or solve others life issues. Even he know AIDS is there waiting for him, he has no other choice. one first need to accomplish vital needs before thinking of life pleasures, thus buy for protection comes later. Also the quality of the contraceptives are not good at all. Africa ge the trash. To get a better contraceptives like condoms one needs to spend more. The low quality augment the risk. Some contraceptive break apart. The virus spreaded very fast because the campaign of prevention were made in occidental languages (french, english, and others), people did not have access to media as today, and many did not believe in the existence of the AIDS. Here is the quote most used when defining the acronym AIDS which mean SIDA( in french): System Inventer pour Decourager les Amoureux (Invented System to Discourage the Lovers). Moreover, when someone had HIV, he/she became a disgrace for this/her family. He/she get kicked out, called all named and lost all friends. Thus, HIV positives individuals preferred keeping their statue for themselves and start spreading the virus. But nowadays things are changing.