Case Study: HIV/AIDS

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  • Created by: Mego
  • Created on: 27-02-14 21:04

Causes

- Poor hospital hygiene/sharing dirty needles

-Sexual contact

-Blood transfusions

-Lack of contraception

-Prostitution due to poverty

-Lack of education on contraceptive, sex and STD's

-**** used as a weapon

-A cultural notm of having many wives

-Women have little status and are forced into sex

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AIDS in Africa

-2/3 of the worlds population of HIV positive people live in Africa

- Rumours about the cures lead to some men sleeping with young virgin girls

- 2.4 million Africans have died of HIV/AIDS

- 10 million young people under 24 and 3 million children are HIV+ in Africa

- Some religious groups say that AIDS is a punishment from God making people less likely to admit to having the disease

-Many African governments are too embaressed to ask for help

- Increasing strain placed on under-funded health services

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Stratagies to tackle AIDS

-Drug companies producing cheaper ARV's

- The United Nations has a global fund of $4.6 billion dollars to combat AIDS

- The World Banks offers interest free loans to African countries to help combat the disease

- Reducing the debts of African countires could enable them to spend more on health care

-Aid programmes have helped people set up small buisness' as an alternative to the sex industry

-Education programmes are teaching men and women about contraception and the spread of STD's

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Impacts on communities

- Subsistance farmers cannot feed themselves when living with the illness

- High numbers of people with HIV/AIDS means that the workforce is lowered and the development and GNP of a country cannot increase

-Households often rely on young people to care for the parents or grandparents, meaning they cannot have an education

-There are 13 million AIDS orphans in Africa, with many forced to live on the streets, only 10% recieve the help and support they need from governments.

- Large families are seen as a sign of male virility and provide the family with a source of income

-Whole communities can disappear due to AIDS and deaths and then the emigration of young people to find work.

-The life expectancy has dropped from arounf the mid-60's to the mid-40's due to AIDS

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Background Info on HIV/AIDS

- HIV = human immunodeficieny virus

-AIDS = acquired immunodefiecieny virus

- The symptoms of HIV are often not spotted for many years

-The HIV virus destroys the immune system in 8-10 years

-Better infrastructure and transport has meant that AIDS has spread across the world in the last 50 years

-The AIDS virus was thought to have originated from a monkey bite in the 1930's

-Research shows that the longer a child is educated the less likely they are to catch the disease.

-Most people cannot afford the ARV's

-AIDS is a taboo subject in many cultures meaning many people don't admit to having it, spreading it further

-The HIV virus attacks the immune system allowing oppertunistic virus and diseases to cause serious harm to the body.

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General Stats.

-2/3 of the worlds HIV population live in Africa

- 2.4 million Africans have dies of HIV/AIDS

-10 million under 24's and 3 million children are HIV+ in Africa

-The United Nations has a global fund of $4.6 billion dollars to combat AIDS

-50% of children born with HIV will die before they're 2

-80% of children born with HIV will die before they're 5

-Only 25% of people in Africa get the ARV's

-Only 5% of children who need the drugs get them

-25% of women under 16 in Africa do no know how AIDS is transmitted

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Geographical Distribution

The worst effected area is sub-saharan Africa with 34% of deaths occuring here.

Due to better transport links as greater movement, HIV/AIDS is spreading.

This has lead to the prevalence in India and China increasing as the countries develop but with poor education systems in place.

Russia also has very high proportions of the disease, however the vast majority of sufferers do recieve the ARV's so the death rate from the disease is comparitively a lot lower.

In 2011 South-East Asia had aprox. 3.5 million people living with HIV.
In Sub-Saharan Africa aprox. 23 million people were living with HIV.

In the America's the number appears to be increasing, currently at 3 million and Europe at 2.3 million. In total creating 34 million sufferes around the world [according to WHO 2011].

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