Factors leading to the spread of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa

 
The spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa is increasing at a rate that is unimaginable. In South Africa, 30% of the youth are said to be either HIV positive or are suffering from full blown AIDS (Baldwin; pp 13). One major factor that is attributed to fueling the spread of the disease is high levels of poverty. The poverty levels in the continent are high and this has had some adverse effects of the youth and to some extent resulting to the spread of HIV/AIDS. One of the major effects of poverty is the lack of food and even if they get the food they lack a healthy/balanced diet. This poor nutrition weakens the body’s immune system.

A weak immune system makes an individual susceptible to many other diseases that attack the body as a result of HIV/AIDS (Baldwin; pp 56). The high cost of treatment for patients suffering from the disease also affects the low income earners, which is a wide majority, in Sub-Saharan Africa. Since the people have little or no access to the unti-retroviral drugs, they end up being affected more b the disease. Another impact of poverty is the lack of employment faced by the youth. 60% of the population in Sub-Saharan Africa comprises of the youth. Half of this population is unemployed. This implies that 30% of the population in Sub-Saharan is unemployed.

As a result, the youth have sought other ways and means of making money so as to meet their cost of living. Unfortunately, some of the means resulted to lead to an increase in the spread of HIV/AIDS. Behaviors such as prostitution expose one and the society at large to a high chance of infection. Many young women engage in commercial sex with multiple male clients or friends for financial support. Of course if many of them would have better sources of income, they would not engage in this act. This has increased their chances of acquiring the disease and has also led to a major spread of the disease in the countries of this part of the continent.

Someone once said that “if you think education is expensive, try ignorance!” With the spread of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, I have come to accept this statement as true. Another factor fueling the spread of HIV/AIDS in the continent is ignorance and lack of basic information. A few statistics will be pointed out to explain this point. The rate of infected patients in East Africa had an average drop of 10 % in the early to late 90’s (Christine; pp 42).

The new millennium has seen another drop in the number of infected patients in the same region. South Africa on the other hand, has had continued increase in the number of infected patients over the years and is in record as the second most affected country in the world in as far as the disease is concerned. The question then is, why the difference? The reason for this is clear and simple. In the 90’s, many of the East African countries declared the disease a national disaster and embarked in methods of controlling the disease. One of the methods adopted in the region is the ABC method. In this method, people are advised on ways of preventing the disease.