The origin of aids in Africa are not fully known but scientist do believe that it has a background to something called SIV (which they believe came from primates that live in Guinea-Bissau). They found the first traces of this in humans of the area, around the time of the 1930’s. The epidemic began to start in the early 1960’s when there were only approximately 2,000 cases (of HIV) that were known of at the time. A decade later the community of Kinshasa was reported to have been the first place in the world with a “hetro-sexual” advancement with HIV.
Many believe that it was carried by an infected self who then transferred the infection to another person in that area. Suddenly though, many people had it because of the sexual structure that was going on during that time frame. By the time of the early 1980’s more than five more countries (in Africa) had reached a pandemic level with the infection. Some of the main reasons that it spread so fast was because of sex-workers, low understanding of STIs, and vulgar views of women (men believing they could over rule women and do whatever they wanted to them).
Later pregnant women began contracting the virus and that was carried on to their babies because they had no protection against breastfeeding or any possible way of getting the drugs they would need. By the 1990’s they were trying to look for a cure but they still have not found it. Even so the population living with AIDS in Africa is so great, it would be near impossible to cure them all. Majority of the people kept saying the same type if things; the AIDS epidemic needs to be stopped so people can live a fulfilling, long life.
People all over the world are willing to give money to this because they find it to be a good cause. However there are other counties who say they want to find a cure to their own diseases first. Incinerated Murder Scene says “We have to put our own country first. ” Obtek1 says “Don’t get me wrong I’m all for helping people, but how about we fix the problems in our country first. We have people losing jobs, homes, schools losing funding. When are we going to deal with these problems? ” On the other side of this issue we have people such as Mr.
Paddy Reilly (Director of the Development Studies Centre, at Kimmage Manor) saying “The sustainable development of Africa is in our collective hands. Each one of us must find some way to help Africa Fulfill its Promise. ” People have pointed out four main points why we need this to come to an end. For starters, it kills mothers and fathers which can make many children orphaned by the time they are very young. Because of that they may have to watch over their siblings and never get a true education. Secondly, people get very weak and unhealthy while battling this virus and it can make working merely impossible for them.
Due to that they can’t grow as much food and people starve. Thirdly, children are dying at such young ages and ruining the next generation that would be taking over for the people in charge now. Lastly, more women (and girls ages 13-14) have the infection and because of that their babies will have a higher risk of being born with HIV or AIDS. One person who is involving themselves in the issue that has taken away millions of lives in Africa is Bono from U2. He has been doing this campaign since 2002. He has many reason why he believes that this is a fund that should be prioritized.
Part of his motivation for this is his faith and another part of it is seeing people not have to suffer anymore than they already have. Bono believes this cause is something that should be looked at from more than just your perspective but the people dealing with it too. In an interview with PBS Bono say “The first thing I decided to do was never say the word “AIDS” without putting the word “emergency” following it. … Six and a half thousand Africans dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease is not a cause; it’s an emergency.
” [http://www. pbs. org/wgbh/pages/frontline/aids/interviews/bono. html] I think that this issue could be solved if Africa was getting enough funding, because they live in poverty. The children there are not educated with the same information that children in the United States are; therefore they will not know where or how people have contracted AIDS and try to prevent themselves from doing those things. If all of them had the education they should be getting, I believe that a large portion of the epidemic would already be gone.
Also if they had the same amount of funding they would be able to pay for prescriptions to make sure pregnant mothers would not have to put their newborn child’s life at risk because they were born with HIV or AIDS. Lastly I think that if the children/ next generation were to stay abstinent or have protected sex (and have access to the hospital equipment to test for HIV, AIDS, and other STIs) they would be so much safer and not have to worry about unsafe sex. In the year 2008 they did a study to see how many people in Africa today are living with AIDS/HIV.
The numbers were 33.4 million living with HIV, 2. 7 million new infections of HIV, and 2 million deaths from AIDS. [http://www. globalissues. org/article/90/aids-in-africa] People (combined from all countries in the world) who have AIDS is an approximate number of 33 million, and sadly 22 million (2/3) of those people live in Africa.
Of all of those (living with AIDS) in Africa 13 million are orphaned children (under 18) because their parents have passed away. In South Africa there are about 180,000 to 280,000 children under the age of 15 have the disease that is killing millions each year.
Those numbers don’t lie and I believe we should find a way to help all those people in need.. SOURCES: http://www. uneca. org/eca_resources/Speeches/amoako/2004/020304speech_amoako. htm http://www. sodahead. com/united-states/obama-cuts-aids-funding-in-africa-is-the-us-obligated-to-help/question-387189/ http://www. pbs. org/wgbh/pages/frontline/aids/interviews/bono. html http://www. avert. org/history-aids-africa. htm http://www. globalissues. org/article/90/aids-in-africa http://www. dosomething. org/actnow/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-hiv-africa.