AIDS

AIDS in Africa

Table of Contents

Introduction1

Background1

Discussion2

Transmission2

Cure3

Drug Use3

Growing Pandemic4

Aids in Africa5

Africa: Young Decimated5

Appalling Figures6

Spread of HIV infections by region6

Children7

An Educational Effort7

Sexual Exploitation of Children Vector of the Spread of HIV / AIDS:8

AIDS Orphans9

WHO and Aids9

Health is a Human Right11

Countries in Africa11

Zimbabwe11

Ethiopia12

South Africa12

Reasons13

Education13

Poverty14

Pregnancy (mother-to-child)14

Economic Situation15

Asymmetric sexual relations15

Prostitution15

Polygamy16

Erosion of public funds16

Solutions17

International cooperation and mutual assistance aid18

Strong health system18

Improve the standard of education19

Tackle poverty and control the demographic alterations20

Conclusion25

AIDS in Africa

Introduction

AIDS is the disease that develops as a result of progressive destruction of the immune system (body's defenses), caused by a virus discovered in 1983 and named the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). The word AIDS comes from the initials of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, which is the inability of the immune system to fight infections and other pathological processes. AIDS is not a result of an inherited disorder, but the result of exposure to HIV infection, which facilitates the development of new opportunistic infections, tumors and other processes. The virus remains dormant and destroys a certain type of lymphocytes, cells that defend the body's immune system.

Background

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS AIDS in Castilian and English) is a sexually transmitted disease that is mostly due to a mutation, which is then absorbed in the human blood and then reproduced. There are cases, subsequent studies of African people who were infected 40 or 50 years ago, when neither the disease nor the virus was so commonly and clearly described. After an initial wave of fear that it could be infected by such a simple handshake, it turned out that it could infect only on certain routes: sexual intercourse and blood contact. Since then, more than 70 million people with HIV have been infected, of whom now over 30 million are succumbed to the disease. Today there are 39.5 million people worldwide who have are suffering from this virus. It is occurring at an average of every 6 seconds, and causing a death every 10 seconds. 90% of those infected reside in developing countries; Africa is by far the most affected continent.

The short history of the disease can be traced to several major events. After the first cases described in 1981 among homosexual men in 1983, Luc Montagnier discovered the causative agent, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). In 1983, there was also the AIDS epidemic in heterosexuals, and in 1985, countries had record cases in all continents.

Six years after its detection in 1987, it various clinics and labs were opened for the purpose of containing the rapid spread. On the same date, the Food and Drug Administration U.S. FDA approved the first drug to treat AIDS. Antiretroviral triple therapy was not available until 1996. Currently, we are investigating the development of a vaccine to halt the virus.

Discussion

Transmission

The three main transmission routes are parental (blood transfusions, needle sharing among drug users, needle exchange intramuscular), sexual (either heterosexual or homosexual male) and mother-child (transplacental, before birth, at the time of birth or through or after breastfeeding).

Less frequently reported cases of HIV transmission in the health care (patient care staff and vice versa), ...