Current Issue: HIV\AIDS

The current issue I decided to explore some more was the AIDS epedemic in Africa. This issue has been a problem for African countries but as of April 2008, it got worse for Nigeria.

"The Nigerian state of Anambra recently banned the promotion and distribution of what it calls "unnatural" contraceptives, including condoms. "Instead of teaching children how to use condoms and enjoy sex, they should be taught total abstinence," Amobi Ilika, the state commissioner for health, said when announcing the ban late last month. He added that the "use of condoms has greatly encouraged immorality."" (Kaisernetwork.com)

These issues have been plauging Africa for years, but it has only been recently that Western World News has recognized it as a problem. According to Globalissues.org, it wasn't until the 90's, around the same time the US declared AIDS as an issue that Africa had any attention called to its epidemic.

"What is also disturbing is how the situation in Sub-Saharan Africa only become real western mainstream media news headlines around the time HIV and AIDS was declared a national security threat to the United States. While it it understandable that a media may reflect concerns in its own nation, it is another example of the mainstream coverage and their priorities, especially when there is a lot to report in terms of western economic policies seen through the various international institutions that have increased poverty, an important factor in the spread of AIDS."
Finally after the belated western world media gave Africa some attention, multinational pharmaceutical companies began lobbying in developed countries. However this soon revealed that these companies were more worried about profit rather than Africans, because they would not allow African nations' to use generic versions of the namebrand drugs they had.
"Currently, treatments, which Medicines Sans Frontiers describe as having “transformed HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a chronic disease in developed countries”, are expensive and affordable by mainly the wealthier people in western countries. However, poor people—including those in industrialized nations—are the major victims of HIV and AIDS."

In 2000 the Export-Import Bank of the US gave Africa one billion dollars to finance the purchase of U.S HIV\AIDS medications. However this heroic effort was also thrown unfairly because three countries: Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe were rejected the offer.

"With over 40 million people infected with HIV worldwide and over 11,000 new infections every day, universal access to comprehensive HIV prevention services is essential. In 2006, roughly 4.3 million people became newly infected with HIV, including roughly 530,000 children under the age of 15, most of whom were infected through mother-to-child transmission of the virus." (aidschannel.org)

To address this horrible epidemic the Global Aids Alliance has come up with a plan to help Africans deal with the HIV\AIDS issue in their country.

"The ABC approach
􀂾 Abstinence-until-marriage: refraining from sexual intercourse until marriage, or returning to
abstinence after a period of out-of-wedlock sexual activity
􀂾 Be faithful: committing to having sex with only one partner and avoiding casual sex; avoiding
“grazing”
􀂾 Condoms: using condoms correctly and consistently. “C” also represents comprehensive
prevention.
􀂾 The ABC approach is the HIV prevention model used by many organizations, including UNAIDS
and PEPFAR." ( globalaidsalliance.org )

Another aspect that was recently added to the ABC model was DEF.. which included a very important point in fighting AIDS.

"Education: Improving girls’ education
􀂾 In many countries, women and girls are the primary caregivers for their families. However,
when they are prevented from accessing resources or learning about nutrition and health,
entire families suffer. Additionally, lack of education is often a barrier for women who are
attempting to leave an abusive relationship.
􀂾 Eliminating school fees is a crucial first step to improving girls’ education. By eliminating these
fees, all families will be able to afford to send their children to school. Girls who receive an
education are more likely to be economically independent and understand the risks and
prevention methods of HIV. Further, when educated girls grow up and have families of their
own, they will be more likely to send their children to school, helping to break cycles of abuse
and poverty."

In my opinion this is huge. Later in the website it gave some more facts about AIDS prevention and education in Africa among young girls.

"Worldwide, young people ages 15 to 24 account for 40% of new HIV infections. And almost two-thirds of these newly infected young people are girls, who are especially vulnerable to HIV infection for a variety of social, cultural, economic, and physiological reasons. In addition, girls are often taken out of school to care for sick relatives or forced to go to work to replace family income lost due to AIDS deaths. Orphans are also at high risk of HIV and much more likely to be forced to leave school.
Millions of young people lack accurate information about HIV/AIDS, and girls tend to be more poorly informed than boys. But basic education can equip all children with the skills and knowledge they need in order to avoid HIV infection. Indeed, education links directly to safer behavior and reduced HIV infection rates, and experts agree that basic education ranks among the most effective-and cost-effective-means of HIV prevention. The Global Campaign for Education estimates that if all children received a complete primary education, as many as 700,000 cases of HIV could be prevented each year."

This is a great plan to stop the spread, but a number of obstacles are in the way, such as school fees, financial resources for schools, curriculum problems and The Fast Track Initiative.

AIDS\HIV has been a horrible issue in Africa for many years, but has only recently recieved attention for it. There is still a lot of work to be done, but luckily there are a lot of companies out there who are fighting for Africa.