Hiv / Aids And Its Effects On Children s Fund And The...

Comfort Senesie Dr. DeJoy HIV/AIDS in South Africa Africa is arguably the poorest continent in the world as shown by statistics from World Health Organization, United Nation Children’s Fund and the World Bank. Growing up in Africa, I have been a first- hand witness to abject poverty which I believe is interconnected to illiteracy, higher infant and maternal mortality rates, life expectancy and the continuous presence of diseases. Even though Southern Africa has made some strides addressing some of these issues, the country’s inability to combat one of the deadliest diseases in the world, HIV/AIDS, remains a prominent public health concern. â€Å"The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) targets the immune system and weakens people’s†¦show more content†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Southern Africa is the most affected region accounting for more than 70% of the global total of new infections† (WHO, 2012). As worrisome as these numbers are, researches have shown that HIV/AIDS disproportionately affect more women than men . â€Å"For every ten men infected, 13 women are HIV positive† (UNAID, 2013). This has additional implications for mother- child transmission which has been listed as one of the ways that the disease is spread. South Africa is still battling the remnants of racial discrimination that plagued the country’s recent history. This racial divide is evident in the trend of this disease as well. According to a recent UNAIDS report, â€Å"13.6% of black South Africans are HIV positive, whereas only 0.3% of whites living in South Africa has the disease† (UNAIDS, 2013). Like any other health condition, there are some behaviors and conditions that put individuals at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. UNICEF in a recent report explained that â€Å"However, it is also true that schools themselves may contribute to adolescent vulnerability by subjecting young girls to sexual abuse by teachers and by reinforcing adverse gender norms† (UNICEF,2008). According to a 2013 UNAIDS report, sex work is a practice that is common in South Africa and regions with high incidence rate of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted