HIV/AIDS is one of the greatest medical challenges of our time. The disease has killed over twenty million people. Today forty two million people are living with HIV. Across Africa this disease has killed millions and millions of people. Millions more are fighting for their lives.
A child today in Sub Sahara Africa has a life expectancy of forty-seven years. This disease heavily falls on women and children, 60% of people infected by HIV are women. Three million African children under the age of fifteen have the AIDS virus. AIDS has orphaned eleven million children.
Everyday there are 8,000 more AIDS deaths in Africa and 14,000 more infections. Every twenty five seconds another person in Africa gets infected with HIV.
Africa is not the only place suffering from AIDS. It was estimated that in the Latin America area there were over 1,600,000 people living with HIV and AIDS at the end of 2003. 200,000 of these were newly infected during 2003. In the same year an estimated 84,000 people died of AIDS.
In the Caribbean and estimated 430,000 people were living with HIV and AIDS at the end of 2003. In Canada at the end of 2002 an estimated 56,000 people had HIV and AIDS. One third of these people were unaware.
At the end of 2002, the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 384,906 people in America were living with AIDS.
Africa is the most infected with HIV/AIDS. They are not only suffering from AIDS but from poverty, malnutrition, crime, war, lack of education, and lack of money. Everyday is a 9/11 in most parts of Africa. Death stalks Africa, and Africa is dying slowly.
I wrote this essay last year. It was a letter to the President. The statistics shocked me. Research this essay made me want to dedicate my life to helping these people. I just don't know what I can do. Right now all I can do is spread the word.
I hate how the U.S. is spending billions of dollars on the war on Iraq, yet I rarely hear about them sending aid to Africa very often. If every single person in the U.S. donated just $1.00 to help AIDS in Africa, scientists estimate that the disease would almost stop spreading entirely, and it would at least be under control. People don't seem to care about what's going on in Africa. I don't know why. The U.S. gets into the business of every country that they have a problem with, but how much is the government actually helping Africa?
How is it our government's job to help Africa? I'm not saying we as a whole shouldn't, I'm just saying it shouldn't be expected of the US government. As mentioned in this essay we've got lots of people living here with AIDS to help. Even then it's not the governments job to help people. It's peoples job to take care of themselves and each other.
Yes, people in the States have AIDS, but that doesn't even compare to the amount who have them in Africa. In the States it's not even in the millions (the amount of people with AIDS). And why should our government help Africa? Well, we spend billions of dollars on fighting countries in wars and whatnot, but we don't spend nearly that amount on helping people. It's an AIDS epidemic. Thousands of people are dying daily and thousands more are becoming infected. Can you really ignore that? Just let the country rot out and die? That's horrible. As a world superpower, it's our job to help countries in need. If you're upset that we'd be spending so much money, then justthink about the War on Iraq. Wouldn't it be so much better to spend those billions of dollars on helping people instead of killing people?
It is not our job to take care of the rest of the world. It is horrible that those people are sick but it is not our governments job to do anything about it. We owe the Africans nothing. It is not our job to handle their affairs. If a private organization wants to help them then that's great. But the government should not be using tax dollars to do something that is not in the interest of the nation. You're probably going to call me a hypocrite considering that last statement but I support the war in Iraq. It is in the interest of the nation. It started for a good reason and when you start something you need to finish it.
So you probably also think we shouldn't have stopped Hitler from the Holocaust, making the concentration camps, etc. One could say it isn't our business, but as a world power we have a responsibility of helping the innocent victims of cruel people. We can't just sit back and watch it happen and do nothing about it. That would be such an arrogant attitude to have.
Nope, stopping Hitler was in our best interests. If he had taken over all of europe he would have been mighty hard to beat on one front. Might not have happened at all. And we'd be speaking German right about now and definately would not be having this conversation.
HIV/AIDS/UKIMWI, I command YOU to STOP! In Yeshua's name. It doesn't have to take 10 years from now. STOP IT NOW!! AMEN/AMEEN.
Person Living with AIDS...
Go to aviva.org and globalvolunteers.com. I was directed to those by a friend. I really want to work in South Africa this summer wanna go?
It is very unfortunate that millions of people are dying and will continue to die because of our government idiotic stand on social elements. When you look at Africa you see that majority of its population is black, so just take a look at Haiti when they had there conflict and how long before the U.S intervene, another example is the Rwanda incident that occurs in 1994, in which the U.S went in an take out there Citizens but left thousand of African Citizens to continued to be killed. So with this said AIDS is no different from all the other issues that black nations’ face and the U.S quickness in help. But put an all white nation in the picture and the outcome would be so much different.
Chicago, IL
Hey i wrote a paper on this and i support any help possible. Its sad... :-( I would say more, but im short on time. I'll post my paper one day. I hope you catch it. ~<3~Love and be loved!~<3~
True, it's bery sad, but has anyone noticed the poverty, crime, and lack of education of innercity people here in the united states? How about you think about how we can fix that first before we go out and fix the rest of the world.
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One of my friends is going to college to become a nurse so she can fight AIDS. My church has started an orphanage in Nambibia that takes in those orphans, They are working on building more. I intend to volunteer there sometime, even though I can't right now. AIDS/HIV makes me so sad, its horrible!
May the Force be with you...and God bless.
It's the synergy between HIV and poverty that causes such a crisis. When people don't have enough money to eat, the malnutrition limits their body's ability to fight off the virus, so they die quicker. Living in unsanitary conditions doesn't help either...
I just read this really great book called "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder. It's about this doctor named Paul Farmer (who published quite a few books himself), who sets up a clinic in the poorest part of the poorest country in the world (Haiti). He talks a lot about the role of poverty in disease epidemics... it's really interesting.
I have the same opinion as the first commenter. How can we be spending so much money in Iraq but refuse to look at whats hurting us the most! AIDS will be an epidemic plague before we know it because STDS are spread VERY VERY easily. We need more advocates!
-Kristen
The most important thing to note in this instance is that where the progress has been made and where the change has been created is not an effect of governments taking part. The change takes place when ordinary people lik you and me choose to take extraordinary actions to help those in need. Governments will do nothing, corporations will do nothing, people will change the world, people will save lives.
- Challenge yourself everyday, if you don't then it is a wasted day.
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