AIDS is one threat that the whole world is fighting with. One of the mot affected areas, South Africa, seems to be losing its battle with HIV and AIDS, in spite of the whole layout of strategies and ongoing treatments. The death rates have been increasing and the supply of treatments seems to have no effect on the statistics. The confirmation comes with the UNICEF’s South Africa representative warning that says that the country may soon lose against HIV/AIDS. The reports also say that the country even lose in meeting the goals accorded by UN’s Millennium Development Goal, especially infant and maternal mortality rates.
South Africa is in line to face major health disasters as young mothers are dying from AIDS and their infants can in no case survive. With such conditions increasing, there are chances that by 2015, there will be almost five million orphans in South Africa alone. Today the life expectancy in the nation has dropped to less then 47, which in 1990 were about 69. Statistics show that each year about 400,000 people die mainly due to AIDS/HIV and other related causes alone.
Why this is happening in spite of the treatments pouring in is because of the fact that till today people in the nation aren’t educated regarding AIDS, they still are stigmatized against it, lack of education and knowledge on this issue leads them to hide there condition, they fear social isolation. What is needed is work on the root cause explaining that even disease like AIDS can be treated like any other diseases and even prevented. The reports also said that only 380,000 South African Aids patients were receiving anti-retroviral drugs, which simply means that almost 2 million were not receiving the required treatment. What is needed is first of all, educating everyone about the disease and then an absolute effort to outdo the number of deaths and infections with treatments, education and preventions.
Image credit: Trak
Source: IOL
