HIV in Africa

HIV is a terrible disease that devastates many people’s lives all over the world, especially in third world countries. You can only imagine the difficulties that people carrying such a brutal disease must have to face, even in North America. Now picture a woman with HIV, living in an impoverished country trying to raise a family and struggling to make ends meet. This is the case for many women in Africa. The huge issues for people in this situation include: quality of life, financial problems and lack of basic necessities.

The HIV virus attacks the T-cells in the body and multiplies itself, eventually disabling the body’s ability to kill germs and diseases. The condition only gets worse and worse until you become extremely vulnerable to getting life threatening infections and cancers that your body should normally be able to fight off. This disease can easily be calmed by taking antiretroviral drugs that allow your immune system to work properly, but most women in impoverished countries don’t have access to the drugs or just can’t afford them. Because of these small problems, many of these women have to face extremely painful and difficult lives, many of which don’t last very long.

Along with the struggles of pain, money also becomes a huge issue. When the symptoms of HIV start to show, you would lose your job as you would constantly be sick, or taking care of another ill family member; impacting not only your life but now your whole family is experiencing lifestyle changes. People who are already in the heart of true poverty now earn absolutely nothing while trying to raise several children. Could you imagine having to wonder where your next meal is going to come from? Not knowing if today is your last day to live? It’s brutal to picture but the truth is that it’s a reality for so many people and we just don’t realize how good we’ve got it living where we do.

Finally, following financial problems, many families lack basic necessities. With the loss of a job and no income, getting even one meal a day becomes hard. Malnutrition is a huge factor of what causes a shorter life expectancy, especially for someone with HIV. The other main factor and the biggest one of all, clean water, is something that is much too expensive for many people. One bottle of clean water in Rwanda costs one day’s worth of labor work, to be more precise, 1 dollar. So many people with HIV can’t control their disease simply because they can’t get these basic necessities.

HIV has destroyed many lives and families throughout Africa and will continue to do so for years to come. If it only takes a few simple things like money and clean water and education, things that we have so much of, why don’t we do something to end this eroding epidemic? We don’t realize the extreme effects that HIV can have and does have on so many people around the world because we need to open our eyes and see the big picture. When I was in Rwanda, I asked a woman with HIV if they had thanksgiving there, and she replied, I am thankful everyday that I am alive.

Sites:

www.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIDS?wasRedirected=true

www.kidshealth.org/parent/infections/std/hiv.html

www.avert.org/aids-impact-africa.htm

www.thebody.com/h/hiv-aids-effects.html

www.onelifetolive.ca/?gclid=Ck_Gu931gKcCFRBNqwod62wCdg