AIDS in Africa

             The fact is that HIV/AIDS cases in Africa have reached outrageous proportions, but that isn't new news. The epidemic plaguing most of the continent has gone untreated for over two decades. In fact, the world knew very little about the disease until it struck home in several major western countries. Even then, people neglected the notion that it might destroy millions of people because we were afraid of this new and unknown disease. Still in 1988, a survey of college students showed our nation's ignorance about the disease. The study reported that the majority of college students viewed AIDS as a "gay" disease and cited homosexuals as the carriers. Luckily, scientists began to search, in the 1980s, for reasons and answers regarding HIV (Umeh, 1997, p. XV). Today, the disease is still a monster killing and infecting millions. Unfortunately, Africa is the last place to receive help from its international neighbors and the epidemic is reaching catastrophic numbers. The area of Africa where the epidemic has reached these astonishing heights is mostly in the south, but a majority of northern African countries also have large numbers of the population infected. Since our first acknowledgement of the disease in 1981, throughout the investigations of the eighties and early nineties, and into today where we search endlessly for cures; the HIV/AIDS virus has had a powerful effect on much of Africa's people. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has significantly damaged Africa by infecting its culture, politics, economy, and environment.
             The pattern created with the spread of AIDS during the last twenty years is very intriguing. Although scientists are still unsure of where, how, or what HIV came from, they have learned tons of useful information to help fight back. Its origin is most likely somewhere in central Africa, but that has never been absolutely proven. AIDS is caused by the virus HIV and the term AIDS means &q...

More Essays:

APA     MLA     Chicago
AIDS in Africa. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 18:51, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/87408.html