Challenges and Contributors

In 2001, there was an estimate of 23.5 million people, living in Sub-Saharan Africa, that had HIV/AIDS.  There is a gigantic number of men, women and children that still need treatment. Governments, organizations and individuals have come a long way with treating HIV/AIDS, but there are still many hard challenges that we still have yet to overcome.

An family walks over an hour walk to the nearest hospital, to get treatment for HIV.

One very big challenge that affects people with HIV/AIDS is that many places, that have high number of people with HIV, are in remote areas. The people living in those remote areas can’t get the drugs, easily and when they need it. Many times, people have to take over two hour bus rides or walk to the closest hospital. The people in the remote areas, have to take time from their work to get the drugs they need. Also, the people in their village/town also know that they have HIV/AIDS, which means they could be discriminated in many ways, too.

Another challenge is drug shortages. Since there is such an overwhelming amount of people that need HIV/AIDS treatment, drug companies, shipping and health officials can’t keep up with the numbers. There are trying to get millions of people, daily dosages of antiretroviral therapy(ARTs), which is very, very difficult. Many people sometimes can go weeks and months before they can get their next dose of the necessary drug, which brings up another challenge.

With the drug shortage, people are going long periods without taking the ART drugs. When this happens, your body can develops resistance to the ART drugs. When this starts to happen, the ART drugs stops working and there is no more treatment to help the person to prevent HIV turning into AIDS.  Once AIDS settles in, your immune system starts to shut down and potentially, that person will die.

A new challenge for officials, recently, is corrupt health officials. The ART drugs are supposed to be free to people taking them, with HIV, in Sub-Saharan Africa. Some health officials have started to steal the vital drugs and have been selling them to patients, when they are supposed to be free. If the patients can’t afford the drug, they aren’t getting the drug, which puts them at a higher risk of getting AIDS. 

 

Even with the challenges that come with trying to help people get treatment for HIV/AIDS, there are still many people that help to make HIV/AIDS extinct.

 

One example, of someone who is helping HIV/AIDS, is NGOs, like Doctors without Borders, Red Cross, HIV for South Africa, etc. Many of the NGOs help in many different ways, such as providing doctors, nurses, volunteers to help distribute HIV/AIDS drugs and education. Others provide technology, supplies, etc. Without these NGOs, South Africa would have unthinkable amounts of people living with HIV/AIDS.

Also, another example of people who help the problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa, are government funding around the world. Many countries, like Canada and United States, have made donations, made through donations made by their country's citizens, to help get supplies and drugs to people in need.

Also, countries that support the United Nations(UN), also support the World Health Organization(WHO), too. The WHO does research on HIV/AIDS, experiments to create a cure for HIV/AIDS, and helps get people treatment, too.

A major part of solving the problem in South Africa, is individuals who have got education and put the education into practise on how to prevent HIV/AIDS. People who have learn about HIV/AIDS know how they can get and have started to use ways on how to prevent them from not getting it, too. Some ways are practising safe sex, not sharing needles, and knowing their status(HIV positive/negative). Those people are what are helping the number of people transmitting HIV in South Africa go down.

There is a big amount of people helping the issue, but there is also a large amount of people that are making the problem worse, too.

There are individuals, who even after getting educating or maybe have no education on HIV, still don’t practise safe sex. Sex is one of the biggest way people can get HIV. Not practising safe sex, puts people at a higher risk of getting HIV and transmitting it to other people.  Also, people who share needles, blades, etc.,  help spread the risk of being infected with HIV.

The stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS in South Africa, does not help the situation, either. People living with HIV/AIDS are being discriminating in South Africa, from being forced to move from their town, not getting jobs, etc. Also, with the stigma, people can’t get education about HIV/AIDS and how it is transmitted and can be treated. The stigma is allowing more people getting infected with HIV. Also, it is not letting people get treatment for HIV, because they are afraid of people finding out that they have HIV. The stigma is allowing more people, all over the world, get infected and infecting other with HIV, which does not help the situation in South Africa.