AIDS IN AFRICA The threat of demographic development

AIDS IN AFRICA The threat of demographic development

In the last decade of XX century critical issue of socioeconomic and demographic development of the Third World became AIDS - deadly disease, the treatment of which has not y et been found. According to the UN, at the end of 2000 on the planet 36. 1 million HIV-infected or have AIDS. Of these, the vast majority of - 25. 3 million (or 70%) - are in Africa. Meanwhile, Africa is home to only 12. 5% of the population. Of the 22 million deaths in the world of AIDS three-quarters are in Africa. The most heavily affected by HIV / AIDS in Africa were sub-Saharan Africa. The population of these states differ extreme poverty, poor health, low literacy.

REASONS The spread of AIDS in Africa contributed to some social norms rooted traditions, such as multiple concurrent partnerships. In some cities in sub-Saharan traditional polygamy took the form of formal and informal marriages and extramarital relations, based on a specific agreement partners. The spread of HIV infection affects the traditional custom of levirate, when a widow, a woman must marry her brother, or at least to sleep with him.

COUNTRIES WITH THE HIGHEST PERCENT OF HIV INFECTED By the end of 2000, first in the world in terms of HIV-infected ranked Botswana. The share of infected passed in this country for 35%. In Botswana, at least 2/3 of those who are now 15 years old, will die prematurely from AIDS. The second and third places are occupied by Zimbabwe and Swaziland, infecting up to one quarter of the adult population, and in the future - death from AIDS will cover half of whom now 15 years old.

MORTALITY RATE Today, AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa. There a variety of disparate data on the rate of increase in mortality from this disease, believe that it is somewhat higher in the second year after the start of the epidemic in the country, on the tenth - up to 2, 5 ‰, and the twelfth - 5 ‰. Forecast life expectancy by 2014 in most countries has not been achieved. So in South Africa, life expectancy in 2014 was to be 63 years old, but in reality it turned 57 years old. For several decades, African countries have sought to reduce infant mortality, increase life expectancy. Today, even modest progress in this direction fail. Undo all that has been achieved in the region on these indicators.

ORPHANAGE Orphanage - one of the most tragic consequences of the epidemic. By the end of 2012, nearly 10 million children under the age of 15 were orphaned in sub-Saharan Africa. In Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, orphaned from 450 thousand to 1 million children due to AIDS death of their parents or one of them.

CONSEQUENCES In African countries, AIDS is causing serious damage to the economy, the labor force are eliminated most persons of working age. According to the UN (World population monitoring 2000), in countries with a high proportion of those infected and affected economic growth will be reduced annually by 1%, that within a few years will affect very much on the development process. AIDS undermines agriculture, in which 70% of workers are women. Their high incidence leads to the cessation of cultivation, a drop in food production, impoverish families. Death of a man-landlord may raise the question of keeping it put his wife, because land ownership for women in many countries is not fixed.

POLITICS In the face of terminal illness and devastating epidemic, some prominent political leaders and cultural figures joined the struggle for the salvation of the peoples of the continent. President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia openly admitted that his son had died of AIDS, making it clear to all the people of his country, that the infection does not spare anybody, fighting it is very difficult and in most cases hopeless.