What Exactly is HIV/AIDS? How Has it Affected the People of Africa.

AIDS is a disease that results in the destruction of the immune system by a retrovirus. AIDS is the final stage of the infection and can result in death of the infected carrier.AIDS is a result of a retrovirus infecting a host. Human immune deficiency virus is what is best known for infecting humans.

Everyone knows HIV/AIDS is bad; many of us do not know how bad it actually is. The massive effect it has on people on a global scale is daunting. It may not be a surprise that the majority of people who are infected with this disease live in Africa, but the exact amount of how many people who do have it in Africa compared to the rest of the world is insane. Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for over two-thirds of the 40 million people living with HIV; had 68% of incident HIV infections and 77% of AIDS deaths; and accounted for more than 90% of AIDS orphans and children infected with HIV. Those numbers alone are absolutely staggering. To try to picture all of the people infected combined with the amount of dead in one place is unfathomable. The amount of people that would be standing shoulder to shoulder would spread for miles.

This disease has brought Sub-Saharan Africa to a complete standstill. Economic growth has halted, education is nonexistent, and healthcare is completely absent because there are not enough healthy people to take command of these stations of society and bring Africa to a healthy and prosperous civilization. This is why HIV/AIDS is such a huge problem, it is holding so many back from living successful lives, hindering economic advancement, and taking lives of those who deserve a fair chance at life.