Sub-Saharan Africa contains about 10% of the world's population and in 2001 it accounted for over two-thirds of the 40 million people living with AIDS. So that is about 26,666,666 people living with AIDS. The smallest percentage of people infected with HIV/AIDS in African countries other than Somalia and Senegal is 10% in Zimbabwe. That is 1 out of every 10 adults is infected with HIV/AIDS. The country where HIV/AIDS is most prevalent is Swaziland with a percentage of 25.9%. That is 1 out of every 4 people with HIV/AIDS--a quarter of their population. To put this into numbers, Swaziland has 1,370,424 people which makes 342,606 people infected with AIDS. Theoretically, in a family of four, one person is infected.
Doctors are very rare in Africa, so it usually falls to a family member to take care of a person who is infected. So the disease does not just immediately affect one person; it seems to have the attitude of "I am going to take down as many people as possible even if I can not enter their body". So if there are 26,666,666 people living with AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, it directly affects around 53,333,333 people.
This could kind of go along with my project. In my area, which is the areas around Somalia, they are experiencing drought and famine are being forced to travel to refugees where care is being given. In addition to that, many people do in fact have HIV/AIDS and this builds on top of that. On the travels to those refugees, many people die because of illness, weakness, and tiredness. HIV/AIDS is always a problem in Africa, and to make things worse they are going through more problems.
ReplyDeleteThese numbers are ridiculous overall. The fact that Africa has many people living with these diseases is unbelievable. I really want to know how all of this is happening over there and I feel bad for them because there is really nothing we can do to help them. I just feel so bad that this is going on in their land the most.
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