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.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Africare's Work Against HIV/AIDS
Sub-Saharan Africa presents a large health risk of HIV/AIDS and has the smallest amount of resources to combat it globally. HIV/AIDS is one of the most serious health risks these Africans face, but it most certainly is not the only one. Some of the statistics are horrifying: 1 out of every 5 children dies before their fifth birthday; Every year 1 million people die of malaria—90% of these deaths come from people in Sub-Saharan Africa; Africans represent 64% of the world’s population of people living with AIDS—around 25.4 million; Life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa is 46 years old versus 77 in the United States; In many Sub-Saharan African countries, there is one doctor for every 10,000 to 25,000 people.
Africare’s initial project was to assist in understaffed and ill-equipped rural health clinics in Niger. Since their initial project, Africare ha spread has started numerous programs to help fight malaria, tuberculosis, maternal and childhood health, nutrition, and basic medical care.
Africare’s contribution to HIV/AIDS efforts in Africa has been to strengthen community and government capacities; and to provide HIV-related health services using an evidence-based management approach. Their goal is to prevent the spread and reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS, and other diseases. With donations from various sources, Africare works with partners or organizations locally and internationally, to strengthen the ability of the government and communities to implement their own responses to these problems.
Africare works to:
■ Strengthen HIV prevention education and community mobilization
■ Increase uptake and availability of Counseling and testing services for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections
■ Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT)
■ Improve quality of and access to care of and treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS, including antiretroviral therapy
■ Promote quality improvement and strengthen healthcare systems
■ Address the interaction of TB and HIV
■ Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of opportunistic infections
■ Provision of palliative and home-based care services
■ Infection prevention with HIV positives
■ Expansion of family planning and reproductive health services
■ Protection and support of orphans and vulnerable children, and their caregivers
■ Prevention, control and treatment of Malaria
----http://www.africare.org/our-work/what-we-do/health/HIV_AIDS.php
Africare’s initial project was to assist in understaffed and ill-equipped rural health clinics in Niger. Since their initial project, Africare ha spread has started numerous programs to help fight malaria, tuberculosis, maternal and childhood health, nutrition, and basic medical care.
Africare’s contribution to HIV/AIDS efforts in Africa has been to strengthen community and government capacities; and to provide HIV-related health services using an evidence-based management approach. Their goal is to prevent the spread and reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS, and other diseases. With donations from various sources, Africare works with partners or organizations locally and internationally, to strengthen the ability of the government and communities to implement their own responses to these problems.
Africare works to:
■ Strengthen HIV prevention education and community mobilization
■ Increase uptake and availability of Counseling and testing services for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections
■ Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT)
■ Improve quality of and access to care of and treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS, including antiretroviral therapy
■ Promote quality improvement and strengthen healthcare systems
■ Address the interaction of TB and HIV
■ Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of opportunistic infections
■ Provision of palliative and home-based care services
■ Infection prevention with HIV positives
■ Expansion of family planning and reproductive health services
■ Protection and support of orphans and vulnerable children, and their caregivers
■ Prevention, control and treatment of Malaria
----http://www.africare.org/our-work/what-we-do/health/HIV_AIDS.php
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Africare's Work on Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene
Africa does not have a shortage of water; the problem is they can not use the water they have. African communities lack the money to build wells, pumps, canals, and so on. Sub-Saharan countries only provide about 26% coverage. Also, 10 Sub-Saharan African counties are listed amongst the top 12 worst countries that supply sanitation to their civilians by the World Health Organization.
Diseases are rampant in these parts of Africa and are primarily caused by the unsafe drinking water. This is widely seen as Africa’s biggest health threat because it causes 80% of sicknesses and results in 5,000 childhood deaths. That’s about 208 children an hour and about 3 children a minute. The lack of clean water, bathrooms, is much more important than the need of education, political development and so on because without the basic necessities to survive, these other needs are irrelevant. If families and children die at such a rapid rate, there will be nobody to educate or run for political office.
Africare has constructed hand dug wells, dams, and began large scale river-based irrigation schemes since its creation. This was one of the first problems Africare tackled and have been doing a great job since. Because of Africare’s help with creating clean water sources, it has become an entry point for village and government demand.
Africare has also educated Africans on how to use these wells and clean water sources to help promote self hygiene as well as proper disposal of feces. This has reduced the amount of water-born diseases and diarrhea. Setting up clean water sources near homes has eliminated the need for women and girls to travel miles to collect clean water for their family. Clean restroom facilities in schools has increased attendance rate which will hopefully result in more successful and educated students rising from these schools and maybe one day making many of these African countries become world-powers.
Diseases are rampant in these parts of Africa and are primarily caused by the unsafe drinking water. This is widely seen as Africa’s biggest health threat because it causes 80% of sicknesses and results in 5,000 childhood deaths. That’s about 208 children an hour and about 3 children a minute. The lack of clean water, bathrooms, is much more important than the need of education, political development and so on because without the basic necessities to survive, these other needs are irrelevant. If families and children die at such a rapid rate, there will be nobody to educate or run for political office.
Africare has constructed hand dug wells, dams, and began large scale river-based irrigation schemes since its creation. This was one of the first problems Africare tackled and have been doing a great job since. Because of Africare’s help with creating clean water sources, it has become an entry point for village and government demand.
Africare has also educated Africans on how to use these wells and clean water sources to help promote self hygiene as well as proper disposal of feces. This has reduced the amount of water-born diseases and diarrhea. Setting up clean water sources near homes has eliminated the need for women and girls to travel miles to collect clean water for their family. Clean restroom facilities in schools has increased attendance rate which will hopefully result in more successful and educated students rising from these schools and maybe one day making many of these African countries become world-powers.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Africare
After looking through many different charities, I found a charity that seems to be very respectable and most importantly, extremely effective and helpful toward their cause. Africare is a foundation that is devoted to helping people in Africa in these main areas as their foundation: Health and HIV/AIDS, food security and agriculture, water and sanitation, and emergency and humanitarian assistance. Charitynavigator.com describes the foundation as:
A leader among organizations assisting Africa since 1970, Africare has more projects on the continent than any other U.S.-based charity. Africare works to improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. Our programs address needs in four principal areas: health and HIV/AIDS, food security and agriculture, water and sanitation, and emergency and humanitarian assistance. Africare places communities at the center of development in the belief that only through strong communities can Africa feed itself, develop and manage its natural resources, provide adequate education and vocational training, address people's needs for health care and disease prevention, achieve economic well-being and live in peace. Since its founding, Africare has delivered well over $800 million in assistance - over 2,500 projects - to 36 countries Africa-wide.
This topic interests me because many of Africa’s countries are still struggling significantly and I like to see what is being done to help them. After watching many films that have taken place in third-world African counties such as Hotel Rwanda and Black Hawk Down, you can really see the difficulties that these citizens and families go through on a day to day basis. The need for assistance financially and in the form of being able to help sustains them without foreign aid is crucial for these people. These countries need to be able to sustain themselves so they can build themselves up and progress from being a third-world country to a functioning and stable country. They need to be able to provide jobs, health-care, clean homes for families, education systems, and so on and I believe that Africare will play a pivotal role in third-world African countries obtaining that goal.
A leader among organizations assisting Africa since 1970, Africare has more projects on the continent than any other U.S.-based charity. Africare works to improve the quality of life for the people of Africa. Our programs address needs in four principal areas: health and HIV/AIDS, food security and agriculture, water and sanitation, and emergency and humanitarian assistance. Africare places communities at the center of development in the belief that only through strong communities can Africa feed itself, develop and manage its natural resources, provide adequate education and vocational training, address people's needs for health care and disease prevention, achieve economic well-being and live in peace. Since its founding, Africare has delivered well over $800 million in assistance - over 2,500 projects - to 36 countries Africa-wide.
This topic interests me because many of Africa’s countries are still struggling significantly and I like to see what is being done to help them. After watching many films that have taken place in third-world African counties such as Hotel Rwanda and Black Hawk Down, you can really see the difficulties that these citizens and families go through on a day to day basis. The need for assistance financially and in the form of being able to help sustains them without foreign aid is crucial for these people. These countries need to be able to sustain themselves so they can build themselves up and progress from being a third-world country to a functioning and stable country. They need to be able to provide jobs, health-care, clean homes for families, education systems, and so on and I believe that Africare will play a pivotal role in third-world African countries obtaining that goal.
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