Aiding AIDS
The AIDS epidemic in South Africa is far from being resolved, but many people and organizations around the globe are offering relief.
According to the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization’s (WHO) report at the end of 1999, 34.3 million people live with HIV/AIDS worldwide. From that number, 24.5 million live in sub-Sahara Africa. In 1999, 79 percent of the total AIDS deaths occurred in sub-Sahara Africa.
Since 1990, AIDS deaths in South Africa have increased by 800 percent, which surpassing the amount of deaths from malaria, tuberculosis and pneumonia, according to the UNAIDS/WHO report.
According to the report, “The alarm that should follow these horrifying numbers does not exist.”
Stan Penfold, executive director of the Utah AIDS Foundation, said one of the many reasons it has grown to be such a catastrophic problem with not enough response is because “parts of the government don’t want to admit it’s as serious as it is.”
According to The Washington Post Foreign Service, South Africa’s president, Thabo Mbeki, and other officials “have pointed to violence and accidents as the country’s leading causes of death, and said South Africa’s scarce public health funds should be steered toward those priorities.”
Yet, according to a study by the Medical Research Council (MRC) in 2001, “AIDS was responsible for about 40 percent of deaths among South Africans between ages 15 and 49. For adults, AIDS accounted for nearly 20 percent of deaths – more than any other cause.”
Penfold said another reason AIDS is such a problem is because “it is even far more difficult to admit that someone has AIDS.”
People in South Africa won’t admit they have AIDS for fear of being humiliated or even physically hurt in public, Penfold said. A third reason AIDS has become so rampant is because “the medical distribution is not good, and people are fortunate to see a doctor a couple of times in their lifetime.”
Nick Eastmond, a professor in instructional technology, said he worked in South Africa in 1996 during a sabbatical.
“In 1996 AIDS was a minor detail, but it has grown to be a massive issue,” Eastmond said.
The government has been hit with a lot of bad publicity, he said, and most of the actions the government has taken have been very positive.
“They are fighting an uphill battle,” Eastmond said.
It is difficult to control because “there is a large portion of the population that’s illiterate, and ignorance is rampant, he said.
There are many who think they will be cured by having sex with a virgin, which is usually a young girl or even a small child, Eastmond said.
Because of this myth “there has been a national scandal on how prevalent rape has been, he said, and [our team in South Africa] knew quite a few people who had been raped.”
Although South Africa is suffering socially and economically because of the epidemic, Penfold said help is being offered from many sources around the globe.
According to the Associated Press in August 2001, the German drug company Boehringer Ingelheim offered nevirapine, a drug that reduces the chance of a pregnant mother transmitting AIDS to her child, free to developing countries. South Africa has not accepted the offer.
After the South African government turned down this offer, AIDS activists and doctors are suing the government and demanding it distribute nevirapine, which could cut the AIDS fatality number in half, according to the Associated Press.
Penfold said many AIDS prevention organizations are also looking into