HIV & AIDS: IMPACT OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

1. HIV & AIDS: IMPACT OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

2. Myths about HIV and AIDS • HIV and AIDS can NOT be spread by shaking hands, hugging, eating from the same plate, sharing towels and clothing, insect bites and sharing a rest room. • YOU CAN NOT tell if someone is HIV positive just by looking at them! Healthy looking people don’t have HIV….WRONG • HIV and AIDS are the same thing? Wrong • HIV and AIDS can be CURED…not yet. • There are more…but these are the most common.

3. History of HIV and AIDS • Scientists now know that HIV – AIDS was passed to humans from monkeys. • It is believed that a person butchering the flesh of monkeys caught the disease without knowing it, and then passed it on to humans • Scientists have traced the virus back to determine where and when the first human case of HIV began. Scientists recently concluded that the first case of human HIV – AIDS came from the Belgian Congo in Africa in 1959. The macaque monkey is often believed to be the species that gave HIV to humans

4. About HIV • The HIV virus is very complex virus, and it is always changing and evolving – thus making it very difficult for scientists to develop a cure for HIV - AIDS. • Right now there isn’t a cure for HIV – AIDS. However, there are medicines that help people to live much longer than they have in the past. • When HIV was first discovered, people lived 10 years with HIV and another 2-3 once AIDS set in. But now, an additional 10 years has been added to that life expectancy due to better medicines.

5. Where is it NOW? • HIV – AIDS can be found in every country in the entire world! It has infected 65 million people world wide. • HIV – AIDS is classified as a pandemic (which is worse than an epidemic) because it is a rapidly spreading disease occurring over a wide geographic area and impacting a large number of people.

6. People in the developed world consume most of the world’s resources. 25% of global deaths are from infectious diseases, but the burden of disease is carried largely in the developing world.

7. Death from Contagious Disease. • There are big differences between developed & developing nations with regard to mortality or death from infectious diseases.

8. If you look below the surface you will find some of the key issues that make HIV/AIDS WORSE in Africa.

9. Objectives for this Unit • Explore and expand understanding of the AIDS epidemic, particularly in Africa. • Understand that the AIDS epidemic is a world wide pandemic that has seriously hurt Africa economically, educationally and socially. • Understand that infectious diseases affect not just individuals, but collectives—families, communities, nations, the world. • SS7CG3.b

10. This was 5 years ago, what do you think it is like now?

11. 2/3 of all people living with HIV are Africans. Nations most affected: South Africa, India, Nigeria.

12. How does Africa compare???

13. Geography • Africa is currently the continent that is suffering the greatest from this virus. • Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected region in the world. • However, researchers fear that another wave of AIDS could also greatly impact the Caribbean and Eastern Europe and Asia. Russia Africa

14. Why is the U.S. so much lower?

15. From Algiers to Cape Town, Africa is dotted with 15 million white tombstones, because that is how many people have died from AIDS. The primary social events in South Africa at present are funerals.

16. Culture of HIV and AIDS • There are several reasons why this dreaded disease affects the continent of Africa: • Some cultures believe in having many children to help with the farming, as a show of wealth and importance. • Lack of knowledge, education and access to medical help. • High risk behaviors cause the spread of HIV.

17. Ignorance is a PROBLEM! • Another reason why HIV – AIDS is spreading so rapidly in Africa is due to a lack of knowledge. • Many people do not know they have HIV or AIDS, and they inadvertently pass it on to other people. • Some people don’t even know what HIV – AIDS is, and they pass it on to other people. • Some people have heard about the virus, but don’t know how it is spread to other people, or how to protect themselves.

18. Presently, Africa has inadequate resources to face the burdens of AIDS, TB, malaria, and other infectious diseases. AIDS has led to a resurgence in the incidence of TB. 1/3 of Africans carry a latent TB infection. Each year, 5-10% of those co-infected with TB & HIV develop active TB; up to 50% will develop TB at some point. African governments actually are reducing health expenditures in order to repay external debt.

19. Government HELP • Many governments are in serious debt and cannot afford to educate or feed their populations. Treatment for HIV is very expensive. • Some governments do not believe that HIV is real or requires special treatment. • Many spend their $$$ on weapons and war with nothing left. • CORRUPTION of officials-$$ in their pockets • NO INFRASTRUCTURE-lack of medical facilities, schools, government offices, social services-UNDEVELOPED NATIONS!!!

20. Poverty: Informal settlements surround the urban centers of Africa.AIDS deepens the traps of poverty, underdevelopment, and marginalization in a globalizing world. More than 1 in 4 South Africans—12.5 million people—live in shantytowns. Within the last year, 900 protests over squalid conditions erupted.

21. Economic Problems • Fewer adults to participate in the workforce. • Fewer businesses, jobs and opportunities • More people that are dependent on others for food, clothing and housing while they are ill. Families are destroyed. • Lower earning power, reducing the GDP • No $ for healthcare or education. • 3:1 hiring policies • Dependant on exports

23. Africa is heavily dependent on the resources it supplies to the world to support their economies.

24. Sub-Saharan Africa • The overall life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa has dropped bit by bit over the past 10 years, mostly because of the AIDS epidemic, the World Health Organization says. • Life expectancy dropped for female babies from 51.1 years to 46.3 years. For males, the level dropped from 47.3 years to 44.8 years. • Compare this to the life expectancy in the United States, 78 years old. • AIDS is now the leading cause of death in Sub-Saharan Africa, far surpassing the traditional deadly diseases of malaria, tuberculosis, and pneumonia. • AIDS killed 2.2 million Africans in 1999, versus 300,000 AIDS deaths 10 years previously.

25. African women & HIV • 60% of HIV+ African adults are women. • 75% of all women with HIV, worldwide, are African. • Young African women of childbearing age have the highest incidence rates.

26. The Face of HIV and AIDS Sub-Saharan Africa

27. As the most productive members of society—teachers, agricultural workers, healthcare personnel, public service staff—are dying from AIDS, the continent is being robbed of its human capacity. Life expectancy has dropped to <40 years in 9 African countries, among them Zimbabwe. There, life expectancy was 52 years in 1990; in 2003, it fell to 34 years.

28. “Doctor, who is going to take care of my children?” AIDS stresses families, as grandparents take care of orphaned children. Parents die, there is loss of income to the family, debt is incurred.

29. Fikelala Children’s Centre in Khayelitsha (Cape Town), South Africa. Infants whose mothers had no access to antiretroviral therapy are being born with HIV and soon after are left as orphans.

30. If present trends continue, by 2025, there will be a missing generation of grandparents. Will there be a sense of family, community? The large number of children orphaned by AIDS will be less skilled, less nurtured, and less socially integrated than their parents were.

31. A religious healer in Lagos, Nigeria talks to women infected by HIV. Without access to medical treatment, many Africans put their faith in spiritual cures.

32. South Africa: Africa’s most developed country. • RSA has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world, >5.3 million; ~3 million women. • One in 4 South Africans is HIV+. • AIDS is the leading cause of death. • More than 1/5 of the workforce is HIV+. • Absenteeism from the workplace has risen with employee deaths from AIDS. • The RSA Dept. of Health Study 2002 estimated that 250 babies per day were infected by mother to child transmission. • AIDS-related illnesses are responsible for 40% of deaths in kids <5 years. Yesterday South Africa is being cast into deepening poverty. The post-apartheid political, social, and economic gains risk being reversed by the downward spiral in health. How can South Africa partner for prosperity with other African nations?

33. PREVENTION • Investment in health systems infrastructure • Voluntary test and counseling • Infection control • Safe blood banks • Vaccine*development • EDUCATION Immunization can eradicate infectious diseases. Most famous example: small pox. Others: polio, measles, H. influenzae type B, Yellow Fever.

34. Inspiration

35. Other Organizations that HELP • World Health Organization provides monies and help. • Doctors for Life • Planet Aid • Bridges for Help • Americares • United Nations World Health

37. The One Campaign • ONE is a new effort by Americans to rally Americans – ONE by ONE – to fight the emergency of global AIDS and extreme poverty.

38. The One Campaign • The ONE campaign believes that allocating an additional ONE percent of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries. • The ONE campaign also calls for debt cancellation, trade reform and anti–corruption measures in a comprehensive package to help Africa and the poorest nations beat AIDS and extreme poverty.

39. Celebrities & the One Campaign Rock star, Bono, of the band U2, is one of the biggest supporters of the One Campaign and speaks around the world about world poverty and the AIDS pandemic.

41. Celebrities Reach Out It is reported that Angelina Jolie gives 1/3 of her salary to fight issues such as AIDS in Africa. Angelina also chose to deliver her baby, Shiloh, in the country of Namibia.

42. When asked why she chose this country for the birth, she stated that it was to raise awareness for issues such as AIDS that have impacted the country, and others around it. • She put the first pictures of her baby up for auction, and donated the money to the country of Namibia. The photos sold for over 4 million dollars – a record amount!

43. Oprah’s Gifts • In December 2003, Oprah began a gift-giving pilgrimage in Africa. On her trip, Oprah have away 50,000 Christmas gifts to orphans and other desperately poor children. • Not satisfied with just playing Santa once a year, Oprah pledged to donate mad cash (we're talking' millions and millions of dollars) to build schools, empower women and help fight AIDS in Africa through her Angel Network.

44. The Future • HIV – AIDS can be stopped if people understand how it is spread and how to protect themselves from this disease. • This requires that people become educated. If people in rural areas learn the facts, instead of the myths, they will be empowered to stop this disease. • Likewise, research is being done that will hopefully one day cure HIV – AIDS, although right now there is no cure.

45. Aid to Africa • Because many nations in Africa are very poor and lack the financial means, people who have AIDS are not able to get the proper medicine or treatment. Because there are so many people with HIV – AIDS, and so little resources, many people die without any medical aid. • Many organizations around the world want to help send money and medical supplies to help “AID” Africa.