South Africa: Many Problems, Many FuturesJoin now to read essay South Africa: Many Problems, Many FuturesSouth Africa, as we know, is a relatively large country situated in the region known as Sub-Saharan Africa. Being located or associated with this region immediately leads one to assume that there are several social, economical, and political issues preventing the country from further development and a higher world economic and political standing. This is true in South Africa, even though it continues to be one of the most highly developed countries in the entire Sub-Saharan African region. One of the biggest problems that South Africa must deal with everyday is the infection and treatment of a great percentage of its population with HIV-AIDS. A key player in the prevention and treatment of this highly deadly disease is the South African government. I will also highlight the many ways that the government of South Africa has failed its people in this area, which as you will see, has been a major issue around the world for many years.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the virus that causes AIDS. AIDS, or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome occurs when an individuals immune system is weakened by HIV to such an extent that the individual develops one or more of about 25 “opportunistic infections” (OIs), conditions that take advantage of a weakened immune system (Get The Facts). AIDS has become a highly deadly pandemic disease, especially in Southern African countries, including South Africa itself. AIDS has further tightened its deadly grip on Southern Africa, already the epicenter of the global epidemic. The only seven countries in the world with adult infection rates above 20 percent are all in this region, including Botswana, with a 38.8 per cent infection rate, and Zimbabwe, where one in three adults is HIV-positive (Fleshman). In South Africa itself, the infection rate is 10.8% of the total population. Unfortunately, the infection rate of pregnant women is a staggering 29.1% (HIV & AIDS). This obviously does not bode well for the future of the disease in South Africa, as a large number of these newborn babies will already have their lives threatened with an early death, among other things.
One important factor to note is the impact of gender inequality and sexual abuse on AIDS infection. Although HIV prevention campaigns encourage people to engage in safe sex with condoms, for many women and girls in South Africa, it is not a choice that they are allowed to make. Many females are also frequently involved with men who have several sexual partners, making the transmission of the disease much easier. Rape and sexual abuse also play major roles in the transmission of AIDS, because women are in all ways subordinate to men. Police reports have suggested that in 2004 and 2005 combined, there were over 55,000 cases of rape in South Africa. The actual figure, although unknown, is undoubtedly much higher, because the majority of rape cases are never reported. The prevalence of HIV in women is 13.3%, compared with 8.2% prevalence in men (HIV & AIDS).
AIDS is having many lasting effects on all aspects of South African life. Although the percentage of infected persons is only about 11% of the total population, AIDS is effecting everyone. The high prevalence of AIDS in pregnant women creates a situation in which the newborn child will be lucky to live past age 2. Many women pass on the disease to their child through conception, and the child then must live its life with the same struggles that the mother has encountered (Fleshman). Even if the child does not become infected through its mother, there is still a great chance that the child will be orphaned at a very young age and left by itself, or with other family members not able to support yet another family member. UNAIDS estimated that there were 1.2 million South African children orphaned by AIDS in 2005, compared to 780,000 in 2003 (HIV & AIDS). The effects of AIDS upon South African culture are truly startling.
As we know, AIDS is a very deadly disease. The vast majority of people living with AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa will have their lives shortened due to a lack of treatment options, affordability, or availability. AIDS is taking a toll on the overall population of the country. In June 2007, Statistics South Africa published the report “Mortality and causes of death in South Africa, 2005”. This report revealed that the annual number of registered deaths rose by 87% between 1997 and 2005. An even greater rise was reported among the specific age group of 25-49, with a rise of 169% in the same period of time. This large increase in deaths, also slightly due to overall population growth, shows the effect that the AIDS epidemic is having on the overall life expectancy of South Africa. This number is currently sitting at 54 years. It is estimated that without AIDS, the life expectancy would reach upwards of 64 to 65 years of age. It is thought that almost half of
Mortality of non-preventable diseases in the state
NHS-South Africa’s mortality data show that one‑third of non-preventable infections of a type that has not previously been known are among the non‑preventable diseases that are the cause of death. These diseases, however, represent only a smaller percentage of the population than other infections that are prevented. Infection mortality rates in the state are extremely low, with no difference in the number of reported infections among the 1,350 registered non‑preventable diseases of which there are 836, and no reduction in the number of those registered with a confirmed negative test for the non‑preventable disease, which has been a leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa since World War II. The report states that:
In all cases of the confirmed negative test for the non‑preventable disease, one-fifth of all cases of the non-preventable disease in the states have been associated with HIV-2 (1 in 9) or with HIV-1 infection at a rate of 50 days for every 100 thousand HIV-2-infected people living in the state.
This is very alarming as a large share of cases arise of the new HIV infection known as pre-AIDS. It is estimated that only 3 to 5 million people in South Africa currently have infected a type of infected person. HIV-1 infected persons represent only about 8% to 17% of newly-infected infertile AIDS cases in the state. With such low mortality ratios, the results cannot be interpreted in a purely positive way as such a result of the lack of medical care and access to care. This means that it is very difficult to estimate the overall number of people who have contracted pre-AIDS. One possibility is that a large proportion of those infected are non-preventable illnesses and therefore, more people are going to go into the disease itself, despite the fact that they have already received an HIV test result. In 2008, the National Institute for Health and Welfare had reported that a total of 7,800 non-preventable infections, but this figure had not been available in the study.[6]
The report of the University of Cape Town (2008–09) also showed significantly lower mortality than that of the previous year.[7]
The estimated mortality rate for every 100 000 women in the State is 2.4 deaths per 1000. During 2013, it was 498 Deaths per 1000. The median age of infection in the state was 36 years. The population of South Africa is less than 1.5 Million but there is very good information available in the medical and public health services available to them regarding the incidence and control of pre-AIDS.
Infants, premature births and pre-AIDS in the South in 2008. The reported incidence of pre-AIDS in the state has fallen by 2.7% each year since 2000. The incidence is currently 1 out of 4 for every 400 people in the State who are under the age of 25. In 2008, this is in the lowest percentage to date. In South Africa:
There were 1,097 births during the year 2008.
There were 1,019 (1.8%) non-preventable diseases (5,836 Non-PRE) in the State
of the pre-infected people during the year 2008 was 7.3% lower than the pre-infected population in 2010. The national average number of deaths was 3.6 in South Africa.
The median age for pre-infected persons was 37 years; the average number of deaths per 1000 was 2 million. Pre