AIDS Project

Jared Slaybaugh

Mr. Haskell

World History/E-Core

26, March 2004

AIDS

Definition and Background

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. These Four words have caused millions to suffer and die. AIDS is a disease that causes the immune system to shut down, making a simple cold, deadly. It can be spread to any person of race, sexuality, size, or weight. It is one of the worlds biggest unresolved problems. AIDS is a great plague that is present everywhere and has already claimed the lives of 23 million, and if not stopped, it will claim millions more.

This disease first started coming up in 1981 when homosexual men started coming in with cases of Pneumonia. (John Lenard, Pg. 25)The Doctors treated the men, but a week later they came back with the same case. This was when the doctors diagnosed the patients with this disease. At first people only thought that this disease was only caught by homosexual men, but soon, women started to be diagnosed with AIDS, and the word was out. They actually called it Gay Cancer, and from the early 1970s to 1981, it had claimed 121 people in the US. (David Johnson, info please.com)

In 1985, Congress allocates $70 million for AIDS research. This brings up the fact that people are starting to realize that this is a bigger problem that they had every thought.

By 1991, 10 million people worldwide were estimated to be HIV-positive, including 1 million in U.S.; more than 36,000 Americans had died of AIDS since the late 1970s. (David Johnson, info please.com).

Current Status/Recent Events

Today over 23 million have died due to the aids plague. This has caused the United States to spend over 6.9 billion people to use treatment in 2001. The UN estimates that over 3 million people died in 2001 alone. (David Johnson, info please.com). One of the most populated places is Africa.

Over 2 million Children Die From AIDS every year, mostly from Africa. 13.2 million children have been orphaned due to aids; 12.1 million of those are from Africa. (John Christiansen, CNN.com) More than 500,000 babies were infected with AIDS in 1999 by their mothers. 24.5 million Africans are infected with AIDS right now.

The vice president of world vision quoted, If you can reach a child by the time that they are 5, than there is a very good chance they dont have AIDS. If you can reach them before 15, and really help them understand what AIDS is and how it is contracted, and why it is important, to abstain from sex until a time when a committed relationship is available to them, you often can save a life. (Steve Haas, World Vision).

Analysis/Recent Flare Ups

The Statistics I have quoted, paint a very sad picture of the world. However I believe that there is hope. In That hope, people like President Bush can make a difference.

In Bushs State of the Union Address in 2003, he committed to a 5 year global Aids initiative where the USA will give $3 billion dollars a year for the prevention, treatment, and care programs for HIV/AIDS. There is some hope that we are giving that wont cure the problem for good, but lower the amount of death.

In this fight against AIDS, education is one of the most important factors in saving lives. Kids in Africa are contracting the disease too late, due to lack of education. In Africa, people dont like to talk about sexual matters, but because of the devastation of AIDS, Silence is the biggest enemy. Like what the world vision vice president quoted before, if you can educate the people, you can probably save their life.

A recent study for the CIA predicted that the number of infected people in five next wave countries India, China, Russia, Ethiopia, and Nigeria will rocket over the next decade. India, which has a figure of 20 25 million people with HIV/AIDS, will rise far higher than any other country in the next decade. (UNDP, our response)

Previous Attempts

In think the case of AIDS, the biggest problem with the previous attempts was that people didnt take the problem serious enough. People only thought that only Gay people could only get it. So due to the lack of caring about it, and the actual education was the biggest problem.

The lack of caring was the scariest part when people were trying to prevent the problem. The people thought that it could never happen to them. The public was very naïve when it came to this Subject. Like I said before, they called AIDS the gay cancer, not knowing that it wasnt just gay men, it was pandemic.

People have tried the same thing that we are trying now. The only difference is that now we know much more, and before they did a much worse job. The lack of knowing the disease, caused the failure of the outbreak.

The worlds record so far, in responding to this new crisis can only be described as a failure. But now there is a new way to stop this problem. There is a movement that has already been a major success for one country. That movement is that of Abstinence. Due to people not practicing this method, many have died. But that was the past, and there is a not so dim future ahead.

Prediction

I predict that although we are making an effort to fix the problem, more and more people will continue to keep on contracting the disease. However, I think that if people start practicing abstinence, the rates will drop and become lower, but not completely go away for a long time.

In the coming years there is going to be even more deaths. In fact there is expected to be 70 million people who have aids in the next 10 years. (AIDS.com). There is an estimated 42 million people throughout the globe currently living with HIV today and predictions say that this is just the beginning. (AIDS.com).

25 million children will be orphaned by 2010. (AIDS.com) To me that is absolutely overwhelming. The rate of this disease is increasing very rapidly, as well as the human population. With these rapid growths, millions more will suffer. That is why I predict that this problem is not going to be solved for a very long time.

The only people who can be treated, are the rich and famous. These people can not be cured, but they can make their life longer. There are Drugs out there that can do that. A great example of this is Ervin Magic Johnson. He has AIDS but he takes drugs that prolong his life, which is pretty ridiculous to think that he will die young. This makes me think of how far away we are from curing this wretched disease.

Solution

A solution to me is like me killing a fly and stating that I want to exterminate the whole fly population. We are so far away from a solution. There have been some attempts in the past, but they have not been successful. They have not even began to think of a way to cure this terrible disease. It is quite sad actually, to think that we have no solution to this problem.

A World Relief worker once said, working as an HIV/AIDS caregiver, can be like navigating in a dense fog with no end in sight a constant struggling with hopelessness from watching people die every day.

Although this problem has not stopped, there are those who are fighting back. (World Vision)

Hope is on the rise for countries like Uganda, who have made a rapid change in their beliefs. The Ugandans have told their people to take a stand and to stay abstinent. In 1991 the percentage of people with HIV/AIDS was over 21.2 percent. From people taking a stand, and practicing abstinence, the percentage has substantially dropped to 6.2 percent.

There is a way, and one country has proven that it is possible. It will not be easy but if we practice abstinence, we will save millions.

Words Cited

AIDS HIV Facts. American International AIDS Foundation. 2004. February 2004. http://aids.com

John Lenard Questions & Answers on AIDS

AIDS Merck Source. 2004. Merck &Co 25 February 2004.

http://mercksource.com/aids

John Christensen. AIDS in Africa: Dying by the Numbers.

CNN 2000. February 25, 2004 http://cnn.com/specials/2000/aids/stories/overview

John s James. AIDS, Opposing Viewpoints. 1998

Janet Chismar Christians respond to Aids Pandemic February 2004

http://worldvision.com/aids