Question

Compare and contrast what it is like to live with HIV in different places around the world today.?

Answer 1

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS epidemic has already devastated many individuals, families, and communities. The epidemic has left millions of children orphaned, has disrupted village and community life, and increasingly contributes to the erosion of civil order and economic growth. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), an estimated 34.3 million people worldwide were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 1999 and an estimated 15,000 people become infected each day . Of the global total of people who are living with HIV, 95% live in developing countries . As the epidemic evolves further, rates will continue to rise in communities and nations where poverty, social inequalities, and weak health infrastructures facilitate spread of the virus

At the start of the 21st century, 24.5 million adults and children in sub-Saharan Africa are estimated to have HIV infection or AIDS . UNAIDS/WHO estimated at the end of 1999 that 12.9 million women and 11.6 million men aged 15 to 49 in sub-Saharan Africa were living with HIV (prevalence, 8.57%). In this region, there were approximately 2.2 million HIV/AIDS deaths in 1999 . Between 1986 and 1997, the mortality rate among men aged 15 to 60 increased significantly. Life expectancy in southern Africa rose to 59 years in the early 1990s but, because of AIDS, is likely to drop to 45 years between 2005 and 2010 . Unfortunately, AIDS kills people during their most economically productive years, making it the leading cause of potentially healthy years lost in sub-Saharan Africa as well as the leading cause of death.

The South and Southeast Asia region and the East Asia and Pacific region, home to one half of the world's population, have experienced general improvement in living conditions and economic growth during the past several decades. Prevalence rates in the South and Southeast Asia region and in the East Asia and Pacific region, 0.54 and 0.06%, respectively, continue to be relatively low . However, the number of people infected with HIV has increased steadily, to an estimated 6.1 million adults and children, and the cumulative total of AIDS deaths is 478,000 . The major modes of transmission in these regions are heterosexual transmission and, in some countries, injection drug use. In the South and Southeast Asia region, Cambodia has the highest prevalence rate for adults (4.04%).

India, where 3.7 million Indians were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 1999, has the highest number of HIV-infected persons in Asia. However, given its large population, the overall HIV prevalence rate, 0.70%, is still low . Heterosexual contact with sex workers has been a major risk factor in HIV transmission. Surveillance studies have reported rates among sex workers of 51% in Bombay and 45% in Pune . Prevalence rates in 1997 among women attending antenatal clinics were 2.4% in Mumbai and 4.0% in Ponicherry .

Currently, China is estimated to have more than 500,000 HIV-infected persons. Most (70%) of the reported HIV infections and AIDS cases are among IDUs in Yunnan Province. In this region, HIV infection rates among IDUs range from 38% in Urumqi to 76% in Yining ; however, transmission due to heterosexual contact is also increasing in southern China (93; Y. Shao, L. Su, X. H. Sun, H. Xing, P. L. Pan, H. Wolf, and J. Shen, Program Abstr. XII Int. Conf. AIDS, Geneva, Switzerland, abstr. 13132, 1998). Increases in other STDs are also an important risk factor for HIV in this region. In 1997, 462,000 patients were reported as having STDs, an increase of 16% since 1996. Given China's population of more than 1.3 billion, even small increases in prevalence will translate into large numbers of people affected by HIV