HIV & AIDS: spreading across the world

HIV/AIDS is a global problem for which no cure has been found to date.  AIDS is one of the world’s main causes of death and the main cause of death in Sub-Sahara Africa. Three out of four people dying from AIDS live in Africa. In 2007, around 40 million people in the world were HIV-infected; 2.5 million of these were children under the age of 15 years (UN report AIDS Epidemic Update 2007).

AIDS and HIV do not discriminate. They are an epidemic and that must be fought.

Some facts about HIV/AIDS:

• 40 million people around the world are living with HIV/AIDS in 2007.
• Every day 6000 new HIV infections occur.
• Approximately 11 of every 1,000 adults (ages 15 to 49) are infected with HIV.
• More than 15 million children have so far been orphaned by AIDS, 12.3 in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• In some African countries as much as 13% of the child population is orphaned. An estimated 25 million children will be orphaned by 2010 because of AIDS.
• Over 28 million people have died since the first AIDS case was identified in 1980. 96% of people with HIV live in the developing world, most in sub-Saharan Africa. In some parts of Africa, one-third of all pregnant women have HIV/AIDS. In Swaziland, for example, nearly 40% of pregnant women are HIV-positive.
• Adult infection rates in sub-Saharan Africa have reached as high as 37% in Botswana and 39% in Swaziland.

HIV can be passed on through some of the body's fluids. HIV is in:

• blood
• semen
• vaginal fluids
• breast milk
• some body fluids sometimes handled by health care workers (fluids surrounding the brain and spinal cord, bone joints, and around an unborn baby)

HIV is passed from one person to another by:

• having sex (vaginal, anal or oral) with a person who has HIV
• sharing needles with a drug user who has HIV
• during pregnancy, birth or breast-feeding if a mother has HIV
• getting transfusions of blood with HIV.

HIV does not survive well outside the body and despite the many myths surrounding this topic HIV cannot be transmitted through casual, everyday contact.  Here are the facts:

• You cannot get HIV from shaking hands or hugging a person with HIV/AIDS.
• You cannot get HIV from using a public telephone, drinking fountain, restroom, swimming pool, jacuzzi or hot tub.
• You cannot get HIV from sharing a drink.
• You cannot get HIV from being coughed or sneezed on by a person with HIV/AIDS.
• You cannot get HIV from giving blood.
• You cannot get HIV from a mosquito bite.

The majority of people infected with HIV, if not treated, develop signs of HIV-related illness within 5-10 years, but the time between being infected with HIV and being diagnosed with AIDS can be 10–15 years, sometimes longer. Antiretroviral therapy can slow down disease progression to AIDS by decreasing the infected person’s viral load.