AIDS/HIV EPIDEMIC IN AFRICA
...rn of the century(www.gaysouthafrica.org). the third is hundresds of orphans left by young people who have died of aids creates and enormous strain on the welfare services and the country’s budget. Fourthly human resources development will suffer as professional of all disciplines get infected with aids/hiv (www.gayssouthafrica.org). Government lack funds to provide the pharmaceutical drugs needed to prevent aids/hiv. Not so long ago, testing positive for hiv meant an automatic death sentence. Now things have changed for the better. A combination of the drugs introduced about 5 years ago have turned aids from a death sentence to a treatable disease. These drugs are able to prolong life a few more years. Even for people dying of aids, new drugs are available that can restore health temporally. As of 2002, the fda has approved more than forty drugs for the treatment of hiv/aids or aids related conditions (www.aidsinafrica.com). The bad news is that these drugs are very expensive and can only be afforded by a few patients, mostly in advance countries. Few Africans can afford the drugs needed to fight aids, which can cost between $500 and $1,000 a month (www.aidsindafrica.com). Additionally, many African governments do not have the funds to import these drugs. The average africa nation spends less then $10 per person each year on health care (www.aidsindafrica.com). At the same time, these governments have to fight diseases like malaria which accounts up to 40% of African’s public health spending (www.thelutheran.org). even simple antibiotics prescribed to patients who begin to show signs of aids infections like tuberculosis and other bacterial infections, are not available for patients in many Africa countries. The availability of affordable drugs for aids patients should be seen as an urgent situation that needs the attention of the African governments, pharmaceutical companies and the international community. What good is a drug; if 95 percent of the people it was meant to help cannot afford it.? The united states control over the production of the pharmaceutical drugs being imported into Africa. The drugs used to fight aids/HIV are manufactured by pharmaceutical companies usually based in Europe and north America. These companies spend billions of dollars on research and development of hiv/aids drugs. They are therefore determined to profit from their drugs at all costs. This makes them less sympathetic to the troubles of aids patients in Africa. South Africa, Kenya, and Uganda have attempted to produce generic versions of these HIV/aids drugs to help fight the disease in their respective countries. There is nothing illegal about this practice. According to article 31 of the world trade organization (TRIPS) its agreement allowed south Africa and other African countries to produce cheaper drugs due to national emergencies. This attempt has been strongly resisted by the drug companies. They have been able to successfully lobby the us government to the point where former u.s vice president al gore actually threatened south Africa with trade sanctions For trying to develop generic and cheaper drugs to fight aids (www.aidsindafrica.com). According to James Loue the real issue is that the major pharmaceutical companies still maintain control over who can manufacture their original drugs and how much they cost. Social affect: The harsh reality of these ruined lives is painful to witness. Fathers and mothers burying their children. Grandmothers and grandfathers raising their children's children. "This disease will destroy everybody. Clear up everybody", says 68-year-old Mathius Kaseke. He buried his son-in-law a few months ago. Last week he attended his granddaughter's funeral. He will eventually do the same for his own daughter. All of them are victims of AIDS. "Who is going to make the next generation?" asks Mathius. "Nobody," he says, "unless scientists find a cure." According to the most recent UNAIDS report, half of all 15-year-old boys in Zimbabwe can expect to die before the age of 50. A third of the work force will be lost by the year 2005. Life expectancy for women is now only 39 years. No family escapes the scourge of this disease So great is the depth of thi...