The Oppression of Women Drives The AIDS Epidemic in Africa :: Disease AIDS Essays Africa Women

The Oppression of Women Drives The AIDS Epidemic in Africa Africa is facing a devastating crisis with respect to the AIDS epidemic, currently accounting for over 70% of the worlds human immunodeficiency virus-positive population. There ar, of course, many factors that drive the explosive transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, exactly in the tangled web that is the epidemic in Africa, many of these issues pct a common thread. The oppression of women in Africa can be considered the virus heathenish vector. Females are rendered powerless in African societies, and be gender inequalities are largely responsible for the spread of the disease. Females disadvantaged position in society is intrinsically linked to the subordination of women in their relationships with men. In order for jump on to be made, an examination of gender relations and empowerment for women must leave place. To be successful, AIDS campaigns must be built on the existing organizational skills of women , but must incorporate men as well. The blatantly skewed distribution of power in African patriarchal societies makes women passing vulnerable but has dangerous implications for all.To examine the forces that steer the epidemic graduate its course, the epidemiology of HIV and AIDS in Africa must first be considered. to a greater extent than 80% of all HIV infections in Africa are acquired done straightaway contact. This statistic is grossly out of balance with the 13% rate of infection through heterosexual contact in the United States. Vertical transmission from go to child is the second most common route for the virus to moot in Africa (Essex et al., 158). These rates are generally much higher than in the United States and Europe, where the use of a drug called neviropine has drastically reduced mother-to-child transmission. This discrepancy is a direct result of differences in the nations wealth. African nations simply cannot dedicate to provide the drug to infected pregna nt women. The continued transmission of HIV through contaminated blood during processes such as blood transfusions is another(prenominal) dismal consequence of poverty and inferior health services in many African countries. This method accounts for the third most important temper of transmission, one that has been virtually eradicated in many countries because the technology is available to interdict it (Essex et al., 159). Part of what makes the situation in Africa so devastating is that the primary roads the virus travels in Africa were shut down long ago in other countries. Much of the worlds population already takes many of the roadblocks for granted.