HIV and AIDS in sub Saharan Africa

HIV and AIDS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA : The problems

and solutions

1 .0 Introduction

UNAIDS (2006 ) states Africa is the world 's second largest continent encompassing about 22 of the million square miles . The Sub-Saharan region covers the entire continent with the exception of the northernmost countries of Algeria , Egypt Libya , Morocco , Tunisia , Western Sahara and , arguably , Mauritania (The Canadian International Development Agency . Sub-Saharan Africa is faced with numerous challenges and is characterized by high population growth an increasing HIV /AIDS health crisis , limited financial resources negative growth in agricultural and

economic output , drought and political instability

Sub-Saharan Africa has significantly greater prevalence of People Living with HIV /AIDS (PLWHA ) than anywhere else in the world (UNAIDS , 2006 Although it accounts for only 10 of the world 's population , it has 63 of the PLWHA . Seventy-two percent of the estimated 2 .1 million AIDS-related deaths in 2006 were in Sub-Saharan Africa (UNAIDS /WHO 2006 . Of the 380 ,000 children who died in 2006 of AIDS , 87 (330 ,000 were in Sub-Saharan Africa . Although the epidemic has stabilized in the region , this means that the numbers of people who are newly affected with HIV are still roughly equivalent to the number of people who are dying from AIDS

There are regional variations of AIDS patterns within Sub-Saharan Africa . AIDS can be considered as multiple , regional epidemics (UNAIDS 2004b . In East Africa , Uganda has had the greatest gradual decline in prevalence rates , combating the problem...