Zanele a young, good looking and intelligent woman - is
suffering from AIDS. She was infected
at the age of nine as a result of having been raped by her stepbrother.
She had carried that virus
for six years without being aware of it. Because she had not been to a
doctor until she had come
under Foster Care, she did not know of the deadly consequences of her
illness until she was
sixteen . While her care-giver cried bitterly, Zanele just said
“And? What about it?” Zanele
reacted like that because she didn`t know about this illness as most
African women did; however,
in contrast to most African women, Zanele had the opportunity to
receive good medication and to
live an almost normal life.
The number of people suffering from AIDS is alarmingly high. By the
latest count in 2006, there
have been 39,500,000 HIV- positive tested adults and children
worldwide. More than half of them
(24,700,000) are living in Sub Saharan Africa.
But why is it so common over there? There are many reasons.
One is that many women depend on the money they earn as a prostitute.
In this job they are exposed
to men who want to have non-protected sex and often use practices which
hurt the women. Also the
high number and often changing sex partners benefit the high HIV rate
for prostitutes.
A further reason is the poverty. Because most of the families have
already a hard time to feed the
whole family, they mostly cannot afford health insurance, medication or
contraceptives. The
education of the children is also controlled by the poverty. Because
the younger members of the
family have to work for the family, they are not able to go to school.
If they were in school,
they would be able to learn about HIV and AIDS, as well as how these
are contracted and the ways
to protect themselves against them.
There is also the concern of passing on the disease within the family.
On an average, African
families, for example, are larger than German families. The larger
number of children represents
good luck for the family as well as more security for the older members
as they retire and would
be cared for by their children.
The risk of an infection starts with birth. Although there does not
have to be a transmission, the
chances are high that the baby of an infected woman would also have the
virus. Even though a baby
would be healthy, it could still be infected during the lactation.
Another dangerous aspect is the fact that the infection is often
concealed, because if one member
of the family has the virus, it means disgrace for the whole family.
When the infection occurs, the progression of the virus is not
able to
be stopped. Within about
two weeks, after the infection flu-like symptoms appear. Most of the
concerned persons suffer from
fever, tiredness, general illness, loss of appetite, aches in the head
as well as in the muscles,
night sweat, skin rash, sickness, diarrhoea, mouth abscesses, stiff
neck, swollen lymph nodes and
sensitivity to light.
After this the latency phase begins. This phase lasts nine to eleven
years, but of course there
are exceptions. During this time the infected person does not have any
physical problems; however,
once the person is aware of the infection, this could cause many
psychological problems. During
this apparently good time the virus usually spreads on the whole body.
After that the stage of illness begins. When specific infections or
malignant tumours, so called
AIDS defining illnesses, have been found, the diagnosis is AIDS. These
special infections are not
dangerous for a healthy immune system, but in combination with a
weakened system, they can cause
the final outbreak of the virus. The concerned person is suffering the
combination of these
infections as well as tumours, which are also called
“opportune infections”.
The HI-Virus consists of an exterior cover which connects the
virus
with the host cell and an
inside crown cap, which contains the blueprint of the virus, the RNA.
Additionally, the virus
contains enzymes which coordinate the progeny of the host cell. Cells
on which the virus wants to
connect have to hold the special protein CD4, which serves as an
identifying feature. Most
interesting for the HI-Virus are the T- helping cells, which are very
important for the human
immune system as well as to some intestinal, brain and skin cells. On
the surface of each of them
you can find the CD4 protein. The T-helping cells carry out an
important function in the human
body. For example they afford protection against organisms which cause
diseases, such as a virus
or bacilli. Through the infection caused by the HI-Virus, the T-helping
cells become destroyed and
so the immune system, the defence system of the human body, grows
weaker. When the HI-Virus
connects with the host cell, the host cell absorbs it and the cover of
the HI-Virus breaks. So the
host cell contains the genetic information of the virus. The HIV uses
the infected cell to copy
this genetic information again and again. It also uses it to build new
proteins for a new virus.
To do that, the HI-Virus moderates its genetic information, the RNA, to
fit to the genetic
information of the host cell, the DNA. The newly assigned viral genetic
information is built into
the host cell with the help of the enzyme ligase. Then the production
of the new virus-proteins
begins. But before the HI-Virus can be built together, the proteins
have to be trimmed to fit.
That happens through the help of the enzyme protease. At the end the
newly formed virus leaves the
host cell and is able to infect new cells.
So, without the right medication, the immune system is helplessly
exposed to the HI-Virus.
One out of every ten adults in sub-Saharan Africa suffers from
AIDS
which also has serious social
and economic consequences.
Already in 1999 on the World AIDS Conference in Zambia, different
states announced AIDS as a
disaster hindering development. In 2001 at the extra General Assembly,
the people appealed for new
arrangements. But it took a long time until this awareness also reached
the Government and the
making of policies started. At the present time, AIDS continues to be
an important element of
every discussion and strategy to eradicate poverty.
Sub Saharan Africa always was and still is one of the poorest parts of
the world. According to the
World Bank classification, 38 of the 49 states are considered poor.
Almost half of the population
is living in poverty. That means that they live with just one dollar
per day.
Their low participation (2%) on the global trade clarifies that. That
has a lot of reasons. The
economy is influenced by the low industrial and agricultural
efficiency, the low level of
education and the high participation in a subsistence economy, that
means that many farmers can
not earn money with their work, because mostly they just reach a self-
sufficiency. Furthermore
the dependency on a few agricultural and industrial resources controls
the economy. Production
only for local markets as well as very little integration in the global
economy result in great
poverty. Poverty intensifies the AIDS problem; while, on the other
hand, the AIDS problem
intensifies the poverty.
For example, the factor worker is influenced by AIDS. That comes
through the fact that most of the
infected, apart from infants , die at an economically very productive
age. As a result, there are
significant changes in the African society.
Although the death rate has decreased since the sixties through the
improvement of living
conditions, the number of people with AIDS has increased lately, and
especially in the poorer and
highly affected countries, the death rate has also increased.
With a further increasing death rate, several influences on the
business sector are guaranteed. At
first, the increasing absence rate of the workforce, higher costs for
sick- and death benefits,
higher wages resulted in a decrease of really good workers as well as a
lower efficiency rate.
Many of the people who are dying are from the military, the
administration , and skilled
professionals such as teachers, as well as many more who are important
for the development of the
country.
Also influences on the household are guaranteed. Because of the illness
or death of a family
member, the number of orphans and homeless children increases. The
family has to endure
increasing costs for illness, death and funeral, making it impossible
to save money as well as
having less buying power.
The overcoming of AIDS in Africa depends on different
developments:
On the one hand it depend on the different charity organizations
worldwide, which fight for the
overcoming. With donations they can serve the people with the essential
medication, so that they
can have a much more acceptable life as they would have without their
help. But the organizations
do not just reach single families, with the building of a new health
centre, for example, a bigger
part of the population can be reached. Accommodations like this can
also support the prevention of
Aids. In many cases a psychologist, who talks to the woman and
children, can be really helpful.
On the other hand a lot of people ask themselves, “What can I
do for the overcoming”, besides
donations. The point is that although we are thousands of miles away
from Africa we have to be
aware of the fact that Aids is an issue we all have to think about and
above all speak about.
Even if people do not have the money to build a new hospital, as long
as they do not keep silence about Aids they help people in Africa and
all over the world to be not forgotten.
The example of Zanele, the young woman with a boyfriend, who loves to
listen to music, dance,
laugh, have fun and dream about having her own children, certainly
indicates that this goal can be
reached.
Charlotte Mann
Sources:
http://www.geolinde.musin.de/afrika/html/aids/aids06.htm http://www.internationalepolitik.de/ip/archiv/jahrgang2001/november01/armut-und-aids--auswirkungen-auf-wirtschaft-und-gesellschaft-im-sudlichen-afrika.html