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

The Oppression of Women Drives The assist Epidemic in Africa Africa is facing a devastating crisis with respect to the AIDS pestiferous, currently accounting for over 70% of the worlds HIV-positive population. There are, of course, many factors that drive the explosive transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, but in the tangled web that is the epidemic in Africa, many of these issues share a common thread. The oppression of women in Africa can be considered the virus cultural vector. Females are rendered powerless in African societies, and subsisting gender inequalities are largely responsible for the spread of the disease. Females disadvantaged position in society is intrinsic all(prenominal)y linked to the subordination of women in their relationships with men. In baffle for progress to be made, an examination of gender relations and empowerment for women must take place. To be successful, AIDS campaigns must be built on the existing organizational skills of women, b ut must incorporate men as well. The blatantly skewed distribution of power in African patriarchal societies makes women extremely endangered but has dangerous implications for all.To examine the forces that steer the epidemic down its course, the epidemiology of HIV and AIDS in Africa must first be considered. More than 80% of all HIV infections in Africa are acquired through heterosexual contact. This statistic is grossly out of balance with the 13% rate of infection through heterosexual contact in the United States. Vertical transmission from mother to child is the second most common route for the virus to take in Africa (Essex et al., 158). These rates are slackly 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 disparity is a direct result of differences in the nations wealth. African nations simply cannot afford to provide the drug to infected pregnant women. The continued t ransmission of HIV through contaminated lineage during processes such as blood transfusions is another dismal consequence of poverty and inferior health services in many African countries. This method accounts for the third most important elan of transmission, one that has been virtually eradicated in many countries because the technology is available to prevent 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.