The Inequalities Within the AIDS Epidemic

The Inequalities Within the AIDS Epidemic

1980. Nearly 16,000 people have died of AIDS in America, before President Reagan had even said the word AIDS to the public, or even acknowledged its existence. For many years in America and other developed countries, AIDS was a source of discrimination and an invisible, ignored source of suffering. While much progress has been made, even today, however, in Southern Africa, more than 2.7 million young people are still living with AIDS. The World Health Organization estimates that AIDS remains the largest source of deaths in Africa.

Within this larger issue of AIDS in Africa, more troubling factors come into play, skewing the effect that AIDS has on people of various genders, ages, and wealth. This results in an asymmetrical, disproportionate impact, with certain groups of people more likely to be affected by AIDS than others. Younger women, around adolescence, for example, face substantially higher rates of HIV infection. UNICEF found that the HIV prevalence in young women, aged 15 to 24, is two times higher than among men of the same age. PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, estimates that 7,000 young women are infected with AIDS each week (DeCapua). While research is still being done as to why this occurs, factors may include the inability to access forms of STD-prevention, such as condoms, and a lack of gender-specific education on AIDS prevention (UNICEF). Beyond gender and age, external factors such as poverty also affect the rate of HIV transmission.

In areas of poverty, where many people face already worse living conditions and neglect, HIV/AIDS infection runs rampant. Multiple studies, mathematically analyzed by the University of Hull, show that the urban poor do see a disadvantage when facing HIV. Detriments that already manifest themselves within people of poverty: unemployment, discrimination, violence, and crime, seem to further contribute to this disproportionate spread of AIDS. However, this trend seemed only to apply to those in urban areas, not rural. The Institute for Futures Studies believes that this is due to a lack of social cohesion in urban settings. This social cohesion, missing in these urban African communities, is important for establishing norms and building relationships with trust, which would prevent an excessive transmission of HIV (Magadi).

While 69% of all AIDS infections are located in sub-Saharan Africa alone, this disease is not just an epidemic to be measured merely by a death toll or some other gigantic aggregating statistic, it is also a disease of inequality (Gordimer). Overall, there are multiple layers to consider when facing the AIDS epidemic. The issue of HIV/AIDS infection goes deeper, closely relating itself to the pre-existing social conditions within Africa. Issues of poverty, gender, and even a lack of education, result in a disproportionate rate of infection.

Works Cited:

DeCapua, Joe. "PEPFAR: Young Women Bear HIV Burden." Voice of America. 30 Apr. 
2015. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.

Gordimer, Nadine. "Africa's Plague, and Everyone's. (69% of World's AIDS and H.I.V. 
Victims Are in Sub-Saharan Africa)." Global Issues in Context. New York Times, 
11 Apr. 2000. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.  

Grillot, Suzette, and Brian Hardzinski. "Anthropologist Adia Benton Explains Evolving

Response, Attitude Toward HIV/AIDS In Africa." KGOU. 17 Feb. 2016. Web. 04 
Mar. 2016.

Magadi, Monico A. "The Disproportionate High Risk of HIV Infection And the Urban 
Poor in Sub-Saharan Africa." AIDS and Behavior 17.5 (2013): 1-11. SpringerLink. 
The Author(s), 4 June 2012. Web. 8 Mar. 2016.

"Preventing HIV Infection among Adolescents and Young People." UNICEF Eastern and

Southern Africa. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.