 HIV
AIDS |
Issue 93 |
World AIDS Day 2004: Listen to the women
The theme for this year's World AIDS Day is "Have you heard me today?" The focus is on how the unequal status of women in our world contributes to both the transmission of HIV and the impact of AIDS itself. The UN campaign for this year seeks to give a voice to women who are more and more at risk of contracting the disease as well as carrying the bulk of the burden of the effects of HIV and AIDS in the community.
Winnie's story is typical of many in Africa. Her husband went away to work in the gold mines of South Africa. When he returned he fell ill. He infected Winnie with HIV and he later died of AIDS. She in turn infected her daughter through breastfeeding.
Winnie and her daughter are now both ill. Winnie has had to give up work so she can look after herself and her sick daughter. She now cannot afford to provide all the necessities like fruit and vegetables for herself and her daughter. She has been rejected by most of her former friends. She has joined a support group which at least gives her some comfort.
Winnie accepts that she and her daughter will die. Drug therapies freely available in countries like Australia or the USA are simply too expensive or not even available. The health systems of developing countries are unable to cope with the epidemic which has had such a major impact on huge numbers of individuals and communities.
In the early days of the epidemic, men infected with HIV vastly outnumbered women. Today around 50% of those with the virus are women. In sub-Saharan Africa the figure is closer to 60%. New infections are at an even higher rate in this region. 75% of young people infected are girls aged 15 to 24. Even in the USA, the leading cause of death for African-American women aged 25 to 34 is AIDS.
The Impact of HIV and AIDS
AIDS is by far the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. More than 15 million Africans have already died from AIDS out of a total of 20 million deaths worldwide. In 2003, 2.2 million adults and children died as a result of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa out of a total of 3 million worldwide. Nearly two-thirds of the world's HIV-positive people live in this part of the world despite only containing around 10% of the world's population.
HIV/AIDS can cause households that are already experiencing poverty to become even poorer. If one parent becomes infected, that means a loss of income for the household due to one person not being able to work and less time for the other to work due to the fact that the sick person will need to be cared for.
This will divert time away from income earning activities. HIV/AIDS diverts scarce resources away from other activities so that the standard of living will be lower than it otherwise might be. Time and money must be devoted to caring for the sick and the dying as well as the orphaned. This work is mostly done by women who might otherwise be growing crops or providing for the household in other ways.
This lower income means fewer resources available for essentials such as food, medicines or education. All these things mean that life chances for the surviving members of the household will be reduced. Surviving children will become orphans and need to be cared for by relatives or community organisations. So far, the United Nations estimates that 13 million children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS.
Poverty and HIV/ AIDS
Poverty is both a cause and effect of HIV/AIDS. The poor are perhaps likely to be undernourished and therefore their immune system may be weakened, making them more vulnerable to infection. The poor are also less likely to have access to health care services or to education. This again makes them more vulnerable to infection as they will not have adequate knowledge of the risks.
Once infected people are unable to work, medicines need to be paid for as do funerals. This causes further suffering for families and communities. Medical staff and teachers are also vulnerable to infection which makes the whole situation even worse. It is difficult to break the cycle of poverty, infection and further poverty. Imagine a town where there were only grandparents and young children, where there are few teachers and even fewer health workers. This will become the reality for many communities in some of the poorest parts of the world.
"The global HIV/AIDS epidemic is an unprecedented crisis that requires an unprecedented response. In particular it requires solidarity - between the healthy and the sick, between rich and poor, and above all, between richer and poorer nations. We have 30 million orphans already. How many more do we have to get, to wake up?"
- Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General
Go to www.unaids.org/en/default.asp for more information
Caritas Australia's World AIDS Day Event for Year 10-11 students in Sydney 1 December 9.15am - midday.
There will be two guest speakers Sr Tarcisia Hunhoff from National Catholic AIDS Office, PNG and Judy Michaels, HIV counsellor for STOP AIDS Centre, Port Moresby, PNG. Both women will be sharing information about the AIDS pandemic and positive initiatives that are happening in PNG. For more information contact Melissa Mottram ph: (02) 9923 3436.
Science
1) How much do you already know about HIV/AIDS? Complete the quiz at
www.unicef.org/voy/explore/aids/
713_hiv_quiz.php?quiz=aids&lang=en or the quiz at www.avert.org/generalquiz.htm
2) Research
the origins of HIV. Go to www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEPC/WWC/1994/
aids_virus_I.html and
answer the following:
- When and where did the HIV virus originate?
- When did the disease leave Africa?
- When did the disease find its way to Europe and the USA?
3) Go to www.newint.org/issue346/primer.htm and answer the following:
- What do the letters AIDS stand for?
- What does HIV stand for?
- What causes AIDS?
- What do T-cells do?
- How does HIV affect the T-cells?
- If your T-cell count is low what happens to your resistance to other diseases?
- What types of diseases commonly take advantage of the lowered resistance level?
- Apart from prevention, what is the major way of treating HIV?
Go to www.kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/
infection/hiv.html for
even simpler information especially for younger students
Go to www.accessmed-msf.org/prod/publications.asp?
scntid=3112004128402&contenttype=PARA& to
find out about the cost of such treatment for children. Why is the cost
so much higher for children?
Scroll down to the end of the press release and note why this is so concerning, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.
A simulation of how quickly an infectious disease like HIV can spread
can be done by a simple experiment using Drano and a base indicator like
phenolphthalein solution. This experiment is explained in detail at www.accessexcellence.org/AE/AEPC/WWC/
1993/the_spread.html
Go to www.accessexcellence.org/AE/ATG/data/
released/0358-GenNelson/index.html for
a suggested research assignment on infectious diseases like HIV which
would be suitable for a senior Biology class.
Mathematics
1) Of the 40 million people with HIV only about 440,000 have access to treatment. What percentage is this?
2) Go to www.avert.org/worldstats.htm and create column graphs from the information in the table.
3) What percentage of the total number of those living with HIV/ AIDS live in Sub-Saharan Africa?
4) Which are the three worst regions for those with HIV/AIDS?
5) Is there any connection between the worst affected regions and levels of poverty?
6) Go to www.avert.org/ausstatg.htm and answer the following:
- What has been the trend in diagnosis of new HIV cases over the past 20 years?
- Which state has the most cases of HIV in Australia?
- Are males or females more likely to be infected with HIV in Australia? How does this compare with the rest of the world?
- Why is the rate of HIV/AIDS infection so much lower in Australia than the rest of the world?
7) Go to www.newint.org/issue346/facts.htm and
scroll down to the life expectancy projections for 2010. By how many
years will people's lives be shortened on average in Swaziland,
Ethiopia, Brazil and Burma because of AIDS?
How much will the national income of Kenya be reduced because of HIV/AIDS?
Religion/Social Sciences
1) Create a mind map on the whiteboard or on butcher's paper showing
all the contributing factors on the left hand side and the effects on
the right hand side with arrows going in the appropriate directions.
Then link the contributing factors with the effects and vice versa as
appropriate.
Debrief the activity by asking which effects became contributing factors.
Which contributing factors and which effects had the most arrows coming
from them? Why might this be?
2) Brainstorm strategies for the eradication of HIV/AIDS. For each strategy brainstorm ways of making the strategy a reality. E.g. Better education may be brought about by more money for schools or for more teacher training.
3) Go to www.newint.org/issue346/orphans.htm to
find out about how it feels to be an AIDS orphan.
What happens to many children whose parents are infected with HIV/AIDS?
Describe how some have lost their childhood.
English
Imagine that you are an AIDS orphan in Africa. Write a short piece describing your life. Describe what it is like living with your grandparents, what has happened to your education, whether you have to go out to work etc.
Imagine that you have HIV/AIDS. Describe how you were treated by your family and friends. Were you accepted or shunned?
Religion
1) Ask the class to consider what kind of biblical story would have been told if HIV had existed 2000 years ago. How would Jesus have acted? How would he have treated those with the disease?
2) Ask the class to form small groups and to find one of the healing stories in the Gospels and to rewrite it/ retell it with HIV/AIDS substituted for the disease of the original story. Each group could then perform their rewritten story.
3) Ask students to focus on the following:
- Did the substitution of HIV for the original disease change the story very much?
- What were the issues for people like lepers in the Gospel stories? Was their situation similar to that of HIV/AIDS sufferers today?
- How might Jesus' approach affect the way we treat those living with HIV/AIDS?
- What should the Church's role be in reducing the stigma of HIV/AIDS?
- What will your own response be to the HIV/AIDS crisis?
For more lesson ideas go to
www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/archives/
secondary/casestud/vietnam/1/hiv-aids-2.html and
refer also to ozspirit.info/2003/67.html
The Millennium Development Goals, signed by all UN member states in 2000, aim to halve world poverty by 2015. The sixth millennium development goal aims to halt and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015. For more information about the MDGs visit www.ozspirit.info/2004/78.html We all have a role to play in encouraging the UN members states, including the Australian government, to "keep our word". Write to your local Member of Parliament asking them to make representations on your behalf to the Government for an increase in funding for HIV/AIDS projects in the developing world.
Wear a red ribbon on World AIDS Day 1st December.
Download a poster at www.unaids.org/wac2004/tools.htm for World AIDS Day
Attend a concert if you are in Melbourne on 28th November
at Federation Square. Go to www.burnet.edu.au/freestyler/gui/files//
Media%20release%201%20Nov%203,
%202004.pdf for
more details