Aids in the thrid world country Essay

In 2004 circa 95 thousand people died in Latin America. Cause of death? In a world of today where there is an abundance of bloodshed and carnage, surprisingly violence is not the primary cause of death but AIDS is. Having taken health classes for over five years, HIV/AIDS and STDs were not new or surprising. I became apathetic and impassive to such related issues. It seemed like something distant and remote that would never happen to me. But then a startling news article that stated in large bold letters, Brazil houses one-third of the carriers of the HIV virus in Latin America caught my attention. In the article it stated that in 2004, circa 95 thousand people died of Aids in Latin America and there were 240 thousand new people diagnosed with HIV. This daunting article was a revelation. It awoke me from the beautiful and hygienic fairy-tale world I was in and dropped me into arms of the real world, where AIDS and STDs are not that remote and it could happen to anyone. In Latin America out of the 400 million inhabitants nearly 1.7 million are carriers of the virus that causes AIDS. This incurable deadly virus is spreading in a frightening manner. People diagnosed with HIV are increasing by 25% each year in Latin America. The cause is due to ignorance. People tend to believe that only homosexuals are affected by the virus. What they are unaware of is that HIV is caused by exchange in blood, semen, or other bodily fluids. Therefore everyone is susceptible to the virus, primarily consumers of injectable drugs and people that have multiple sex partners and those that dont use protection during the act of intercourse. This issue is important, firstly because a third of the carriers of the virus live where I live. Consequently it made me more conscious and aware of the environment I live in and it also made me a more grateful person. Secondly it is a serious issue that is burgeoning and if not contained could in the long run expunge a large population of people in Latin America. Immediate containment of the virus is imperative. In order to reduce the spread of the virus most importantly people should become educated and conscious of the virus. In a country where a large portion of the population is from the lower class not many people received proper sex education consequently public awareness of this issue is low if almost negligible. Therefore there should be government sponsored programs and ads which teach the general public about this issue and methods of prevention. In addition the government should provide medications for people diagnosed with HIV, especially to those who are from the lower class. Finally the government should provide HIV tests to people, especially pregnant women in order to prevent transmission from mother to son, and also provide treatment to the mother and new born if infected especially to those from the lower class.