Sex Trafficking and Government

has correlations with the number of people that are affected by HIV. The World Health Organization conducted a survey that showed that roughly 34.3 million people around the world are infected with the AIDS virus and of the 34.3 million about 24.5 million live in Sub Saharan Africa. More than half of the population that is affected with HIV/AIDS come from Africa (UNAIDS 2017). Roughly around “19 million people have died from the deadly AIDS virus with around 3.8 million children under the age of 15” (UNAIDS 2017). Around 4 million cases were reported in Africa for deaths caused by AIDS (2017). In South Africa, sex workers have a higher risk of getting infected with HIV. The lack of alternative jobs that are readily available leads people to stay in the same job and due to the poverty levels these people do not have any other choice but to stay doing what they do. “The extreme poverty compels most of the young women to indulge into risky behavior that can easily bring money and resources for survival” (Dzimnenani 609). Poverty in some way causes sex trafficking because women believe that if they get transported to a different country then they will have the resources that they need. People that are infected with the virus are not able to buy the medication because it is so expensive. Antiretroviral medication is unaffordable and not available to those that need it. “Many people in Africa live below the poverty line with millions living below a dollar a day”.

AIDS has affected people in ways that became problematic in fighting poverty and improving health. Individuals that are infected with the disease are not able to support themselves due to not being able to work. These individuals spend “the amount they earn in treatment and health care rather than meeting household costs” (Iliffe 68). HIV caused issues in a socioeconomic perspective and even caused a disproportion in gender. Women have a higher risk of getting infected with HIV/AIDS making it hard for them to provide for their families. The spread of this disease reduced the life expectancy to below 50 years old. “There has been a high child mortality and more deaths on the youths aged 20-49” (Shah 8). When there is a high child mortality this caused a major problem for future generations. An “increase in mortality impacts the future where the society will have imbalanced settings” (Iliffe 91). When the population is exposed to a reduced life expectancy then it makes it hard for society to move forward and progress. In some places, AIDS almost wiped out the middle generation, leaving the very old and very young to take care of each other. Another issue limiting the spread is government debt. Africa remained under debt from international donors so they can’t ask these countries again for aid. Africa’s debt left them with no one to turn to besides international organizations like World Health Organization, UNICEF, and UNAIDS. “Africa seek for these organizations to aid them in combatting combat the disease and its effects on its citizens” (Iliffe 89). Organizations like the World Health provide assistance to those that are infected with HIV. WHO provides guidance to those that are not well informed about the danger that HIV/AIDS causes.

The problem is that these organizations provide money to the country to aid in the relief of HIV/AIDS and most of the time the money does not reach those that need it. When “money is obtained from these organizations most of the time the money does not go to aiding citizens that infected with the disease” (Dzimnenani 606). The government is the one who decides where the money goes and most of the time the money is spent on other expenses that they believe is more concerning. The sad reality is that the government uses the money from these organizations for themselves and not help the poor communities. The governments of individual African states play a big role in aiding the fight against AIDS because they have the power to “lay out a strategy that makes people with and those without the virus to be protected so that they can be more productive” (Hunter 53). In response to the threat of HIV Senegal, a country on the African coast used community and political leadership to come up with a solution to the spread of HIV. This led them to have a relatively low HIV prevalence in the area. The government should reinforce the importance of using condoms. Condoms play a big role in the prevention of HIV. When organizations and donors promote the use of condoms it aids the African population to decrease the spread of HIV. The “benefit of using condoms is that it is relatively cheap and is an effective way to lower the chances of getting infected with the virus” (Hunter 55). The government should also reinforce that the population to get tested so that they know their status. In addition, the government should use its power to spread awareness through its political power to get other countries to aid.

A genetic diversity analysis was performed to determine whether South Africa was the home of genetically diverse of HIV subtype C. HIV-1 is divided into types and subtypes based on how closely they are related. HIV-1 is closely correlated with subtype C in the sense of how fast it spreads. Mucosal shedding is the main characteristic identifier of subtype C and usually results in mother infecting the child with disease (John 494). It was concluded through the analysis that South Africa out of all countries showed to be the most diverse. Botswana has a big genetic diversity epidemic and this is due to the “high level of HIV prevalence, bidirectional migration due to its economic prosperity and its central geographical position within the southern African context” (E. Wilkinson 207). One issue limiting the effective response is corruption. The government needs to reduce corruption through “removing all corrupt officials that swindle money that is intended for this worthy cause” (Cichocki 5). This will allow the government to take control over their people and be able to fund money to guarantee that people get treatment. The problem lies in the fact the government fails to see the impact that HIV/AIDS has caused on its population. When funds were received, they directed the money towards other issues that they felt was more important than HIV/AIDS. An important way to help end corruption pertaining the government is by having people have a more active voice. “People need to be able to voice and be able to participate in their government actions” (Lamptey 20). The uprising of technology should also be used to help raise awareness and help people become informed about what is going on in their country. A powerful tool that is lacking in Africa is education. People are not well educated and most of the time they do not know how corrupt their country is. Another issue is lack of cooperation. The government needs to work with more non-government organizations and donor organizations like UNICEF, WHO, International AIDS Society.

These organizations would help provide care to patients that are infected with AIDS. Making antiretroviral (ARV) “available to these patients so that they are able to live a long fulfilling life (Cichocki 6). Antiretroviral medication needs to be available to everyone at affordable prices so that people can do what they need to do without having this disease alter their daily lives. The government should not only provide medication to the people that are infected with HIV but also people that are not infected with the virus. Medications such as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) would allow patients to reduce the spread of HIV. Growing numbers of African countries are offering antiretroviral drugs but there are still shortages and do not have enough medical professionals to administer drugs to everyone that requires them. Another failed attempt to stop the spread of aids weighs down the signs of progress already made. Campaigns such as ABC of AIDS aided against the fight of AIDS. Campaigns such as ABC provides a resolution to African citizens that can help reduce the spread of AIDS in the continent. Abstinence, being faithful and using condoms, or in other words, ABC is a strategic way of teaching the population of how to decrease the spread of HIV/AIDS. “The ABC is another way of telling people of Africa to change their sexual behaviors lest they die” (Hunter 39). In some ways, this is similar to colonial’s mentality. Before modern medicine, although not fully spread in Africa was highly opposed by colonials. Colonials opposed the idea of conforming to a new modern medicine. Traditional medicine treatment was discredited during the colonial period because Europeans introduced new diseases and epidemics. Colonialism helped spread new and old diseases and created the conditions for malnutrition and disease through enforced long-distance migration. Colonial attitude proved to be problematic when HIV virus was spread because traditional medicine could not cure or halter the spread of HIV. The problem with this is that many people did not get tested unless they were critically ill and once they reach this point then it is too late and not much can be done. Furthermore, money from the government should be provided to help taking care of children that are orphaned or infected by the disease.

This will aid in children health so that they can access proper health care and facilities such as being able to obtain an education. In many of these countries, children live in a grandmother-headed household. The Stephen Lewis a non-governmental organization that assists people that are infected with HIV/AIDS took it upon themselves to begin a campaign called grandmother to grandmother. This campaign allowed grandmothers in Africa to support the children they are taking care of and themselves. By providing an “education to these children it will aid in building better lives in the future” (Cichocki 13). Those that are infected with the disease need to have access to medication so that they can increase the chances of being able to live a longer and healthier life even though they are positive. The donation of billions of dollars to fight AIDS in the UN has been provided by international communities. Countries including the United States started what is known as the president’s emergency plan. This plan was created in order to aid in AIDS relief. Even though countries came together through the UN to aid against the spread of AIDS, the global recession proved to be problematic. This is because it prevented the money from coming in from other countries in the assistance of AIDS. To halt the spread of HIV/AIDS education system needs to be restructured. Children need to become educated so that they can learn what causes HIV/AIDS and how they can help to stop it from spreading. Children also need to learn about the effects that it has on the society around them. They will be able to ask questions to those that have more knowledge in the disease. Schools will be able to provide children with safety tools such as valuable lessons on how to stay safe and protect themselves from getting infected.

Parents with the aid of teachers should educate their kids on the dangers of unprotected sex however still encourage them to voice their concerns on the subject matter. It’s imperative that open communication is established and children feel comfortable approaching parents and teachers with all and any questions because this will minimize ignorance. Schools and organizations should aid in reducing stigma on people that are already infected with the disease. By setting up health organizations people will be able to get tested to see if they are infected and be able to get treated in case they are infected with HIV/AIDS. This organization would aid in trying to fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa. Religious organization whether it be Christianity or Muslim should aid combating this disease by allowing parents to seek their guidance on how to instruct all of the individuals that fall under their care. The community should come together supporting those who are infected by adhering to a healthy lifestyle. Awareness of this disease should be brought to everyone attention. Although most time abstinence is the method that is often promoted, knowledge of how to adequately protect oneself should be common knowledge. Sex education can be incorporated into the education system as well as counseling for those who want to talk about feelings and emotion that may not necessarily feel comfortable sharing with their parents. The government should encourage these programs in school and funds should be raised to broadcast healthy living and protect against the spread of this disease. The government should also spend their resources on cracking down on sex trafficking all activities that promote the spread of this disease. HIV is a disease that is very detrimental to a personal health and the whole community, schools, parents, churches, the government should all be involved working together to stop this epidemic.

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