A Readers Digest Version Of AIDS In Kenya

Ukimwi, the title of my blog, is how Kenyans refer to AIDS. It is Kiswahili for 'that which makes you thin,' and sounds a little better than the slang term 'Plastic' which was derived from the plastic sheeting used by city workers to wrap up the dead bodies of AIDS victims in the 1980's. It is estimated that between 7.1 and 8.5% of the 15-49 year old population is infected with AIDS. While this percentage is down slightly from 2001, the actual number of infected individuals has increased to between 1.5 and 2 million according to the 2008 UNAIDS report. One fact that sometimes goes overlooked is that young females are almost four times as likely to be infected as males of the same age due to anatomical (it is much easier for a women to contract HIV) and social reasons. And while the total number of deaths due to AIDS is from 130,000 to about 107,500, the estimated number of orphans due to AIDS has risen from 700,000 to over 1,200,000. The loss of a healthy, working generation is really what makes HIV/AIDS so devastating to impoverished African nations. Women whose husbands die from AIDS and have no way of supporting themselves turn to prostitution, which spreads the disease. Husbands who seek work in the city sleep with prostitutes and bring the disease home to their wives. Doctors, nurses, farmers, and teachers are killed or are too ill to work due to the disease, and there is no one to replace them. Affected families cannot afford food, let alone school fees or medication. Grandparents are struggling to raise all their grandchildren. This is reality for the 28 million infected people in sub-Saharan Africa. This is a great quote about why AIDS is more devastating to Africa than war and corrupt governments and famine from Stephanie Nolen's 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa:

"The difference is that AIDS underlies all of these things - that it is amplifying the damage even as it undermines the ability to respond. Because it targets the young, productive generation, AIDS robs countries of the people who grow the food and work in the factories and teach in the schools. It makes the existing epidemics of tuberculosis and malaria a thousandfold more lethal. It makes countries more vulnerable to political instability and environmental disasters. In country after country, AIDS is stealing away the hard-won gains of the past couple of decades, lowering school enrollments, productivity levels, life expectancies, child survival rates, and economic growth."

There is hope, however. Since the 1990's there has been a push for access to anti-retroviral medications for Africans, especially for cheaper generic versions. There has also been an increase of foreign aid into programs such as testing, drugs for HIV positive pregnant women, prevention programs, and assistance for orphans. The amount needed to successfully fund all these projects still falls short in the billions of dollars, but communication lines are open and some of the horrible stigma associated with HIV is starting to change.

References:
UNAIDS 2008 Update: Kenya
28 Stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolen