The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) preys on the immune system and erodes people's resistance to a variety of illnesses and cancers that healthy immune systems are better able to combat. Infected individuals eventually lose their immunological capacity as the virus kills and damages immune cells. CD4 cell count is commonly used to assess immune function.
Depending on the individual, an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), the most advanced stage of HIV
infection, might take many years to manifest. The emergence of certain tumours,
infections, or other serious long-term clinical symptoms is what defines AIDS.
The WHO African Region continues to be the most severely affected, with nearly one in every 25 adults (3.4%) living with HIV, accounting for more than two-thirds of all HIV patients worldwide.
Where Did HIV/AIDS Come From?
Scientists have determined that
chimpanzees and SIV, an HIV-like virus that affects monkeys and apes' immune
systems, are the source of HIV.
In 1999, scientists discovered a
chimpanzee SIV strain termed SIVcpz that was almost identical to HIV. The
researcher eventually discovered that chimpanzees hunt and consume two smaller
kinds of monkeys called larger spot-nosed monkeys and red-capped mangabeys that
harbor two strains of SIV that infect chimpanzees. SIVcpz, a virus that can
infect both chimpanzees and humans, is most likely the result of the fusion of
these two strains.
The virus may have spread from
Kinshasa along infrastructure routes (roads, railways, and rivers) via migrants
and the sex trade.
After returning home from working as a Haitian professional in the then-colonial Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1960s, HIV spread from Africa to Haiti and the Caribbean. The virus then travelled from the Caribbean to New York City about 1970 and then, later in the decade, to San Francisco.
YOU MAY NOT KNOW!
Approximately 40.1 million people have died from HIV since
the epidemic's start, while 84.2 million individuals have contracted the
infection.
At the end of 2021, there were 38.4 million HIV-positive individuals worldwide. According to estimates, 0.7% of adults in the world between the ages of 15 and 49 have HIV, while the severity of the epidemic continues to differ greatly between different nations and areas.
HIV can be transmitted through the exchange of infected
people's blood, breast milk, sperm, and vaginal secretions. During pregnancy and
delivery, a mother's HIV infection might pass to her kid. Normal daily
interactions like kissing, hugging, shaking hands, or sharing personal items,
food, or water do not cause an infection in a person.
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| Summary of the global HIV epidemic – 2021(Ref – www.who.int) |
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Number of People with HIV - In 2021, there were about 38.4
million HIV-positive individuals worldwide. There were 1.7 million children
(under the age of 15) and 36.7 million adults among them. There were also 54%
women and girls.
New HIV Infections - In 2021, 1.5 million people worldwide were estimated to have contracted HIV, a 32% decrease from 2010. In contrast to the number of people who are officially diagnosed with HIV each year, new HIV infections, also known as "HIV incidence," refers to the estimated number of people who first contracted HIV during a specific time frame, such as a year. (Some people probably don't know that they have HIV.) Amongst all those 1.5 million new cases of AIDS infection,
01. There were 1.3 million adults.
02. 160,000 among them were minors. (Below 15 years)
HIV Testing - In 2021, 85% of all HIV-positive individuals
knew their status. 5.9 million of the remaining 15% (or persons) needed access
to HIV testing services because they were unaware of their HIV status. A key
entry point for HIV prevention, care, treatment, and support services is HIV
testing.
HIV Treatment Access - 28.7 million HIV-positive individuals worldwide had access to antiretroviral medication (ART) as of the end of 2021, or 75% of them. 9.7 million individuals are therefore still in line. Access to HIV therapy is essential to the global drive to eliminate AIDS as a danger to public health. People with HIV can live long, healthy lives and won't pass the virus on to their partners who are HIV-negative through intercourse if they are aware of their status, take ART as directed, and achieve and maintain an undetectable viral level.+
AIDS ORPHANS
Simply AIDS Orphans are Children who have lost one or both
natural parents to AIDS.
Children and their families have suffered greatly as a
result of HIV and AIDS. A rough estimate places the number of children who lost
one or both parents to AIDS during the 30 years of the global HIV epidemic at
17 million.
Most of these kids - 90% - reside in sub-Saharan Africa.
Additionally, 3.4 million kids under the age of 15 are HIV positive. The number
of children infected with or vulnerable to HIV continues to be dangerously
high, despite some drop in HIV adult prevalence globally and improved access to
treatment.
Most HIV infections in children occur through mother-to-child transmission, which occurs during pregnancy, childbirth, or nursing. Medication and abstinence or restriction of breastfeeding can significantly lower the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission from mother to child. Significant advances in the treatment of expectant moms have lately been made in 2016, more than two-thirds of HIV-positive pregnant women globally received antiretroviral prophylaxis or therapy. 790,000 girls and boys were kept from becoming infected between 2014 and 2016.
Number of children aged 0 - 17 who have lost one or both parents due to an AIDS-related cause, by area, 2000-2021 (Source: UNAIDS 2022 estimates) |
New technologies, treatments and how will this
issue affect people’s lives now and future?
Unfortunately, though there is currently no cure or healing
technology for this disease, as medical technology advances, there may be one
in the future.
People will learn about this issue and be motivated to
practice safe and healthy sexual behaviours as well as prevention methods.
This could be the start of a new project to help Aids
orphans meet their basic needs.
It is time to start sharing this information on social
media, and by then, society will be motivated to think about aids orphans,
which will be beneficial to aids orphans.
Evaluation
Before starting this article, I had a lack of knowledge
about HIV/AIDS and AIDS orphans. Also, UBApepi gathered reliable statistics on this
topic.
UBApepi thinks that the main reason for this high rate of AIDS
orphans is the lack of sexual education that the people in these African
countries obtain.
I thought to myself, "I should take this information to
the world and try to help make a better world for Aids orphans."
UBApepi team
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