The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) estimates that
about 56,000 people in the United States contracted HIV in 2006. HIV
damages a person’s body by destroying specific blood cells, called CD4+
T cells, which are crucial to helping the body fight diseases.
Scientists
identified have a type of chimpanzee in West Africa as the source of
HIV infection in humans. They believe that the chimpanzee version of
the immunodeficiency virus (called simian immunodeficiency virus or SIV)
most likely was transmitted to humans and mutated into HIV when humans
hunted these chimpanzees for meat and came into contact with their
infected blood. Over decades, the virus slowly spread across Africa and
later into other parts of the world.
Uganda
There
are an estimated 1.1 million people living with HIV in Uganda, which
includes 120,000 children. An estimated 61,000 people died from AIDS in
2008 and 1.2 million children have been orphaned by Uganda’s
devastating epidemic.
In 1982, the first AIDS case in Uganda was diagnosed.
By 1986 the country was in the midst of a major epidemic.
By
1991 around 15% among all adults, and over 30% among pregnant women in
the cities, to around 5% in 2001 were infected with HIV.
High numbers of AIDS-related deaths contributed to the reduction in the number of people living with HIV between 199 and 2001.
In 1995, 91% of Ugandan men and 86% of women knew someone who was HIV positive.
Women account for 57% of all adults living with HIV in Uganda.
In
2008 it was estimated that there were 110,000 new infections in Uganda
which exceeded the number of annual deaths from AIDS of 61,000.
AIDS in Uganda has killed approximately one million people.
The number of AIDS related deaths amongst young adults In Uganda has left behind over a million orphaned children.
Condom
use during sex with non-regular partners was reported by 20% of women
in 1995, by 2000 39%, between 2004 and 2005 47% and in 2006 only 35%,
respectively and by men 35% in 1995, 59% in 2000, 53% between 2004 and
2005 and 57% in 2006.
The
proportion of HIV positive pregnant women receiving medication
(antiretrovirals) for PMTCT increased from 12% in 2005 to 50% in 2008.
18% of new HIV infections in Uganda occurred through mother-to-child-transmission.
In 2006 only 24% of adults in need of antiretroviral treatment were receiving it.
Less than 1/3 of Ugandan children who require treatment are receiving it.
Currently, an estimated 54% of those in need are receiving antiretroviral treatment (roughly 200,000 people) in Uganda.
AMERICA
Since the beginning of the HIV and AIDS epidemic
well over half a million people have died of AIDS in America. There are
currently more than one million people living with HIV and AIDS in America and around 1/5 of these are unaware of their infection (21%).
An estimated 56,300 Americans become infected with HIV each year.
In
2010 studies showed that in America’s poorest urban neighborhoods HIV
prevalence was 2.1 percent among heterosexuals, or more than 4 times
the national average.
In 2008 of those diagnose with AIDS 28% were White, 48% were Black/African American, 21% were Hispanic/Latino, 1.5% were Asian, less than 1% were American Indian/Alaska Native, less than 1% were Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander, and Multiple races accounted for 1%.
To date, black Americans account for 51% of AIDS related deaths.
Homosexual and bisexual males account for more than half (53%) of all new HIV infections in the U.S. each
year, as well as nearly half (48%) of people living with HIV.
Individuals
infected through heterosexual contact account for 31% of annual new HIV
infections and 28% of people living with HIV.
Women account for 27% of annual new HIV infections and 25% of those living with HIV.
Drug users account for around a 15% of all AIDS diagnoses in America.
In
2007 some of the states that ranked with the highest percentage of
people living with AIDS, relative to their population, were California,
Texas, Florida, New York, and Indiana.
Estimates
suggest that around 20% of those infected with HIV are unaware of their
status and around 38% of people diagnosed with HIV are diagnosed with
AIDS within a year in America.
The CDC has estimated that 31% of people fail to go back to public testing sites to obtain their result.
Since the Welfare Reform Law earmarked $100 million for abstinence only
education in 1996, increased amounts of federal funding became
available for this type of education, particularly under the presidency
of George W. Bush. As a result a number of studies have shown that abstinence only education is largely ineffective.
In June 2004 there were 1,629 people waiting for AIDS drugs in 11 states; these waiting lists were not fully cleared until September 2007 and it soon reappeared.
As of July 2010, there were more than 2,200 people on waiting lists for AIDS drugs in a total of 12 states.
Over 18,000 people died of AIDS in America in 2007 alone.
