AIDS in Botswana

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AIDS in Botswana

Botswana has disturbing statistics related to AIDS, when compared to those of a developed nation like Australia. Life expectancy is 40 in Botswana, compared to 80 in Australia. This difference is mainly due to AIDS. Without AIDS in Botswana, the life expectancy would be about 64. In having such a low life expectancy, Botswana has had to deal with many problems. Workers are being taken in their prime, and many children are left orphaned without a primary caregiver. This means that less work will be done, and it will be done less efficiently. The life expectancy is surprisingly low due to the high number of people with AIDS. Botswana has an extremely high percentage of the population living with AIDS. 18% of the people are HIV positive, while only .0007% of Australians are. Much of the population is dying as well. The annual deaths from AIDS are around 24,000 per month in Botswana, compared to a mere 100 per month in Australia. This means that Botswana loses 288,000 people per year, which is almost the same as the number of people infected. HIV positive citizens are dying very quickly. The birthrate is high, yet one out of every eight infants are born HIV positive. With the death rate so high, and still increasing, it is predicted that Botswana is going to experience a negative growth rate in upcoming years. The growth rate now is .76 while developed nations is more like 1.02. Drastic measures need to be taken to control the AIDS epidemic in Botswana, before the country is wiped out completely.

AIDS has had a large impact on the economical development of Botswana. The amount of wealth in the country has decreased for many reasons. First, the unemployment rate, at 19% is extremely high compared to Australia, which has a 7% unemployment rate. This disparity is due to the large number of workers being sick, dying, and other AIDS related effects in Botswana. This means that the families are not making as much money, which can cause lack of health care. In the next decade, the per capita income is expected to decrease 13% in Botswana because of AIDS. Australia has fewer problems with AIDS because of the amount of money spent on health care. 15% of the GDP is put into improving health in their nation. Botswana only puts 2.5% into health care in their nation.

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