Effects Of HIV In South Africa

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HIV in South Africa
The problem of HIV has been a growing concern around the world, but in no country has HIV had a greater effect on the population than in South Africa. Research has found that there are approximately 6.4 million people infected with HIV in South Africa, giving the country an overall infection rate of 12.2%(Shisana et al., 2014). This makes South Africa the country with the world’s highest rate of HIV-infected people. New infections occur at an approximate rate of 100,000 cases per year (Republic of South Africa, 2012). While other countries have managed to slow the spread of HIV, in South Africa, the problem has become a major public health concern.
The first case of HIV in South Africa was detected in a homosexual man in 1982, and was diagnosed in a black South African for the first time in 1987 (McNeil, n.d.). At the time it was considered a disease that only affected the homosexual and impoverished black populations of the country. It wasn’t until 1991, when the number of infected people had risen to the tens of thousands, that significant government attention was given to the growing epidemic (McNeil, n.d.). Today the black population of South Africa is most affected by this virus, with an approximate HIV prevalence of 15%, which is drastically higher than the prevalence rates in the country’s other ethnic groups, which range from 0.3-3.1% (Shisana et al., 2014).
There have been many factors that contributed to the speed at which the HIV virus took hold in South Africa. The country’s history of apartheid governance created an environment in which the medical needs of black South Africans were considered second to the needs of whites. This led to disparities in both the quality and availability of healthc...

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... from sex workers. Rates of HIV infection among sex workers in South Africa is very high. And many of the sex workers are well aware of the danger of HIV infection. However men are known to offer higher rates of compensation for for unprotected sex. And even higher price will be paid by many men for the practice of dry sex. Drive sex is a practice in which a woman well artificially try her vagina stain prior to sexual intercourse. This can be done with natural herbs or by artificial means. The dryness of a woman’s vagina is seen to be cleaner than a moist vagina. The dryness also increases the likelihood of receiving tears to the skin of both the man’s penis and the woman’s vagina which creates opportunity for the HIV infection to spread. This is a cultural practice however it has been described as providing a little pleasure to either demand for the woman involved.

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