Stacy Said:

Questions about HIV/AIDS?

We Answered:

Hi there
There is a lot of information required here that it would be very hard to put it all here.

Here are some simple answers to most of the questions.

1. YES. But awareness alone will not solve the big puzzle. In Uganda awareness has been comined with Condom use, abstinence, and faithfullness coupled with other methods like routine screening for HIV.

2. In Africa its probably 90% heterosexual transmission and 5% vertical. There have been very few documented cases of homosexual transmission in Africa.
In the US i think its probably 80% homosexual and IVD users combined.

3. I dont have the exact figure but i know that the PEPPFAR program and the global fund are putting in a lot of money in treatment and control. This also includes research. I also know that governments are also involved in the control and treatment but the amount of money involved depends on individual governments.

4. The benefits of providing treatment to anyone is to stop disease progression like in any other disease or illness. With HIV we know that if individuals are appropriately treated they will live normal productive lives. The treatment highly increases the life in number of years. I should also add that HIV and AIDS affects mostly the productive ages of 15-45. Therefore not treating them would create a situation where there is undertproduction from families to entire nations. Families would be forced to rely on federal grants and nations would be appropriating a bigger part of the national budget to feed and support socially the families of the AIDS patients.
I should also add that the prices of he drugs have been remarkably susidized by the pharmaceutical companies, and with the patenting of generic drugs they are now mopre cheaper and more affordable. In otherwords its actually more expensive not to treat someone with HIV that to treat them.

5. The PEPFAR program has been very successful in treatment. Other programs include the AIDS RELIEF, the GLOBAL FUND. Different countries have different programs but most of them are directed at treatment and prevention and awareness.

6. I would say that there are major differences in both continents considering the health infrastructure is very different. Most of HIV in the US is detected early and appropriately treated well enough to avoid the effects of HIV mental effects like HIV dementia, while in Africa most of the HIV is detedted late and mo st have progressed into stage 4 disease.
The other issue is the psychological effects and the burden it puts on family members and relatives and communities.
There is better support systems in the US.

7. Ther are not really much differences in the medical treatment of HIV world wide. The only differenec is the availability of recourses. In the US new drugs are always being tried and there is better monitoring of drug reactions and interactions.
An example is in the US, viral loads and resistance profiles are done before treatment while such services are not available in Africa.
Having worked in both places i think there is a better adherence profile in African patients than in patients in the US.

Tara Said:

Help for Education of children of HIV/AIDS victims?

We Answered:

As worthy as your cause is, YA is not the place to ask for donations.

Emily Said:

How is HIV / AIDS transmitted?

We Answered:

Uh, I don't think this is the place for your question, let alone some of the answers you might get. Seek professional advice.