Every day, around 1500 people are newly infected with HIV in South Africa. Four million people are already HIV-positive, and there is no sign that the rate of infection is slowing down. But at a time when Aids and HIV infection pose a grave threat to the country's future economic development, the government has blocked the provision of anti-Aids drugs in the public health service, and has opened up a debate over whether HIV actually causes Aids. While the Politicians are debating whether or not HIV really causes AIDS, the hospitals are desperately under-staffed, and lack the knowledge and reasources to care for the dying patients. Now hospitals are becoming increasingly overburdened by patients suffering from opportunistic illnesses associated with their HIV status. Both the article 28 from the reader and the journal entry are explaining the problems and are trying to find ways in which to stop this monstrous plague. .
Many people that play key roles in the communities are being killed by this devastating plague. People such as teachers; farmers; health-workers; and many other professionals aren't immune to this terrible epidemic. The deaths of these professionals subsequently affect the already struggling economy. Sub-Saharan Africa is by far the region worst affected by HIV and Aids, according to the World Health Organization's latest report on the disease. Aids Epidemic Update says there were 3.4 million new HIV infections in Africa in 2001, almost 70% of the global total. .
The area that has been hit the hardest is the is the sub-Saharan Africa. Eleven and a half million of these people have already died. Seven out of ten HIV newly infected people live in sub-Sahara Africa. Over 22.5 million men and women are presently living with HIV in Africa. There is no single country in sub-Sahara Africa that has escaped this grave disease, however, the number of cases among sub-Sahara African countries are significantly higher than others.