Human Immunodeficiency Virus, commonly known as HIV, is the
virus that weakens a person's ability to fight infections and cancer.
People with HIV are said to have AIDS when they develop certain
infections or cancers or when their CD4 count is less than 800. CD4 count is
determined by a blood test.
Once HIV has entered the body, it replicates. A virus cannot
make a copy of itself on its own; it needs to invade a healthy cell in your
body to survive. HIV targets and invades CD4 cells. CD4 cells help the body’s
immune system and protect it against germs and viruses that make us sick. A
normal CD4 cell count is 800 – 1 600. When your CD4 cell count is low than 800 you
are more vulnerable to illnesses.
Having HIV does not always mean that you have AIDS. It can
take many years for people with the virus to develop AIDS. HIV and AIDS cannot
be cured. However, with the medications available today, it is
possible to have a normal lifespan with little or minimal interruption in
quality of life.
In 2011 there were 34 million people in the
age group 15 – 49 living with the HI virus worldwide. Out of those only 1.7
million died from AIDS related causes.
AIDS is the more advanced stage of HIV infection. When the
immune system CD4 cells drop to a very low level, a person's ability to fight
infection is lost. Without HIV treatment, full-blown AIDS starts to develop.
During this last phase of the disease, the virus severely damages the immune
system to a point where the body can no longer fight a number of viral, fungal,
bacterial and parasitic infections that invade. Anyone of these infections is
life threatening, and most people with AIDS eventually succumb to them
According
to a survey performed by Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) there were over
400 000 new HIV infections in South Africa in 2012. This ranked South Africa
first in HIV incidents in the world. Women aged between 30 and 34 and males
aged 35 to 39 had the highest infection rates: 36% of females and 28.8% of
males in these respective age groups contracted HIV. Provincially,
KwaZulu-Natal has the highest HIV prevalence (16.9%) and the Western Cape the
lowest (5%).
According
to the survey, the increased infection rate is "largely due to the
combined effects of new infections and a successfully expanded antiretroviral
treatment [ART] program" – ART allow people with HIV to live significantly
longer, leading to greater percentage of HIV-infected people remaining in
society. ART access almost doubled between 2008 and 2012, with about a third of
the country's HIV-infected population – about two-million out of 6.4-million
infected people – accessing ART in 2012.
Black
African females aged 20 to 34 recorded the highest incidence of HIV among all
the analysed population groups.
Disaggregation
of the survey data by race showed that "Black Africans had the highest HIV
infection rate compared to all other race groups [15%]", followed by Coloured
people (3.1%), Indians or Asians (0.8%) and Whites (0.3%). The figures for
white people were however considered unreliable because of a low response rate.
In attempting to understand the possible reasons for high infection rates among
black Africans, the survey findings suggest that "black Africans were less
likely than all other races to live in urban formal areas. Urban informal areas
are generally under-resourced and lack some of the basic necessities such as
formal housing, water, sanitation and access to preventative health
services."
Over 85% of
HIV transmission of is through sexual intercourse. Many people are still
ignorant about HIV, as some still believe that this is a virus for Black People
whereas HIV does not discriminate.
The following
graph shows the estimated HIV groups per institution of higher learning in South
Africa.
TB does not
cause HIV. If you are HIV positive, your immune system is compromised therefore
you are at a greater risk of contracting TB. Currently Western Cape Province
has the highest TB rate in the world.
Irrespective
of many efforts done by the Department of Health to lower the numbers of new
HIV infections still to many people get infected. The department has made it
easy for everyone to have access to contraceptives such as condoms. New condoms
have been established by the department to encourage people to use contraceptives
as a way of protecting themselves from STI’s/STD’s particularly the HI virus. Flavoured
condoms; finger condoms; dental wraps (for oral sex); and femidoms (female
condoms) are some of the condoms that have been introduced. Even so, the vast
majority of people in our country do not know how to use a condom correctly. This
is one of the major contributions to the incline of STI’s/STD’s. The government
is doing more than expected to promote safe sex. Illiteracy cannot be blamed for the incline
of HIV in South Africa.
