HIV/AIDS disproportionately impacts less developed countries (LEDCs) for several reasons: 1) Contraception and education about safe sex and STIs is not widely available, making transmission of HIV much more likely. 2) Treatment for HIV/AIDS is not widely accessible or affordable in LEDCs, so the virus cannot be treated as easily. 3) HIV can be passed from mother to child, especially in LEDCs where access to health clinics for testing is limited. 4) HIV/AIDS is reducing the working population in severely impacted countries in Africa, lowering economic productivity and development.

1. What Factors make global development inequalities worse ? HIV/Aids Tropical Diseases Caitlin Cole Steph Clark Nicola Hoolickin Emma Conway

2. HIV/Aids What is it? Aids is caused by HIV which is a sexually transmitted virus that attacks the cells in the immune system. As this goes on the body becomes more vulnerable to infections such as pneumonia, and therefore it has extreme difficulty to fight them off. When a HIV infection is very advanced it is called Aids, at this point the immune system will be extremely damaged. Can it be cured? Unfortunately there is no cure for Aids, however it can be treated. Antiretroviral therapy can be used to prolong the time between the HIV infection and Aids. This can sometimes mean that people with the HIV infection can live for the rest of their life without developing Aids. Antiretrovial therapy can also help add length to the lives of those diagnosed with Aids and lessen the pain, but it cannot stop it. Sometimes treating the infections can be done easily with tablets etc., yet other times medical equipment is needed and this is where those living in LEDC’s suffer most.

3. Aids in LEDC’s Aids badly affects people that live in the lesser developed countries of the world such as those in Africa. It is a huge problem and more than 25million people have died from it. The reasons that it affects LEDC’s the most is mainly because of medical care and education. Contraception is not widely available in places such as Somalia (Africa) and South Africa and because of the poor quality and availability of education many are not educated in the means of safe sex or STI’s. This makes HIV easy to develop. The treatment is not widely available and therefore many either do not have access to it or do not even know about it. There is also very low levels of medical care in these countries and this means neither HIV or Aids can be treated easily, especially as hospital standards are poor and there are not enough of them. As HIV can also be transmitted through mother to child it is again passed unknowingly, especially as most people in these countries do not have access to a health clinic or doctor to test for Aids. Also the medical treatment available may be too expensive for most as they generally live on little money. Aids is having a huge impact on death rates in these countries as so many people die from it each year. It is also the main working age (young adults) that are affected by Aids the most and therefore this is reducing the working population, causing less money to be brought into the economy. In South Africa in particular 41% of the deaths due to Aids (2006) were between 24-29 year olds. With a decreasing population and less money in the economy the country will find it hard to develop and move forwards.

4. Aids in MEDC’s MEDC’s cope so much better with Aids as the treatment is either free on some health care services (NHS) or affordable on others (America). It is also easily accessible and many educated and trained Doctors are available as well as health clinics and hospitals. People are also well educated in the means of safe sex and contraception and are taught about STI’s. Many also have available clinics to test for Aids and HIV and therefore it can be found in the earlier and more treatable stages. Campaigns Campaign groups in Africa are running Aids awareness campaigns through out Africa to try to develop the understanding of contraception and HIV. Groups such as LOVELIFE have been using media aimed at teens to get their message across, unfortunately the problem of these campaigns is that not enough people have access to things such as televisions, and therefore the message is still not getting through. Development HIV/Aids shows the large difference in the development of countries and unfortunately can worsen the levels of development in the countries it largely affects. Those countries that have high Aids and HIV are generally LEDC’s that are not developed enough to widely treat it where as in MEDC’s, although it is still a widely caught virus treatment is well known about and available to those that need it. Therefore Aids does not harshly affect the MEDC’s rate of development yet it can have a harmful effect on LEDC’s development due to the large deaths and how widely and easily it is transmitted in those countries.