Teneisha Johnson
W.H.O. is it? The greatest threat to Human Health (World AIDS Day)
Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters who represented South Africa, won the Miss Universe crown on Sunday 26th November 2017.
The 22-year-old has told reporters that she plans to use her reign to champion HIV/AIDS and self-defense causes.
The new Miss Universe stated, “HIV/AIDS is a very big problem in my country South Africa, so I hope to stand as an advocate for that”. Cool!
AIDS is produced by a virus called the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that eventually causes the disease of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
It is often referred to by the combined name HIV/AIDS.
It is spread through contact with the infected blood or other bodily fluids.
According to my research, in sub-Sahara Africa, the prevalence of AIDS is currently the greatest with approximately 70% of the population being infected with the HIV virus.
Families are destroyed, children who may be ill themselves are left without parents to care for them and even the workforce has become seriously compromised due to the death and illness of large numbers of workers.
Infection rates in many parts of the world are rising, especially among women to whom the disease is more easily transmitted.
Speaking of women, the HIV virus is most devastating when its transmitted to the embryo or fetus.
In sub-Saharan Africa the AIDS epidemic is particularly widespread, up to 40% of pregnant women carry the virus.
By 1994, research methods had established that about one fourth of the babies born to HIV-positive mothers get the virus and others do not, even without treatment.
In these public health trials, it also was learned that the rate of transmission from mother to infant could be cut to 8% if a carefully monitored drug program could be followed.
Fast-forward to 2016 and mid- 2017, and the great news is that data statistics show 76% of all pregnant women living with HIV globally received medicines that prevented transmission to their babies. Yeah!
Worldwide, more women than men are now diagnosed each year.
These facts have caused the World Health Organization (WHO)to call the global HIV/AIDS epidemic the “greatest threat to human health and development since the bubonic plague and the advent of tobacco consumption”.
The World Health Organization goal is to build a better, healthier future for people all over the world.
Working through offices in more than 150 countries, WHO staff work side by side with governments and other partners to ensure the highest attainable level of health for all people.
Together they strive to combat diseases – infectious diseases like influenza and HIV and noncommunicable ones like cancer and heart disease.
They help mothers and children survive and thrive so they can look forward to a healthy old age.
They also ensure the safety of the air people breathe, the food they eat, the water they drink – and the medicines and vaccines they need. Wow!
However, until medical researchers develop a cure, AIDS education and community-based outreach programs remain the main ways to stem the spread of this disease.
Especially in developing nations where the stigma, incorrect information, and poverty continue to limit adequate treatment and prevention.
For testing locations and times, visit www.hsa.ky
There is also free HIV/AIDS testing offered all year-round, every Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Cayman Islands Red Cross.
