Aids and it is obstacle to African development Essay

Aids and it is obstacle to African development - Essay ExampleAs such, this essay seeks to critically discuss the obstacles caused by the human immunodeficiency virus/ back up pandemic to African development by analysing the situation in South Africa, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone. The paper seeks to outline the direct effects of human immunodeficiency virus/ support on development in these three countries as well as the measures that have been put by the respective governments to deal with the situation. Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) is assure through birth, sex, sharing sharp objects such as a razor blade and over time the virus will spread over the personate and weaken its cells. The weakening of cells causes help- Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome which leads to illness and eventually death from related diseases such as tuberculosis or pneumonia and many others (Greyling, 2). HIV/AIDS is one of the most difficult catastrophes to deal with during the contemporary period giv en that a cure for this deadly pandemic is not yet available and whitethorn not be near in sight for quite some time hence the only option that is available at the moment is to tone up the mechanisms to prevent, reduce the spread and minimise the impact of HIV/AIDS (Benjamin & Barry, 28). In the Sub Saharan Africa in particular, death rates have continued to revive because of the HIV/AIDS pandemic causing life expectancy to fall from an average of 50 years in 1990 to 46 years in 2002 (ADI, 14). AIDS related deaths were 2.2 million in Africa in 2001 and there were more than 30 million infected people. Both Ethiopia and Sierra Leone also have high HIV infection rates according to the report. In the same vein, South Africa is one of the countries with highest HIV infections in the Sub Sahara region regardless of its strong economic performance. The prolific age group has been severely affected by the pandemic and this consequently affects growth and development. There are high chanc es of loss of production and the government in respective countries have to spend a lot of money to procure drugs as well as putting other measures to fight against the pandemic which negatively impacts on development. In order to establish the extent to which the HIV/AIDS pandemic is seen as an obstacle to development especially in the three African countries mentioned above, it is imperative to begin by outlining the state of their economies using the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) index to measure the performance of their economies. According to World Bank festering Indicators in 2011, South Africas GDP is $285, 366 billion, $28, 526 Billion and Sierra Leone at $1, 942 Billion. Comparatively, it can be noted that there is a wide gap among the economies of the three countries and this reflects the countrys ability to cope with the deadly pandemic in view of its economic development and growth concerns. In most cases, the men is the major driver of economic development in any give n country but the deadly HIV/AIDS pandemic is posing a serious challenge to the development of many Africa countries. Special attention will be paid to South Africa, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone in the discussion of how this pandemic has adversely affected economic development in African countries. According to You Magazine (4), 39 percent of all premature deaths were ascribed to HIV/AIDS and it was reported that