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AIDS / HIV and Foreign Aid:
Canada Helps Africa Fight the War on HIV/AIDS
by Rhonda Parkinson
AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is the first epidemic
caused by a completely new disease since the bubonic plague wiped
out one-third of Europe’s population in the 14th century.
Worldwide, over 20 million people have died of AIDS since the
early 1980s. Currently, over 40 million people worldwide are
infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and scientists
predict that over 50 million people will have died by 2010.
While AIDS has spread to every continent except Antarctica, it has
hit Africa – and particularly sub-Saharan Africa – the
hardest. Africans make up roughly 70 percent of AIDS’ deaths
worldwide. South Africa has the world’s highest HIV rate:
experts estimate that more than one in every four South Africans
is infected with the virus.
As part of its foreign policy, the Canadian government is committed
to fighting HIV/AIDS. The following article examines the AIDS
crisis, and Canada’s attempts to deal with a deadly disease
and its causes – both at home, and abroad.
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- What is HIV/AIDS and how is it treated? Is AIDS always fatal?
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- Why can’t the HIV virus be controlled?
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- From food shortages, to a generation of AIDS orphans
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- Why don’t Africans have access to antiretroviral drugs?
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- How is the international community fighting Africa’s
HIV/AIDS epidemic?
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- Key Initiatives to Canada Fight Against Aids in Africa
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- Are we doing enough to fight AIDS?
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