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Final Thoughts
Are We Doing Enough to Fight
HIV/AIDS?
When AIDS first assailed North America in the 1980s, many viewed
it as a threat only to homosexuals or intravenous drug users.
Today, people have a better understanding of what causes AIDS,
and HIV. Nonetheless, advances in drug treatment mean that many
people think HIV/AIDS has been largely beaten.
In reality, millions of Africans are dying each year because they
don’t have access to the latest drug treatments to combat
HIV/AIDS. The fact is that up to one-quarter of the workforce
in sub-Saharan Africa is HIV positive. Further, HIV/AIDS threatens
to destroy many African communities and their respective economies
by impoverishing families and creating a generation of AIDS orphans.
Equally disturbing are signs that Africa’s HIV/AIDS crisis
could spread worldwide. Thanks to a thriving sex trade industry,
Southeast Asia could be the site of the next HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Even in Canada, complacency and ignorance about HIV/AIDS has
led to rising infection rates among youth, particularly young
women. The conclusion is overwhelmingly clear: the international
community must do all it can today to fight HIV/AIDS around the
world, both to prevent it from spreading further on the African
continent, and elsewhere in the world.
Further Reading
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