HIV/AIDS
October 13, 2008
HIV is the virus that causes AIDS, a deadly disease which destroys the immune system. Scientists believe that the virus entered the human population from primates in Africa and then spread to the rest of the world. The first case of HIV infection virus is estimated to have occurred around 1930, but the virus was first discovered in 1983 by Luc Montaginer and Francois Barré-Sinoussi, a discovery they received this year’s Nobel Prize in medicine for.
- Territory size shows the proportion of all people aged 15-49 with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) worldwide, living there.
Today HIV and AIDS is a growing pandemic. The problem is worst in Sub-Saharan Africa, accounting for 67% of all people living with HIV. According to UNAIDS, a joint United Nations project, over 25 million people in Africa are infected by the virus.
However, the American economist Emily Oster claims in her TED speech that the number is greatly exaggerated. She also overthrows several other facts we thought we knew about AIDS. As an economist, Oster views the problem from a different perspective, not only as a health issue. She explains that the African economy is as well affected negatively, since African countries loses workforce and orphans become a burden to the financial system. Hence, solving the problem with HIV and AIDS in Africa will help solving many other problems.
Hanna Grahn
