Tuesday, November 10, 2009

AIDS Leading Cause of Death in Women

The World Health Organization announced yesterday that AIDS has been determined to be a leading cause of death in women. This is no surprise to those of us who work to fight this horrible disease in the African sub-continent. The article states that:

"Unsafe sex is the leading risk factor in developing countries for these women of childbearing age, with others including lack of access to contraceptives and iron deficiency, the WHO said. Throughout the world, one in five deaths among women in this age group is linked to unsafe sex, according to the U.N. agency."

Full article at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091109/ap_on_he_me/un_un_women_s_health_2

This, of course, is well understood in South Africa where Tumai Foundation (tumai.org) has a presence. What the article only alludes to is that most of these women have no control of this matter. No choice is open to them. This issue will not lessen until the primary cause of this condition, and the condition of most rampant diseased areas, is corrected: poverty.

I took this picture near Port Elizabeth in 2006 - notice the graveyard above the settlement on the hill top - safe water - I think not.

The issues of poverty are easily seen throughout Africa: lack of sanitation, safe water, medical supplies, food, and education. The article also quoted WHO chief Dr. Margaret Chan,
"We will not see a significant improvement in the health of women until they are no longer recognized as second-class citizens in many parts of the world".
This is one of the most important aspects of this article; that the rights of women in many African societies is a large part of this problem that needs to be addressed.

The true injustice about AIDS is the fact that of the more than 14,000 people will contract HIV/AIDS every day in Sub-Saharan Africa, the majority are young women and girls. My heart cries out to the multitudes of women and children that contract HIV through rape and of the infants that receive HIV through breastfeeding. We need to take a stand, to let the world know - no longer.

More on African poverty issues soon

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