HIV drug treatment in South Africa Literature review

HIV drug treatment in South Africa - Literature review Example It also highlights the side effects of these drugs and mention ways of making the HIV drug treatment as safe as possible. HIV is an important health concern as about a million of people are infected annually by this pandemic. Africa is disproportionately bearing the weight of HIV/AIDS epidemic. The population of Africa forms 11 percent of the world’s total population and about 67 percent of the people infected by HIV are living in Africa. About 22.4 million population of Africa is infected by HIV virus and about 1.9 million new HIV cases were reported in the year 2008. About 10 million African children lost their parent because of HIV, in the last year. The countries located in the north of Africa have the lower prevalence HIV rate. However according to statistics South Africa is the worst HIV affected part of this continent. About 10 percent of the population of Zambia, Swaziland, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana and Zimbabwe, is affected by HIV virus. In the sub- Saharan part of Africa the HIV patients acquire half of the beds present at any hospitals. Health care professionals have been highly affected by this pandemic. In the years 1990-2005 about 17 percent of the health work force was lost because of this killer virus. In response to this major health risk a number of initiatives have been taken to educate the population of Africa, in order to reduce the potential risk of HIV. In 2013, a special report was issued by UNAINDS. According to this report the number of people receiving anti-retroviral treatment in the current year is seven times more than the patient receiving treatment five years back. Education is the main source by the help of which develop Africa fight against HIV/AIDS. There are several institutions that offer training to the individuals to eliminate the misconception about HIV this help them to make informed decision related to their health. There are several programs being offered in Africa one of which is â€Å"sensitization