Since the 1970s and 80s, the world has risen in an effort to confront the AIDS epidemic, which has long plagued countries around the world. However, left out of this international conversation and progression, is sub-Saharan Africa, where ten percent of the population still suffers from AIDS. Lack of public awareness, limited access to information, and a withdrawal of international funding has created an increased number of diagnosis’ in the region. Adding to the crisis is the large amount of late diagnoses, which lead to a delayed treatment. Even if AIDS is caught within a reasonable amount of time, treatment can still fail, and often does. These issues were presented at the International AIDS society conference on HIV in Paris, highlighting that in countries like Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Malawi, the mortality rate in hospitals can be as high as thirty and forty percent. HIV specialists say that the best way to combat this issue is an increased awareness on a community level, and better care for those who have been suffering from AIDS for years. Medicines also need to be more acceptable so that people seeking treatment have a chance at recovery. However it is difficult to achieve any of these things with the recent decrease in global funding. As many countries have progressed, they have lost interest in funding solutions for the issues facing sub-Saharan Africa. It doesn’t benefit their national interest to spend money for an issue that has been treated in most of the world. Essentially, most countries do not want to wait for sub-Saharan Africa to catch up, and don’t want to spend any more funding when it hasn’t seemed to have made a difference in the past. However, it is crucial that attention is brought to sub-Saharan Africa and that public and international attention remains on this issue so that is doesn’t continue to get increasingly worse.
