Intensifying Action Against HIV and Aids

Intensifying Action Against HIV/AIDS in Africa
Secretary of State
Teresa Pickering
7 February 2003











1
I. Problem
Twenty years ago, the subject of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), which has been found to be the cause of AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), would not have been the topic of a major and serious worldwide catastrophe. Twenty years ago, people were not phased by the effects that would be caused by this ever so populating disease, and no one would have ever realized that this disease would not be curable or helped without expensive medicine. Like a simple exponential growth equation, the AIDS virus has increased victim numbers by about forty million all over the world.
AIDS has also shown that it is not discriminating; it has infected all races and all heritages. The AIDS crisis extends far beyond its death toll, because more than seventy percent of the thirty-six million people with HIV/AIDS live in sub-Sa...