HIV/AIDS in Africa

To date, more than 80% of AIDS deaths have occurred in Africa. In addition, over 90% of the estimated 12-14 million AIDS orphans (children who have lost their parents to this disease) live in African nations. In many African countries 15% to 30% of all adults are infected with HIV. World Health Organization (WHO) researchers estimate that 120 million people could die from AIDS in the next 25 years.

In a tragedy whose scope defies comprehension, HIV/AIDS is devastating a continent already ravaged by wars and poverty. Unless action against this disease is significantly escalated in scope and improved in focus, the damage already done will seem minor compared with what lies ahead. AIDS is poised to wipe out large portions of a generation of African people. Families are being destroyed, and skilled workers—the essence of a nation’s wealth—are dying at an unprecedented rate.

We believe the best hope for curtailing the spread of HIV/AIDS is through education and behavior change. Because neither an effective vaccine nor a drug-based cure seems likely in the near future, the only viable strategy for significantly diminishing this pandemic is preventing exposure to HIV through education about effective risk-reduction strategies.

In recent years there have been a number of reportedly successful and innovative intervention programs that utilize trained community members as peer educators to reach out to their peers in a grassroots educational effort that includes providing information and resources, a format for talking openly about sexual issues, and a supportive context for positive behavior changes. A major advantage of the peer education model is that it places health-related knowledge in the hands of ordinary people who act not only as peer educators but also as role models for positive behavior change. Research indicates that such grassroots programs increase the likelihood that people will engage in health-promoting behaviors.