It is not often spoken about but South Africa has the biggest HIV epedimec in the world. Up until the end of 2017 7.1 Million people in the country were living with HIV. As a percentage it is nearly 20 percent of the population.
Last year there were 270 000 new cases and 110 000 deaths due to HIV.They have reached the goal of increasing the awareness with nearly 90% aware of their status. I don't believe these figures as I know how the government works and from what I have heard you can up these figures considerably.
I wanted to have a look at why the national life expectancy age was so low compared to the rest of the world. The average is 61 for men and 67 for women which in our modern day and age is not very good.
The Government has a target which is 90/90/90. This means that 90 %are aware of their status,90 percent are on treatment and 90 percent are suppressing the virus.
They say 90% are aware and only 61 percent on treatment and 47 percent are virally suppressed. What is alarming if we went with the governments numbers it tells us that 800 000 don't know they have it, 2.8 million know they have it but aren't on medication and 3.8 million are not getting any better on the medication.
If we can remember a few years ago President Zuma was accused of rape and unprotected sex. His reply was that it was fine because he had a shower afterwards. This is from someone who would be over seeing medical programs and funding and yet he has no clue himself. What message did he send out in that press conference to the people of South Africa?
When I returned from the UK and had to get a home loan I had to have a blood test. I had never experienced that before and it all makes sense. She mentioned something shocking saying more than 30 percent failed their home loan applications due to AIDS. These would be educated people in decent jobs that would have been able to afford the home loans. Your middle to upper class in other words.
One of the laws is that you can ask a new employee to do a medical but no blood test is allowed. This I think is unfair as you don't actually die from aids but something else like TB. Your immune system is affected and causes serious issues. In the 10 years that I have been back I have known of at least half a dozen workers die from HIV related deaths.
The locals call it a slow puncture and you can see them withering away slowly. A big business here now is burial land as they are running out of burial sites and land is being made available at exorbitant rates. The coffin business is booming and 110 000 deaths a year just sounds too small.
How bad is the epidemic and does the government understand how bad it really is? I don't think so and with all the lies that we get fed I would hate to know what percentage of the population has HIV. This is not something you can hide as over the years it will become noticeable.
Image source avert.org. statisticssouthafrica.org and psychologicalbenefits.org
