AIDS in Africa

I watched a video on YouTube called Deadly Catch - Kenya. The video talks about a community near Lake Victoria. Lake Victory is a big fishing industry. In this industry men go to fish and the women buy the fish from the men.  The women wait for the men to come back with fish but the fish isn't reserved for anyone. To get fish reserved the women form a sexual relationship with the fishermen call the Joboya System. After receiving fish from the fishermen, they take the fish to the bus to bring to the vendors. The women form sexual relationships with the bus drivers to reserve a spot on the bus for them and with the vendors to make sure they have room to sell their fish. It's pretty upsetting seeing women have to do this to support their family. Most of the women do this because their husbands died of AIDS. But while the women believe they are helping their kids by making money doing this. They are also developing AIDS and soon could be leaving their children parentless if they don't receive treatment.

The next video I watched was 28 stories of AIDS in Africa. She talks about several of her experiences in Africa. She talked about Africa's economy was crippled due to the fact that people ages 18 to 35 were the majority with AIDS. She talked about how they were the productive workers. They grew food, earned money, and had kids. What I think she was getting at was that if people didn't grow, what would people eat. Without people making money, how could people buy anything? Last if people with kids died then who would watch those kids and support them. Since no one could support them, those kids would have to grow up earlier and work to make themselves money. Just like the one story she told about the two kids who were five and nine when they lost their parents because of AIDS. She also talks about how people are afraid to tell others that they developed AIDS. People fear they will be neglected from everyone. There are many reasons why people get AIDS, but in Africa it mostly deals with wealth.

I believe the effect of AIDS is so massive in Africa then it is in the United States because in the U.S. you learn about AIDS more and it can be treated. There are far more hospitals in the U.S. then in Africa. With this, help is more frequent in the U.S. then Africa. Stephanie Nolan says how there are more treatments for the B strand which was in the United States, and nothing for the A and C strand which was in Africa. This shows how AIDS can also affect people in Africa more than the United States.

Before watching these videos I knew that Africa had the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in the entire world. I also knew that it was affecting a lot of people a day and killing others. A lot of people can't afford to get medication so it takes over their bodies very quickly.  What I wasn't sure about was how it affected people. With these videos I learned that AIDS can affect economies and education in Africa. If people can't work because they have AIDS then the economy will go down. With that it causes little kids to work at earlier ages causing them to not get an education. Or it could affect their education in a different way. If the teacher get infected with AIDS, who will end up taking their spots. This will cause kids to get no education and never learn about AIDS.

The culture in these videos is easily shown in the Deadly Catch - Kenya video. The culture here relies on Lake Victory and the fishing community. Men get the fish and women buy the fish from the men. Women aren't always guaranteed fish so the form sexual relationships with the fishermen. With the sexual relationships it allows AIDS to spread easily. The one woman says she doesn't want to tell her fishermen that she is HIV positive because then he won't get her fish anymore. Since she isn't telling him, he will end up getting it and giving it to someone else. The women also have relationships with other people to make sure they have connections to get their fish to the market. Most of these sexual relationships are unprotected, which increases their chances of giving and receiving AIDS.

Some solutions are what the Bush Administration did. They gave away condoms to people in Africa, but there isn't enough to protect people engaging in more than four sexual encounters a year. In Africa the Government needs to educate the people about safe sex, abstinence, and monogamous relationships. With that people will learn about AIDS and how to prevent it. Last, I think they should open up some clinics around Africa that will give away medication for AIDS. These clinics will go in areas where there aren't any hospitals and a lot of people have AIDS. The clinic will teach and give away condoms to anyone to try and help prevent further spread of the disease. 

English Videos

The first video is about summaries. Summaries have to be shorter than what you are summarizing. Use facts to help write what you are summarizing. Use your own words without quoting. Be neutral when summarizing, don't favor one point over the other.

The second video talks about the number of keywords you should use when using your libraries database. A good amount is 2 to 4 keywords.

The third video talks about the importance of citations. Citations make your writing more credible. Insufficiently citing your sources can result in failing your paper or expelled from the university.

HIV/AIDS Pandemic

HIV/AIDS became a pandemic when it spread worldwide. Some nations handled it well and others didn't. The United States didn't do a bad job but didn't do a good job. Other nations like Uganda and Thailand did a good job.

The first thing they did that was good was they went to bathhouses and closed them down until they made sure that they were having protected sex. The Surgeon General mailed an AIDS brochure to every American household. Another thing that was good was President Bush signed Ryan White's CARE act. It was authorized that $4.4 billion over five years would go towards health care and support services in the 16 hardest hit cities with AIDS.

What the government did badly was that they didn't really teach anyone about HIV/AIDS. Also when President Reagan had his speech he didn't want to talk about it. What the Government didn't do, people in the US did. At the Tony Awards, entertainers were wearing red ribbons to symbolize AIDS awareness. Also, a former drug addict started exchanging needles to try and prevent the spread of AIDS.

On the other hand, Uganda and Thailand were effective with their supports of AIDS. In Uganda Dr. Noerine Kaleeba and 15 other people developed The AIDS Support Organization (TASO) to educate everyone about the disease. They campaigned the ABC model, which meant abstain, be faithful, and use a condom. In Thailand, they handled it well and made sure people were to use condoms. They also made radio stations broadcast information about AIDS.

HIV/AIDS

When talking about HIV/AIDS I think about a serious disease which is not a joking matter. It ruins people's lives and ends up killing them. No one I personally know has it and I hope one day they find a cure if possible. Back when HIV/AIDS first started showing up there was no cure or treatment to help fight it. Today, scientists have a treatment to help fight the disease and slow it down. 

I know that when the disease gets into your body it affects your immune system and shuts it down which causes you to end up being sick and die. The pills they give you to slow the process down can sometimes have side effects. Having HIV/AIDS is just something you don't want to have. So be safe and be cautious with what you do.