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How Can AIDS Be Prevented in Africa?

AIDS is a syndrome defined by certain illnesses, infections and cancers that can occur years after an HIV infection, so fighting the spread of HIV is a must to fight the AIDS epidemic. Major charities and humanitarian organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have focused on fighting HIV infection and other conditions in Africa, and as of 2008 the number of new HIV infections has finally shown signs of slowing. Preventing AIDS in Africa will require a lot of work in education and scientific research, but progress continues to be made in the battle against the AIDS epidemic.

  1. Diaphragm Research

    • Preventing HIV in any population has proven to be a difficult task. Studies are looking promising, however, in offering superior methods of protecting individuals from HIV infection. In Africa, women make up a large portion of the population that is at high risk, since in many African nations a woman can face dire consequences for refusing to engage in sexual activity with her husband or even asking for him to use a condom. Research is showing promising results regarding the use of diaphragms by women, which are small cup-shaped devices used to catch semen in an attempt to prevent pregnancy. Preliminary research shows that diaphragms may also slow or stop HIV from entering the vagina, giving African women the opportunity to use prophylactics in an attempt to protect themselves from the virus.

    Nipple Guard Research

    • Another branch of research concerning the prevention of HIV transmission has been focused on giving HIV-positive women the ability to breastfeed their babies safely. In many parts in Africa, clean water (which is necessary to formula feed) is very difficult to come by. This causes many HIV-positive mothers to have to make the choice between watching their child starve to death or exposing the child to HIV. To help prevent mother-to-child transmission through breastfeeding, two research directions are being explored: medicating the mother and the infant throughout breastfeeding, and the use of nipple shields to remove the virus from breast milk. The medication research allows the mother to continue taking anti-HIV medications that she was given during pregnancy while breastfeeding, or gives the baby the same anti-HIV drugs every day until the child is weaned. The nipple shield research uses a nipple guard such as those used to prevent nipple pain from the baby's teeth; in the case of this research the guard contains a small amount of cotton soaked in non-toxic sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) which acts as a disinfecting filter for the breast milk. While SDS is not toxic to humans, it has been shown to kill HIV on contact.

    Sex Education

    • One of the biggest banes to HIV prevention is the abstinence-only sex education program. Statistics have shown abstinence-only programs not only don't work as a means of preventing the spread of HIV, but in some regions including the U.S. and Africa, these programs have actually been shown to make the problem worse. Abstinence-only programs tend to fall back on religious figures condemning sex, and refuse to teach about the importance of condom use. Educators tend to believe that teaching people about condom use and safe sex will only encourage them to engage in immoral behavior, leaving them unprepared for the dangers of having unprotected sex. Education programs in Africa have begun teaching about the use of condoms and other protection methods, while pointing out that the only way to be 100 percent safe is to practice abstinence.

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