Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks the immune system and ultimately leads to its failure, leading to opportunistic infections and cancers. Today, there are 34 million people living with HIV in the world. Of these, more than 75 percent live in Africa. The region most infected with the HIV virus is the sub-Saharan region and, as a result, the average life expectancy in this region is less than 50 years. Before the influence of HIV, this number was almost 70 years old. (dosomething.org) I could rattle off statistics all day, but as you can see, HIV is a serious problem in Africa. No one knows exactly how the virus started, but scientists have managed to narrow its origin to a specific type of chimpanzee in West Africa. They believe that the chimpanzee version of the immunodeficiency virus (SIV) was somehow transmitted to humans and then mutated into HIV. It is unclear how the virus was introduced to humans, but the most ruled out theory is that the hunters were exposed to the infected blood of the chimpanzees and were subsequently exposed to the HIV virus. (www.theaidsinstitute.org) AIDS, which stands for acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is a way of describing a whole group of symptoms and illnesses associated with damage to the immune system caused by HIV. Here in America, being HIV positive is not necessarily a death sentence because we have medications that can slow the virus and prevent it from developing into AIDS. However, in Africa, the necessary medicines are very expensive and many infected people do not even know they have the virus! Lack of education and a culture based on having children have made trying to rid Africa of AIDS a daunting task, and we don't really know where to start. (std.about.com) As...... middle of paper .. ....- In the 2000s, the situation has actually improved greatly, an official investigation will be carried out in 2015, but it is predicted that the percentage of HIV-positive people will decrease due to rapid population growth. I think they did all the right things. to fight this epidemic. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't force it to drink. More people now understand the dangers of unprotected sex, but still choose to continue the practice due to cultural beliefs. The progress that has been made in protecting children is where the greatest improvements have taken place and other sub-Saharan countries are indeed beginning to view Swaziland's measures as guidelines for dealing with their own problems. HIV and AIDS is a serious problem, but it is one that is slowly being addressed and hopefully one day soon it will no longer be as prevalent in this part of the world..