AIDS
The deadliest threat to mankind
One of the most deadly diseases posing a threat to human society across the globe HIV/AIDS (Acquired immune deficiency syndrome) AIDS is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). In India, this global menace is spreading its deadly wings alarmingly and it's of utmost importance to spread awareness about AIDS among the vulnerable population.
Every year since 1998, NACO, (National AIDS Control Organisation), the National Institute of Health and Family Welfare and the National Institute of Medical Statistics (a body under ICMR) bring out estimates of India's population living with HIV and AIDS. As per their estimates, the total number of people with HIV/AIDS is around 2 to 3 million, approximately 0.36 percent. Around 2.5 million people are living with HIV and AIDS. Many of them are living without any prescription drugs. This figure has come down almost 50 percent of the previous estimate of 5.2 million.
Such a condition gradually reduces the effectiveness of the immune system and leaves individuals susceptible to opportunistic infections. AIDS does not have any 100% effective medication. The virus of this deadly disease is transmitted through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the bloodstream with a bodily fluid containing HIV, such as blood, semen, vaginal fluid, preseminal fluid, and breast milk.
Such a transmission can also involve anal, vaginal or oral sex, blood transfusion, contaminated hypodermic needles, exchange between mother and baby during pregnancy, childbirth, or breastfeeding, or other exposure to one of the above bodily fluids.
AIDS has now become a pandemic that does not have an effective drug to tackle. In 2007, around 33.2 million people lived with the disease worldwide, and it killed an estimated 2.1 million people, including 330,000 children. Over three-quarters of these victims are from sub-Saharan Africa, retarding economic growth and destroying human capital. According to generic research, this disease originated in west-central Africa during the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. AIDS was first recognized by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 1981 and its cause, HIV, identified in the early 1980s.
Elizabeth Taylor once said: "It is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance."
So knowledge about AIDS is the best cure for it. No prescription drugs are available for it. If we are little more careful about our lifestyles, if we are more careful about safe sex we may tread an AIDS-free path.
Although treatments for AIDS and HIV can slow the course of the disease, there is currently no vaccine or cure for it. No drug store in the world can offer a 100 % effective medication. Antiretroviral treatment, though it reduces both the mortality and the morbidity of HIV infection, is very expensive.
Many organizations are playing a key role in spreading the message on how to prevent the disease. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is leading from the front in assisting developing countries in their fight against this global menace. The organization has donated millions of dollars for AIDS prevention projects. Some drugs are also provided free of cost to the people living with HIV
But HIV/AIDS patients should not be considered as outcast. They should be treated with care and affection. NACO, the frontal organization for prevention of AIDS in India, is committed to contain the spread of HIV by building an all-encompassing response reaching out to vast populations. It attempts to provide people with "accurate, complete and consistent information about HIV", promote use of condoms for protection, and emphasize treatment of sexually transmitted diseases.
A little bit of carefulness on our path will help us contain this disease.