The impact of AIDS in Africa’s socio-economic and political scene

Because HIV/AIDS is wiping out adults in this continent, the economies are collapsing because there is non one left to plant crops, look after the animals or engage in any income generating activity and those that are left are either to weak from the disease or have orphaned children to care for.

Reports suggest that nearly two thirds of all people living with HIV/AIDS are in Sub- Saharan Africa and although this region contains less than 10% of the world’s population, the disease has caused untold human suffering in the continent.

AIDS sufferers in Africa face illnesses and death and areas like the economy, health sectors, work places, schools and households have been greatly affected by the killer disease.

In all countries plagued by the AIDS epidemic, there is growing pressure on the health sector to cope with the demand for care which takes a toll on the health workers.

With hospitals struggling to cope, there is increased evidence that more health facilities now choose to only admit AIDS patients at their critical stage which means their chances of recovery is reduced.

In South Africa for instance AIDS accounts for more than 60% of hospital expenditure.

The strain of HIV/AIDS on households can be severe as more parents die from the disease, children are increasingly left in the care of relatives or even on their own.

My investigation also found out that cases of people not being able to go to work because they have to care for other sick relatives is also on the increase and most of these individuals come from destitute households.

Many children who find themselves heading households have been forced to abandon their education in order to fend for their siblings.

The Kenyan government is offering free primary education but parents from poor households still struggle to buy school uniforms and provide educational materials, the costs of which can be prohibitive.

A headmaster at Mombasa’s Majaoni Primary School, Nathaniel Menza said, “we still send children away from school for lack of text books or proper school uniforms, the government says education is free but parents still need to pay for certain things required by teachers.”

With increased prevalence among children and young people in Kenya, children are in danger of missing out on the knowledge and confidence they need to protect themselves and prepare for a full and productive life.

The epidemic has contributed to a significant growth in food insecurity in parts of Africa as agriculture which is abandoned or neglected because of AIDS illnesses in the family.

The vast majority of people living with HIV and AIDS in Africa are between the ages of 15 and 49 - in the prime of their working lives.

AIDS damages businesses by squeezing productivity, increasing costs, diverting productive resources depleting skills. This can affect labour , setting back economic and social progress in affected countries.

Many companies operating businesses in Africa have been forced to provide health-care, funeral benefits and pension-fund commitments for their workers as a result of the growing infection rate.

Labour supply in Africa has been reduced as a result of increased mortality and illnesses thus affecting the economy.

Meet Morris Ochieng, 35  a skilled artisan who works in Nairobi’s main informal sector [Juakali]; he is also HIV positive and two years after being diagnosed, his health has continued to deteriorate forcing him out of work.

Ochieng, like many Kenyan men, is the sole bread winner in his family, now without a job and struggling to put provide for his wife and children.

He said, “this is hard for me, watching my family starve because I cannot work anymore, I don’t know who will take care of them when I am gone.”

The impact AIDS has had on  the economies of African countries is difficult to measure with the worst affected countries such as Kenya already struggling with development challenges, debt and declining trade in addition to the AIDS crisis.

Studies carried out by East African businesses have shown that absenteeism can account for over 25% of company costs.