Drivers of HIV and AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa and San Francisco Research Paper

The last three decades bear testament to the devastating effects of HIV and AIDS on all spheres of society. No society has gone untouched by the epidemic. While poorer countries have the highest infection and casualty rates, richer countries continue to devote significant resources towards research and financing of the fight against the virus.

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San Francisco represents the developed world while sub-Saharan Africa represents one of the worst hit regions by HIV. The goal of this paper is to compare the impacts of the epidemic on these two regions by looking at the driving factors and the intervention efforts by the church.

San Francisco holds an important place in California. It was once the largest settlement in the east coast of the United States. It played a significant role in the Second World War by acting as an exit point for troops headed towards the pacific.

This city became the heart of civil liberties movements in the United States after the war. The movements set out to expand the traditional definitions of marriage and to mainstream same-sex unions. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the largest community living with HIV in the city is gay (San Francisco AIDS Foundation).

Another factor driving up infection rates in the city is drug use characterized by sharing of syringes. As the drug problem spread out in America, San Francisco took its share of the burden, resulting in a large community of addicts. Access to syringes has improved over time but it remains a controversial intervention in the control of the spread of HIV.

The HIV case in Sub Saharan Africa lies in the larger issues of poverty, tradition, and ignorance (Umunna 25). This part of the world provides case studies on absolute poverty (WHO and UNAIDS 20). As a region, Sub Saharan Africa is home to majority of the worlds poor and has some of the most deplorable health care systems. Because of poverty, the infection rates have soared since most people do not have access to credible information because there is no infrastructure to relay the information (WHO and UNAIDS 20).

Traditions amongst the people living in sub Sahara Africa also contributes significantly to the spread of HIV. Some of them promote practices such as wife inheritance, communal circumcision using the same set of knives and polygamy. All these are risk factors in enhancing the spread of the virus. Ignorance makes it impossible for the people to know how to conduct themselves to avoid infection such as mother to child transmission.

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A keen look at the factors driving the spread of HIV in both areas reveals that the same basic elements are responsible for the spread of infection. Sharing of needles and knives both use the same transmission mechanism of sharing infected instruments. The major mode of HIV transmission, which is sex with an infected partner, plays a big role in both places where people have multiple sex partners.

In San Francisco, they are mainly same sex couples while in sub Saharan Africa, traditions allow for polygamy and wife inheritance, which both amount to sharing multiple sex partners. In the event that one person in the pool contracts the virus, then all the people involved end up infected.

The main difference between the nature of infection in San Francisco and in Sub Saharan Africa comes from the economic divide that characterizes the two locations. San Francisco is relatively wealthier and better connected than Sub Saharan Africa. It is easier to use community-based programs in San Francisco to control infection rates in San Francisco because of the infrastructural outlay already available.

However, in sub Saharan Africa, limited communication infrastructure delays transmission of information and materials for use to prevent the spread on HIV. In conclusion, the social and economic disposition of a region influences how HIV spreads and influences the results of the efforts to control it (Umunna 27).