Sub Saharan Africa consists of the countries that lie south of the Sahara desert. This region holds less than 10% of the world’s population; however this area is home to over 60% of the people living with AIDS in the world. To put these stats into numbers its 1.9 million people living with HIV currently. Also more than 75% of the deaths caused by AIDS happened in this part of the world. According to the CIA world fact book, the top 22 countries in population infected with AIDS are located in Africa, with top 16 being located in Sub Saharan Africa. There are quite a few reasons that these countries have been a huge contributing factor. First of all heterosexual unprotected sex is the main cause, followed by needle sharing during drug use, then female sex workers that participate in unprotected sex with multiple partners, and finally homosexual sex between men. In some countries one reason is more prevalent than others, for example the sex trade in Mali is a huge business, and needle drug use is a huge problem in Kenya.
The United States has attempted help this epidemic. The USAID gives medical supplies, financial help, distributes condoms, passes out clean needles, and most importantly education for the countries in Sub Saharan Africa. Education is the key to stopping the spread of HIV, if the Sub Saharan people do not know what is causing this horrible disease they will never know how to prevent it.
Sources: http://www.unaids.org/en/CountryResponses/Regions/SubSaharanAfrica.asp
http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/countries/rcsa/index.html
