CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The ravages of the AIDS epidemic have made this disease the highest priority of our health system. In the absence of a cure, or more effective prevention or treatment, it was projected in 1993 (Chesney, 1993) that the world could expect 30 to 40 million new cases by 2000 (Mann, 1991). These projections are on tract or are proving to be underestimated particularly in developing nations.
In 2000, the total number of people living with HIV was estimated at 34.3 million, in the hardest hit regions in Southern Africa, between 15% and 30% of the adults population are believed to be HIV positive. Furthermore, the United Nations estimated that at least 2 of every 5 girls and boys, who are 15 years old today, in the countries in Southern Africa, will die of AIDS (Schwartlanders, Garnelt, walkers, and Anderson, 2000).
AIDS/HIV is a disease which affects human immune system. AIDS has become the world’s fourth leading cause of death and number one killer in Africa, where in 1998 it took 1.83 million lives (balter, 1999). AIDS as it name tells us, is an immune disorder an acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which is spread by exchange of bodily fluids, primarily semen and blood. AIDS/HIV kills slowly; it ironically can be lethal to more people. When the HIV infections becomes manifest as AIDS, some years after the initial infection, the person has difficulty fighting off other diseases, such as pneumolystis, pneumonia, cancer, dementia, or a wasting syndrome in which the body literally  withers away. Also after several months to several years with no symptoms, patients may develop minor health problems such as weight loss, fever, and night sweats, symptoms that make up the condition known as AIDS-Related-Complex (ARC).
On June 5, 1981, the centers for disease control reported the first case of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). In the decades that followed, AIDS grew from an unknown disease into a devastating worldwide epidemic for which no medical cure has been found. According to the world health organization (2002), about 16,000 new infections occur each day. Worldwide, 1 in every 100 adults between the ages of 15 and 49 are infected with the AIDS virus, and the disease has so far claimed the lies of nearly 20 million people of the 3 million people who died from AIDS in 2001, 37 percent were woman and 20 percent were children. In some countries of Southern Africa, 25 to 40 percent of the population is infected, including a third of all pregnant women. Globally, only 5 to 10 percent of the cases now occur in homosexual men (the population typically identified with the Affliction), and women now make up half of all HIV cases (United Nation, 2002). In the early 2000’s, the rate of infection began to rise again among homosexual men in North America, Europe and Australia due to increases in risky sexual behaviour (CDC, 2003). The AIDS epidemic threatens to overwhelm the words health care financing and delivery systems.
AIDS is caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), which cripples the immune system. The patient then becomes vulnerable to invading viruses, bacteria, and tumors, which are the actual killers. Because the AIDS virus evolves rapidly, vaccines are at the present ineffective in preventing its spread. Moreover, the incubation period between initial infection and the appearance of the disease may be as long as 10 years, meaning that an infected needles in intravenous drug use; and exposure to infected blood through transfusion or in the womb.