African History 7.7 HIV and AIDS

It causes the number of cells in the body that fight other diseases to take a nosedive.

If your body was an army, AIDS is like a spy network that weakens all your defenses.

All scientific studies show that AIDS is caused by human immunodeficiency virus or HIV. [Scientist working in a lab]

It’s what’s called a retrovirus, and its favorite prey is macrophages,

or disease fighting cells.

HIV originated in Africa with the bushmeat practice of hunting monkeys for food. [Bushmeat hunter shoots monkey with a bow and arrow]

When bushmeat hunters kill and skin a monkey, they often contract that monkey's diseases

through blood-to-blood infection after monkey blood gets into their cuts.

One monkey disease, called simian immunodefiency virus, appears to have infected humans and

mutated into HIV on at least three different occasions since 1910.

And that's three more occasions than is preferable… [3 sick people in hospital beds]

And in other awful news, the virus wasn't noticed for seventy years, mostly because

it was only popping up in Cameroon and Congo.

There, administrators chalked it up as a form of syphilis, another sexually transmitted

disease.

This was one of those very rare times that declaring a disease as syphilis was actually [Upset looking patient in a hospital bed]

wishful thinking.

As migrant labor increased after colonialism, lots of guys from these regions started traveling

around the world.

And when these dudes get around, they tend to get around.

Many ended up sleeping with women, men, or some of both.

So in the 1970s, HIV spread across Africa, and then the world. [HIV virus covers Africa on the map, and then the rest of the world]

Things got even worse when blood banks and medical equipment outside Central Africa were

infected with the virus.

By the time HIV was understood, it was already a global pandemic that had infected millions.

HIV spreads through oral, anal, and vaginal sex, not to mention blood transfusions, unsanitary

medical equipment, and breast milk.

And because the world is full of idiots, some idiots in the 1980s were quick to label it [Man with a Dunce cap on holding a stamp]

a homosexual disease.

Since homosexuals were discriminated against, response to the virus was slow.

But the truth is that the virus affects men and women of all sexual orientations as well

as millions of children.

The good news is that HIV can now be managed by medical technology. [Medical person talking to a patient and looking positive]

Condoms, dental dams, and some other barrier methods drastically reduce the spread of HIV.

And antiviral medication can suppress HIV, allowing infected people to live rich and

full lives.

But HIV is still a big problem in Africa for several reasons.

First, access to contraception and sex ed is kinda hard to come by.

This is made worse because many organizations refuse to lift a finger to end HIV. [Arm with organization written on it flicks person away]

Catholic charities, for example, often refuse to provide accurate sex ed or to distribute condoms.

And then there’s some other seriously sketchy stuff, like what went down in South Africa

in the 80s.

Yep, the 80s again.

The haircuts weren’t the only things that sucked.

Anyway, in 80s South Africa, communist agents circulated a theory that HIV was created by

the CIA as a weapon against Africans.

They convinced people that safe sex and antivirals did diddly-squat to fight the virus. [Man kicks medicine into a bin]

Then in the 1990s, the South African government also refused to accept that HIV was the cause

of AIDS.

So they promoted alternative medicines that just didn’t work.

Another big issue is that until recently only one company held the patent for HIV antivirals, [Scientist holds up patent certificate]

and this company sold most of their stock as a baldness treatment in Europe, which left

few meds for Africans.

But times are changing, the patent has expired, and sex-ed and antivirals are making headway

in the war on AIDS.

Hm…bald Europeans vs. dead Africans?

Seems like that should’ve been and easier choice. [Scales with 'Bald European' label on one side and 'Dead Africans' label on the other]

And seeing as we've made it to the end…

Permission granted to spend the next hour looking at more baby animal pictures. [Students look at picture of duckling]