11 Facts about HIV in Africa

Welcome to DoSomething.org, a global movement of millions of young people making positive change, online and off! The 11 facts you want are below, and the sources for the facts are at the very bottom of the page. After you learn something, Do Something! Find out how to take action here.

1. Out of the 34 million HIV-positive people worldwide, 69% live in sub-Saharan Africa. There are roughly 23.8 million infected persons in all of Africa.^[The United Nations. "Word AIDS Day 2012." UN AIDS. Accessed on April 15, 2015. .,]
2. 91% of the world’s HIV-positive children live in Africa.^[World Health Organization. "Treatment of children living with HIV." WHO. Accessed April 15,2014. .]
3. More than one million adults and children die every year from HIV/AIDS in Africa alone. In 2011, 1.7 million people worldwide died from AIDS.^[The United Nations. "Word AIDS Day 2012." UN AIDS. Accessed April 15, 2014. .]
4. Since the epidemic of HIV/AIDS, more than 75 million people have contracted the illness, and over 36 million have died from an HIV-related cause.^[World Health Organization. "HIV/AIDS." WHO. Accessed April 15, 2015. .]
5. 71% of the HIV/AIDS-related deaths in 2011 were people living in Africa.^["The Global AIDS Pandemic: Key Facts." Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Accessed April 15, 2014. http://www.pedaids.org/page/-/uploads/resources/GlobalStats_5.pdf>.]
6. Antiretroviral drug treatments can tremendously decrease the number of HIV-related deaths by delaying the progression of the virus and allowing people to live relatively healthy, normal lives.^[World Health Organization. "Use of antiretrovirals for treatment and prevention of HIV infection." WHO. Accessed April 15, 2014. http://www.who.int/hiv/topics/treatment/en/>.]
7. Due to an insufficient supply of antiretroviral drugs and health care providers in 2010, only 5 of the 10 million HIV-positive patients in Africa were able to receive treatment.^[Liberty Health. "‘Getting to zero: Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths." Liberty Health Blue. Accessed April 15, 2014. http://www.libertyhealthblue.com/documents/AfricaWAD2013.pdf>.]
8. Because of HIV/AIDs, the average life-expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa is 54.4 years of age. In some countries in Africa, it’s below 49.^[AVERT. "HIV and AIDS in Africa." HIV and AIDS information and resources. Accessed April 15, 2014.]
9. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has drastically slowed the economic growth and social development in Africa, because hundreds of thousands of people are unable to work or receive an education.^[Bell, Clive, Shantayanan Devarajan, and Hans Gersbach. "The Long-run Economic Costs of AIDS: Theory and an Application to South Africa." World Bank. Accessed April 14, 2014. .]
10. Contraceptive use of condoms has doubled in recent years because it is an inexpensive provision to offer to both the HIV-positive and negative. However, the method is void when couples are hoping to conceive or have already engaged with infected persons.^[The United Nations. "Promoting Rational Use of Drugs and Correct Case Management in Basic Health Services." UNICEF. Accessed April 15, 2015. .]
11. A pregnant woman not treated with the proper drugs, has a 20-45% chance that her infant will contract the virus from pregnancy. 59% of HIV-positive people in Africa are women, the majority of children diagnosed with HIV get the virus from their mothers.^[New City Magazine. "The Challenge of AIDS." New City Magazine. Accessed April 14, 2014. .]