AIDS has taken a horrible toll in Africa. And the plague is far from over. If not conquered, it will take an increasing toll around the world. What will stop this horror?
by Mario Seiglie
Over 10 million orphans. It took a
while for the headline in a recent Newsweek magazine to sink in.
Over 10 million African children have lost one or both parents due to
the AIDS plague. "A full-blown crisis is upon us, and it's worse than
expected" said Newsweek. "By the end of this year an astonishing
10.4 million African children under 15 will have lost their mothers or
both parents to AIDS-90 percent of the global total of AIDS orphans" (January
17, 2000, p. 12).
In any other part of the world, the news
would be scandalous, but in Africa, a continent largely disconnected
from the rest of the world, AIDS is still mostly a silent epidemic.
At least it has been finally recognized for what it is-a worldwide
plague. In the recent edition dedicated to AIDS in Africa, Newsweek titled
the leading article, "The Plague Years."
The facts are slowly sinking in about how
terrible and widespread this plague has become. It has already killed
close to half a million Americans, almost 10 times the number who died
in the Vietnam War. No nation is immune. China and India together have
more than seven million cases.
According to the United Nations, with each
passing minute, 11 persons become infected with the AIDS virus, or
16,000 a day. This totals an appalling 5.6 million people stricken
with the plague last year. The number of people who have AIDS worldwide
is around 38 million.
How many have died from AIDS? A million?
Five million? Or 10 million? No-it is far worse. The official figure
is 16.3 million. Just last year, 2.6 million died of the virus, which
is equivalent to the population of Jamaica. Perhaps because two million
of those died in Africa (total AIDS deaths in Africa so far-13.7 million),
the wails of grief are seldom heard beyond the villages of the dead.
Yet, they are all people made in God's image, but whose dreams and
aspirations have been shattered.
