In several developing countries of the world, AIDS remains an epidemic of catastrophic proportions. Millions of people, including children, continue to die from this illness every year. Charitable efforts to limit the impact of this disease on the populations of these countries focus on supporting HIV AIDS care at three stages.
Diagnosis
It is not enough to flood a region with anti-retroviral drugs and hope that the AIDS problem will go away. Treatment without diagnosis is a sure route to disaster. Diagnosing AIDS requires proper facilities and equipment. It also requires personnel in the form of qualified and experienced medical doctors.
The equipment needed to diagnose AIDS is expensive. To make matters worse, many countries which are most afflicted by this disease lack even rudimentary infrastructure to house and maintain this equipment. If diagnosis for children is needed, the expenses will grow because additional equipment will be required.
Perhaps the biggest barrier to improving and increasing diagnoses of AIDS is the lack of doctors. These medical professionals are needed in great numbers to serve the millions of people suffering from AIDS without any recourse.
Treatment
Quality treatment for AIDS requires anti-retroviral drugs. Health foundations working in these regions have made great advances in lowering the costs of such drugs. Annual treatment once cost more than $10,000 for a single adult. Coordinated efforts between these groups have lowered the costs significantly. Now an individual may only require a little more than $100 in annual funding for full treatment.
Drugs for children are more expensive for a variety of reasons. For example, the anti-retroviral drugs in use are typically in pill form. Small children need liquid formulations of these drugs. Pharmaceutical companies require more money for these formulations because they must divert energy and funding into maintaining separate production facilities.
Perhaps the biggest difficulty encountered in treating HIV AIDS in low-income countries is the lack of nurses and other health care professionals. Hospitals and medical centers require a wide variety of health care workers in order to function from day to day. Until millions of such posts are filled, treatment of AIDS will be hampered in these areas.
Education
Without education in the prevention of AIDS, as well as the proper reaction to diagnoses of AIDS, this disease will never stop damaging progress in developing countries. Treatment efforts are expensive and use resources that the world could put to use elsewhere. If educators can intervene properly and teach local populations how to avoid AIDS infections, health care organizations can avoid spending their efforts on treating people with this disease and move on to other necessary projects.
The stages of care all depend on people. While money is a valuable contribution and much needed during this period wracked with various global economic crises, the biggest necessity is for personnel. With the right people in place, money can become a secondary issue. Medical professionals who join in these efforts will also be able to help local populations with a variety of distinct health needs.
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