Examine the geographical impacts of HIV / AIDS at the local and national scale of a named region. [10] According to UNAIDS, there were approximately 36. 7 million people worldwide were living with HIV / AIDS at the end of 2015 (UNAIDS, 2017). HIV / AIDS is a virus that spreads through certain bodily fluids that attacks and weakens the body's immune system, and it makes the immune system unable to fight off diseases. (Mayo Clinic, 2015) HIV is an abbreviation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus, while AIDS is the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. This essay would be focussing on the city of Lilongwe in Malawi in South Africa, and would be examining the geographical factors responsible for the spread of HIV / AIDS, and this will be looked at the local and national scales and analyze the successes and failures of the solutions.
Location of Malawi
Fig 1: Map of Africa and Location of Malawi Malawi is located in East Africa, with a GDP of 5. 442billion USD in 2016. The main industry in Malawi would be that of agriculture and farming, where more than 80% of the country's export earnings are from agriculture produce. Tackling HIV / AIDS is one of the main challenges the Malawian government face.
Firstly, the impact of HIV / AIDS at the local scale would be that it affects all sectors of the society, which would be the young and elderly (dependent population), and the economically active population. If HIV / AIDS struck farmers, they would be sickened and not be able to grow and produce food, which could eventually lead to a food crisis if an outbreak occurs. Additionally, they would not be able to support their families as farming would be their main source of income, and since they are not able to work anymore, the source of income for their families would be cut off. This could lead their children going out to the streets to do odd jobs in order to gain some sort of income, which could mean them not attending school and receiving the education that they need. An estimated amount of 2. 3 million children living in Africa has HIV / AIDS, and up to 82% are not in school (UNChronicle, 2011). Children affected by HIV / AIDS due to it being transmitted from a HIV / AIDS positive parent could not attend school due to stereotypes and psychological fears they face. This would impact their education and diminish their opportunities of getting a job in the future. In addition, the death of a parent of a Malawian child would "encourage children to marry earlier, drop out of school to help support the family, and take on informal labour schemes.", and linking back to the factor stated, the children who marry at a young age would not be able to get proper education and a sustainable job. Therefore, this shows the extensive social and economic impact of HIV / AIDS at a local scale.
The impact of HIV / AIDS on the National scale would be that it takes a large amount of resources to tackle HIV / AIDS. More than $1 billion is invested annually in an HI...
