While widespread media coverage of the disease didn’t circulate until the early 1980’s, the pandemic is said to have begun in 1950’s Belgium Congo. The pandemic’s onset, still widely debated in scientific communities, is said by some to have been through way of a contaminated polio vaccine widely used in the region at that time (explaining it’s rapid onset). Others are convinced, much to the disdain of many African people, that the disease was spread through chimpanzee-human contact. Many, have discounted the theory however, due to lack of explanation as to the “localized development of the disease” (Peacock, 2000).

With social, economic, and security problems the AIDS issue is becoming a “hot topic” in the international community. While efforts are being made there isn’t yet a definitive way of dealing with the pandemic. My suggestion is that the United Nations address the problem in four stages:

The pandemic is also affecting the level of education many receive in Africa. Teachers are being reduced due to the illness, children are kept out of school due to costs of education and the need for help at home, and teens themselves are succumbing to the virus.

These programs are in dire need of assistance due to the spread of disease. According to an article written for CNN by John Christensen, there have already been over 14.8 million deaths attributed to the pandemic in the sub-Saharan alone – a number that continues to increase. By Christensen’s estimates, in the year 1999 over 24.5 million people were living with HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Of those 24.5 million, Christensen reported that in the year 1999 alone, 2.2 million died of the disease, while 3.8 million became infected.

· Find ways to alleviate the poverty created by the AIDS pandemic - (on the micro level) teach advanced methods of cultivating crops, create foster care systems for those orphaned by the epidemic.

· Produce programs to address the specific problems of HIV/AIDS. For example, allocate spending for certain “task forces” that will focus on problems such as helping children stay in school and childcare issues.

Children and young people are especially affected by the AIDS pandemic. According to the UNAIDS Fact Sheet on the Impact of HIV/AIDS, the under-five mortality rate in seven of “hardest-hit” sub-Saharan countries has increased up to 40%. In fact, in 1999 alone there were over 500,000-recorded cases of babies infected by their mothers in the sub-Saharan region. In addition to those children infected with the virus, over 12.1 million have become orphans from the pandemic (Christensen, CNN). UNAIDS estimates, by the year 2010, there will be an estimated 20 million children who have lost at least one parent to HIV/AIDS.

Some topics in this essay:
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