AIDS By Amber Carillo December 8, 2006

Disease is a word that brings up thoughts of destructive cases of cancer, tumors, and polio. Have you ever stopped to think that aids also falls into that category. In fact, 21.8 million people have died from aids. When I heard this number, I started to do some research about how one person or organization can help prevent this epidemic. In my research, I came across several web sites filled with information. However, there was one foundation that caught my eye: Aids Foundation South Africa (AFSA) developing partnerships-serving communities. The organization of AFSA was established in 1988 and was the first non-government aids organization in South Africa. AFSA is a link between a donors and community based organization named CBO. The CBO’s help set up community organizations and events that try to help improve the health status.
Over the years, AFSA has developed deep organization and considerable management. This foundation has gained an ample amount of commitment and credibility with donors. One of their donors, The Bernard Van Leer Foundation, stated that AFSA is one of their strongest partners for the impact of HIV/AIDS. The mitigation of its impact is to develop skills based within their target CBOs, enabling them to plan and evaluate their work effectively by building an organization capacity of CBO partners for good and long term sustainability. To achieve these objectives, they provide micro-finance grants to select CBO’s over a period of three to five years. Other goals are to build an organization to strengthen that of the target CBO’s through quarterly HIV/AIDS in South Africa by monitoring in visits and structured mentoring in capacity building programs. AFSA has developed its own criteria and methodology that has been monitored and recorded by all funds and transactions in HIV/AIDS. The overall aim of AFSA is to limit new infections of HIV and to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS that primarily affects communities and households.
21.8 million died from aids worldwide, and in 2002 alone, 3 million died. Only 886,575 cases of aids have been reported in the U.S. Of these, 82% are men, 18 % are women, and 1% are children. World wide, 50 % men and 50 % women fall to the horrific killer. HIV is an even greater problem in poorer countries, especially Africa. 70% of all aids patients worldwide live in Africa. Who is getting HIV? All races and ages are susceptible: 41% of aids cases are whites, 39% of aids cases are African Americans, and 18% of aids cases are Hispanics. One in four new HIV infections are found in people under age 22. 50% of new HIV infections are in people under age twenty-five. Therefore, young people are the fastest growing group of new HIV infection holders! If you can reach out to help AIDS, even if it’s a minute or dollar, just help.