3.2 Population growth and change: the impact of hiv/aids

Social sciences: geography

Grade 7

Population growth and changes

Module 9

Population growth and change: the impact of hiv/aids

One of the most important influences on change in the population is AIDS. Never in history has there been a human catastrophe of such proportions! The life expectancy of the total population decreases, children in their thousands become orphans, poverty increases, production in almost all sectors of the economy decreases, etc. Africa is the continent that has been affected the most, and South Africa has not been spared the catastrophy! As a whole, we are approaching a point where populations decrease instead of growth taking place.

1. Population

To ascertain the influence of AIDS on the population, it is necessary to look at a description of the population.

2. The ideal situation for which South Africa is striving

“A large portion of the South African population is poor and not adequately literate. South Africa must therefore make a serious attempt to alleviate poverty and bring literacy to an acceptable level. Another ideal for which to strive is to improve health services and to control population growth. Our resources, for example water, are limited.

As you will be able to deduce from the graph below, life expectancy has risen as a result of improved sanitation and medical care and the growth in population has decreased during the 20 years ranging between 1980 and 2000. The decrease in population growth can be ascribed partly to urbanisation. In South Africa the population has changed from a youthful population (with a rapid increase) to a more acceptable adult population with limited increase.

South Africa: Growth between 1980 and 2000

Southern African Development Community (SADC): Life expectancy in years

• Improved medical care, hygiene, and a general improvement of living conditions in the SADC countries, has ensured an increase in life expectancy.
• If you look at the graph you will note that a baby born in the late 1950’s in Namibia had a life expectancy of 40 years, while a baby born 40 years later can expect to live 20 years longer.

. . . . . . . . . and then the HIV/AIDS epidemic broke out. People who speak about the pandemic, rather than epidemic, are actually right, because the disease occurs right across the country, the continent and the rest of the world!

Aids: what does this mean?

• The word is an acronym, and is composed of the first letters of A cquired I mmune D eficiency S yndrome. This means that a person has acquired a virus in his/her body, which destroys the body’s ability to build up immunity against disease.
• When one has the virus, you are immediately HIV positive , but the virus may remain dormant and not affect the person’s health. Such a person may be able to live for years without being affected by this virus.
• A good way to describe a person who is HIV positive is to take the letters HIV and use them backwards to say V irus I n H uman.
• When the virus becomes active and starts affecting the person’s health, we say that the person has AIDS . Now we can use the S to indicate the person has a S ickness. He/she is no longer able to build up immunity to sicknesses and any sickness can have a serious effect on him/her.
• A person acquires the virus by a blood transfusion, by means of sexual intercourse or where blood is mixed – a person’s blood on a razor blade or injection needle comes into contact with an open wound on someone else and the virus is transmitted to them. An expectant mother can also transmit the virus to her unborn baby. After the birth of the baby, the virus can be transmitted to the baby if it is breastfed.
• If someone is tested for the virus and discovers that they are HIV positive, they can look after themselves and extend the dormant period of the virus by avoiding or decreasing the amount that they smoke and drink, by eating healthy foods, exercising regularly and getting sufficient rest and sleep.