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WHO: The Fight Against HIV
The World Health Organization, formed in 1948, has struggled to cure and prevent countless diseases throughout their long history. Their strict regimen of studies, statistical analysis, and most importantly, education, has helped create sustainable cures and preventative vaccines for dozens of illnesses. By far however, one of their most desperate fights has been against the HIV virus.
Soon after its discovery in 1981, the HIV virus was found to lead to AIDS in the majority of infections. AIDS has killed at least 25 million people since then, but the World Health Organization has put enormous effort into making sure that number wasn't higher. In the initial stages of the pandemic, blood transfusions were a significant portion of the number of infected. Thanks to studies and protocols initiated by WHO, the risk of infection by that route is all but eliminated.
The front line in the war against HIV/AIDS, however, is in Africa. A third of all HIV/AIDS deaths are recorded in sub-Saharan Africa alone. The poverty, lack of effective medical centers, and extremely ineffective education system are all major factors in how the virus flourishes in the continent. The World Health Organization works with health ministries and organizations all over the world to accomplish specific goals to prevent the spread of this deadly disease.
WHO is working to make condoms more readily available, increase awareness worldwide using statistical surveys, and make it easier to get ahold of medications to treat the virus, which can decrease both the mortality and morbidity of it. In 2006, WHO helped to implement an HIV/AIDS toolkit in Zimbabwe, which managed to decrease the prevalence rate of the virus by two percent in only a year.
But the most important issue faced in the continuing fight against HIV/AIDS is the battle against misinformation, and the education of the populace. The World Health Organization's philosophy is that the most effective deterrent against any disease is an informed population. Citizens who understand the nature of the disease, how it spreads, and the safest ways to prevent it are the most important tool in keeping it contained and under control. To this end, WHO has conducted numerous studies into the virus, and has attempted to create easy-to-understand pamphlets and learning systems in over a dozen languages worldwide.
In the end, it must be a joint effort on the parts of everyone in the world, to try and control this disease. The World Health Organization can't do it without the help of numerous world governments, and we can all agree to being healthier.
About the Author The online project Good Health Today congregates articles of specialists in health in order to give you the best advice in this important area of life. See more at www.goodhealthtoday.net. Also visit our partner at Brazilian Foreign Policy
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