I taught HIV Education in Southern Africa in the â

I taught HIV Education in Southern Africa in the ‘90s for several years and 1/3 of my students were HIV positive - none of them were aware (there had been testing across the country to determine prevalence). Life expectancy (largely impacted by AIDS) was in the early 40s (years old) and some surrounding countries had a life expectancy in the high 30s.

While those facts are decades old, not much has changed in the area I lived. The nearest grocery store and Pharmacy is still 100 miles away and getting a ride to those places still requires several hitchhikes that take 2-4 hours one way.

There is a lot of good work being done to protect people in Africa from acquiring HIV, including education, medicines, and infrastructure, but there are still extremely high rates of transmission and very limited resources on how to get care once someone tests positive.