HIV & AIDS (SQA National 5 Geography): Revision Note

 Causes of HIV/AIDS

What is HIV/AIDS?

• HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is a virus that attacks the immune system

• If left untreated, HIV can develop into AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome)

  • This happens because HIV weakens the immune system, reducing the body’s ability to fight everyday viruses and bacteria

  • Infections that healthy people could easily recover from can become very serious or even life-threatening

  • When the immune system is severely damaged and dangerous infections occur, AIDS is diagnosed

• There is no cure for HIV, but with modern treatment, people with HIV or AIDS can still live long and healthy lives

• HIV/AIDS is a major public health issue, with transmission happening in every country in the world

What is the global distribution of HIV/AIDS?

• It is estimated that almost 41 million people around the world were living with HIV in 2024

  • There were 1.3 million new infections that year

• Around 630,000 people died from HIV-related causes in 2024

  • This equated to around 1.5% of all deaths

• The global distribution of HIV infections and deaths from HIV/AIDS is uneven

  • Over 65% of the people living with HIV live in sub-Saharan Africa

  • In many European countries, the share of the population aged 15–49 living with HIV is less than 0.5%

  • In contrast, in many southern African countries, more than 8% of the population aged 15–49 are living with HIV, reaching as high as 23% in Eswatini

How is HIV transmitted?

• HIV is spread through the exchange of body fluids with people infected with HIV

• The most common ways it is transmitted are:

  • Unprotected sex with an infected person

  • Sharing contaminated needles or syringes (e.g. for drug use)

  • Blood transfusions with infected blood

  • Transmission from mother-to-child during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding

Effects of HIV/AIDS

Symptoms of HIV/AIDS  

• At first, people may have few or no symptoms, making the disease difficult to detect and diagnose

• Early symptoms include:

  • Fever

  • Headache

  • Rash

  • Sore Throat

• Over time, as the immune system weakens, the symptoms become worse:

  • Frequent infections

  • Weight loss

  • Swollen lymph nodes

  • Diarrhoea

  • Persistent tiredness

• If people with HIV do not get treatment, they can develop severe illnesses such as:

  • Tuberculosis

  • Meningitis

  • Pneumonia

  • Certain cancers

Effects of HIV/AIDS in Developed Countries

• In developed countries, HIV is usually a long-term, manageable condition

• If treated early, life expectancy for people with HIV is similar to the country's average

• There are comparatively low death rates from HIV/AIDS in developed countries due to early and effective treatment

• People with HIV can continue working 

  • This results in minimal productivity loss, reducing the economic burden considerably

• Rates of mother-to-child transmission are very low

• However, there remains a social stigma around suffering from HIV/AIDS

• People living with HIV/AIDS are more likely to suffer from poor mental health

• Healthcare costs for treatment are high

  • The NHS in the UK spends an average of £11,000 per person per year on HIV treatment

  • Over the course of a lifetime, this adds up to around £360,000 per person

Effects of HIV/AIDS in Developing Countries

• In developing countries, HIV/AIDS causes much higher death rates

  • It is the leading cause of death in some countries, such as Equatorial Guinea

• Life expectancy for people infected with HIV is much lower than the country's average

  • Some countries, such as Botswana and Eswatini, suffered significant declines in life expectancy of a decade or more in the 1990s

  • Now, life expectancies are increasing again as treatment becomes more widely available 

• Many children have been orphaned because their parents died of HIV/AIDS

  • In 2024, over 10 million children living in Africa had been orphaned due to AIDS deaths

  • Countries like Nigeria and Mozambique each had over 1 million orphaned children

• The high prevalence of HIV has a significant economic impact

  • High death rates reduce the number of working adults

  • Frequent sickness means that people are unable to work

  • This leads to reduced productivity and increased poverty

• Health systems in some countries struggle to treat the high number of people infected with HIV

• Many people living with HIV cannot afford to seek treatment

• For those who can access treatment, it puts significant pressure on household income

Strategies to Manage HIV/AIDS

Treatment

• Although there is no cure for HIV, it can be treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART), which stops the virus from replicating in the body

• The drugs help to strengthen the immune system, enabling people with HIV to fight other infections

• ART reduces the amount of virus in the body

  • This prevents symptoms and reduces transmission

  • The drugs must be taken every day for the rest of a person’s life

• ART has saved millions of lives since it was first introduced in the late 1980s 

  • In 2024, nearly 1.8 million deaths from HIV/AIDS were prevented by ART

  • Before ART was developed, the chances of people with HIV surviving for more than 10 years were low

  • Now, it is possible for people diagnosed with HIV to expect a near-normal life expectancy 

Prevention

• A key strategy to manage HIV/AIDS is to prevent transmission

• Education about HIV/AIDS helps to promote awareness and prevent infection

  • People are educated about how the virus is transmitted and risky behaviours that may increase the chances of becoming infected

• People are encouraged to get tested so they can take steps to receive treatment and prevent transmission to other people

• Blood is screened before use in transfusions in hospitals to prevent new infections

• Most HIV infections are transmitted through sexual activity

  • Practising safe sex (using a condom) can prevent transmission

• Treatment can help prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV

• There are also medications that can reduce the chances of becoming infected with HIV

  • PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) is over 99% effective at preventing HIV transmission 

Strategies to Manage HIV/AIDS in Developed Countries

• In developed countries, people living with HIV are often able to get free or subsidised antiretroviral therapy (ART) and preventative treatment

  • In the UK, people are able to access treatment for free through the NHS

  • 99% of people diagnosed with HIV in the UK are receiving treatment

  • Over 100,000 people in the UK access PrEP through the NHS 

• Routine HIV testing is widely available to enable early diagnosis

  • In the UK, tests are available for free

  • 95% of people with HIV in the UK have been diagnosed

• Strong public health campaigns raise awareness and reduce social stigma

• Sex education at school is compulsory in many developed countries, reducing transmission

• Condoms are widely available, often for free, to prevent transmission

• Mother-to-child transmission is minimised

  • With treatment, the chances of an HIV-positive mother transmitting the virus to a child are reduced from 15–45% to just 5%

Strategies to Manage HIV/AIDS in Developing Countries

• In developing countries, public-sector funding and international aid is helping to increase access to antiretroviral therapy (ART)

  • In 2005, only 3.5% of people with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving ART

  • This increased to almost 81% in 2022

• Education programmes raise awareness and help to prevent transmission

  • The ABC (Abstain, Be Faithful, use Condoms) campaign in Uganda was very successful in reducing the rate of infection

  • Mobile clinics help to spread awareness in remote areas

• Free or subsidised condoms are increasingly widely available 

  • South Africa gives out over 400 million free condoms every year

• Mobile units, community testing days and free home-based tests have helped to increase the rate of testing and diagnosis

  • This helps to ensure that people living with HIV are diagnosed and able to receive treatment and take action to prevent further transmission