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AIDS IN AFRICA. What is AIDS and how is it transmitted? AIDS, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, is caused by a virus called HIV, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus. This virus slowly weakens the body’s ability to fight diseases. The virus can be transmitted through various ways. One of them is by having sex with an infected person and also by sharing needles with an infected person. A child can also get this virus if it was born to an infected mother and also through breast milk of an infected woman. According to estimates from UNAIDS, an umbrella group for five U.N. agencies, the World Bank and the World Health Organization, 34.3 million people in the world have AIDS , 24.5 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly 19 million have died from AIDS, 3.8 million of them children under the age of 15. AIDS kills about 6000 people in Africa each day. In her book, Opposing view points Tamara L. Roleff says that about 600 deaths per day in Kenya are attributed to AIDS and by 2005 this number is projected to climb to 900 deaths per day (184). Some of the reasons why the HIV virus is spreading so rapidly in Africa are because of poverty, illiteracy and civil unrest. Most people in Sub Saharan Africa are illi