In certain areas of Africa, one in four adults is infected with the virus that causes AIDS, and around the world, the disease now rivals the greatest epidemics of history. The problem is that death from untreated AIDS takes about a decade or more. The overwhelming majority infected with AIDS in Africa will die. There is not enough medicine and not enough preventive activities to curb the disease. It is out of control in some areas.
Sexual promiscuity is rampant in Africa with multiple wives and multiple partners.
There is little use of contraceptives and little care for wise actions. African women have more children on average than those on other continents. Thus, one infected women may pass the virus on to a higher than average number of children. Nearly all children in Africa are breast fed and this accounts for between a third and a half of HIV transmission from mother to child. New drugs available in the West are not available in Africa.