HIV/AIDS Is Bad in Africa Because Africans are Hypersexual

There is no evidence to support the claim that African sexual practices are any more deviant or abnormal than any other group of people. This well worn and rather tired stereotype resides in the Anglo-American imagery of African sexuality more than anything else. Many factors fuel the pandemic in this region, including poverty, lack of adequate health-care infrastructure, the failure of the international community to react in a timely manner to the pandemic and lack of political will. In addition, HIV 1 subtype C is the most prevalent strain of the HI virus in this region, which in itself is responsible for half of infections worldwide. There is evidence to support the claim that this strain is much more efficiently transmitted through heterosexual sex. Thus, myriad social, economic, political and biomedical factors contribute to the severity of the pandemic in this region.