Microeconomic Impact of AIDS in Africa

The world has been greatly touched by the human immunodeficiency virus/ assist epidemic indiscriminately although some parts withstand proved to be more defenseless than other(a)s. It has ravaged the concourse since the 1980s when it was firstborn discovered. Despite this, it has been established that more than devil thirds o those who argon septic by the scourge argon found in Africa and specially in the sub-Sahara part of Africa.This is in spite of the fact that this bea consists of precisely 10% of the population in the world. This accordingly(prenominal) agent that a genuinely gigantic percentage of those in Africa be measly from HIV/AIDS. It is sad to realize that the mass of those who ar infected and alter by the distemper be those in the working age bracket. This then affects all aspects of life- clock including social, cultural, and economic.In all these aspects, on that point has been a change towards the negative. Those who ar non infected ar change by having soulfulness close to them paltry from the malady. In intimately e actually ho customhold, in that location is some unmatched anguish from it. It affects the parsimoniousness by reducing the jackass force and at the same time increasing costs. This affects the industries, ho rehearseholds and enterprises.It overly affects the administration because of minify taxes to that degree the exp discontinueiture has been developmentd on those who are in consider of wellness lot. In these countries, in that location was already an economic occupation ahead the advent of the disease and this has been escalated by the impact of the disease. It leads to the inability of these economies to access since more or less of the imaginativenesss are channeled towards efforts of curbing the disease (Chaminuka P., Anim F., Debustus L. K. & Nqangweni S. 2-8).The mainstay of to the higher(prenominal)est degree of the Afri egg-producing(prenominal) genitals countries is horticulture. The majority of concourse practice small-scale agriculture and it is among the slightly touched sectors in the continent. This is because resources are withdrawn from farming and layed to the healthcare of the ailing individual(a)s. This occurs in variant slipway as will be explained in this paper.First, the grate resource is trim greatly because those who are working in the farms are the same ones who get to unrelenting. This then leads to neglect of labor for the farms and frankincensely the productivity of these farms is greatly reduced. Furthermore, the coin that puke be employ to hire laborers is already cosmos utilise in the healthcare of the sick someone (http//www.avert.org).Secondly, the financial capital required in the advancement of farming is already being utilize by the family in the get of drugs and general health care of the sick psyche. This then pith that the implements necessary for the feeler and improver of producti vity are not purchased. It is besides affected by the mortalnel casualty of income earners any through death or to the ravages of the disease.If the person who is required to infuse monetary capital to the farming business loses his or her line of reasoning receivable to the disease, then it agency that the mansion is by-passed by much technological advancement related to the agricultural field. When unable(p) to purchase these technologies, productivity is kickoffer-ranking and hence the make out of income that can be clear from the farming is greatly reduced.Lastly, in association to deal with the situation brought ab forth by the disease, children balance up enough the laborers in the farms. They do this because their parents may both be suffering from the disease, as is the case most of the times, and on that pointfore unable to work in the fields. Since the children cannot be able to work as efficiently and rearively as the adults can, they finish up produ cing for subsistence use single.This means that provender insecurity is on the rise because not enough is being produced to attendant the countries use up for food. This ends up leading to a very acute shortage of food and the countries end up depending on food tutelage from other countries. Since agriculture as pointed out earlier is the mainstay of most economies, it means in that respectfore means that rase the saving is greatly affected (Chaminuka P., Anim F., Debustus L. K. & Nqangweni S. 2-8).In Africa, there is a high vagabond of illiteracy and this affects their ability to compete for work on both the local and the international aspire. This has unendingly been so since the independence era of most countries such that most of the policies charge in place were aimed at reducing the level of illiteracy that was there. Since most of these policies failed it means that the problem was still prevalent even before the onset of the disease. This problem was do even w orse, by the presence of HIV/AIDS through the impact it has on the rearing sector.When the disease hits a family, there is need to use all the resources available in taking care of the patient and to a fault in the funeral expenses, in case the person dies. The step-d avouch in currency for use in the house leads to a reduction in the previously experienced expenses. The most reduced expenses are spend on some of the basic needs that are deemed disposable. These basic needs ordinarily entangle clothing and genteelness. The capital to cater for the nurture uniform and for school fees is used in health care of the patient and hence leads to low education and in the unyielding run an plus in the enjoin of illiteracy (http//www.avert.org).Education is in any case affected when both parents die of the disease and this is very common. It then means that some or all of the children end up move out of school so as to take care of themselves and also the unfledged ones. If the parents are still alive however suffering from the disease, the children, especially the female children, discharge out of school so as to take care of the parents.The neediness of education means that the majority of youngsters are only able to get menial manual of arms jobs. They are unable to get adept jobs that need skills because they stimulate not erudite them in school. It ends up do the domain look for expatriates to do the jobs that could eat up been through with(p) by local people if they had the skills.This impacts on the economy negatively because the expatriates demand for more money than what would feature been paying to the locals if they were the ones occupied in the same capacity. This ends up torture the resources available because the amount used in salaries for the expatriates reduces the winnings that could have been made. In other words, the gain are not maximized.The low levels of education also lead to a lot of unemployment because the manual jobs can be through with(p) through the technologies introduced. The manual employees end up replaced by the machines increasing unemployment level. The high set out of unemployment leads to lack of consumption of goods and go because the people do not have money to spend (http//www.avert.org).The come in labor also affects the foreign direct investment. This is because the demand for labor gets higher than the supply. This leads to an join on in wages and the necessity for the use of expatriates. The foreign direct investment is big in the melioratement of the economy hardly the foreign investors can only be attracted if there is a chance of qualification profits. For the profits to be made, the resources required mustiness be available at the minimum costs possible. at at a time labor, which is one of the resources, becomes in addition expensive to enable the company maximize its profits, the investors tend to shy away from the demesne. This means that the one of th e various avenues through which the country can be able to improve its economy has been affected.The various companies that have been put up also make a lot of losses leading either to closure due to reduced profits or the company may not close down but the profits being made are affected. This is because of the change magnitude costs caused by the diversion of the fur-bearing resources towards health care, funeral benefits and also the pension fund.This is brought about by the early retirement caused by the incapacitation of the ailing workers due to poor health. The skills are also reduced as an change magnitude morsel of skilled workers succumb to the disease. This affects the company especially since resources have been used to train the workers and they may not have line uped the cost by the time the person retires or dies.Businesses are also affected in that there is low productivity by workers. This is because the disease brings about an cast up in the rate or absenteei sm. Once the workers are constantly absent due to the necessity to seek medical care, it then means that the work is not done well and this affects the amount of profit that the businesses make. Furthermore, with the effect that the disease has on individual households, it leads to a reduction in the demand for the goods and service that are provided. This leads to an add-on in unused stock which in turn may lead to the closure of some businesses.The lack of good profits by businesses and companies affects the economy as a whole in that it affects the taxes that the government gets from the business sector. This leads to reduced revenue olibanum alter the services that the government is able to provide to the citizens. This is combined with the increase in health care spending by the government.The government ends up having to soak up from both foreign and local lenders so as to be able to put together the targets of the budget that they have fixed in any given financial year. The moment of the heavy borrowing is an increase in the rate of inflation. This affects each household because the money they have now purchases less than it would have before (http//www.avert.org).In the provision of health care, it has become very expensive for the individual households. This is caused by the fact that there is ample drainage of health care workers in most of these countries. on that point are in like manner many people who are infected with the disease causing an increase in the workload of the healthcare workers.When this is combined with the low wages that they get, it leads to their immigrating to other areas where they can get more money for the services that they give. In order to maintain those who have been left hand(a) in the service, there is need to increase their wages and this cost is pushed on to those who are seeking health care making it next to impossible for them to acquire it especially the HIV/AIDS patients.There is also a problem of hav ing a oversize number of infected health care workers, this is because a major cause o death in the industry thus depleting the number of workers hike up. This combined with the other two factors are a cause of increase in the cost of attainment of healthcare.This affects households by reducing the amount of income that can be used for consumption thus affecting the economy. The hospital resources are also at a lower place strain because the disease is chronic yet the numbers of HIV/AIDS patients that are using the hospitals resource are more than those who are suffering from other diseases.The death of income earners in the various households means that the children who are orphaned become dependants on other income earners. This is if they do not become the heads in their houses. The increase in dependants on the income earners leads to less income used for consumption. There are now more people who depend on the same income thus reducing the real income of the household. Ther e is also the reduction of customers that a business can get because the same amount of money that was initially used by one household is now being used by two households.Also, the increase in amount of dependants on the few income earners who are now available leads to depletion of nest egg. Since the income earned cannot be enough to sustain the increased number of dependants, the income earner is forced to use up the saving that they had kept aside. Since nest egg and investments go hand-in-hand, it means that the rate of investment is also affected. There is less investment by households and also the various businesses because decreased savings causes an increase in the interest rate of borrowing. The decreased rate of investment affects employment.The income earners usually have to quit working because they have to take care of the ill. This especially affects the female income earners because they have to take care of the family. The female workers and students may end up n eat commercial sex workers which is a job description that is not taxed by the government. In other words, it means that the number of taxpayers has reduced yet the number of workers has increased. By becoming commercial sex workers, they increase their chances of spying the disease and dying thus go on the vicious cycle of poverty.The increase in the work load of caregivers affects their output in their various workplaces. The women who work in industries are unable to produce at optimum level because of increased absenteeism at work. This reduces the amount of income that they get since their working hours are greatly reduced. They may also be laid-off because they end up becoming a liability to the company because the cost of maintaining them as workers becomes too high for the company. This leads to a decrease in the amount of money that can be spent by the household on consuming. Furthermore with reduced income, there is reduced saving since all the money earned goes directly to consumption.The assets that people own end up being change in order to acquire interposition for the sick. Even after death of the sufferers, there are still funeral expenses and hence further sale of the assets. The households are then left very poor with nothing to worsening back on especially once the income earners in the household succumb to the disease. Since the savings have already been used up, there is no way that the households can recover their previous economic status and this increases the rate of poverty. In other words, there is an increase in the amount of poor people in the continent (http//www.avert.org).The households which have been affected by the disease end up depending on other households. They become a burden to them and cause an increase in the debts that these people have. These debts are even made worse by the fact that there are high chances of the income earners losing their employment. To avoid this, the erstwhile(a) children end up becoming l aborers to support their families. This has changed the composition of workers to having more children than adults in the labor force. Since the children are unable to be as productive as the adults they are paid poorly. This pushes them further into poverty.Work citedAVERT. The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Africa. Retrieved on twenty-ninth November 2007 from http//www.avert.org/aidsimpact.htmChaminuka P., Anim F., Debustus L. K. & Nqangweni S. impact of HIV&AIDS on Agriculture and Food Security. The Case of Limpopo nation in South Africa 2006 FANRPAN pg 2-8