The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Women in Africa : A Case Study on Eritrea

The HIV/AIDS is a pandemic that is engulfing many developing countries of Africa, particularly South Africa, Ethiopia, Botswana, Swaziland, and Uganda. Eritrea, a young nation in Africa has over 70,000 adults currently infected with HIV/AIDS and the number is progressively increasing. Nationally, women make-up almost 59 percent of the total reported AIDS cases. Women are over represented as victims of AIDS because they are biologically more vulnerable than men to sexually transmitted diseases and physically more susceptible to AIDS. Over 70 percent of the cases reported fall in the age range of 20 to 39 years, of which 60 percent are males and 40 percent are females. The study mainly deals with the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Africa. As part of the study, data were collected both from primary and secondary sources. The paper delves into the pandemic and its impact on women in Africa, and with particular reference to Eritrea. It highlights the challenges of the pandemic and its impact on human capital and concludes with some policy implications to improve the situation in Africa, especially Eritrea