Lesotho

As Lesotho was my first assignment and my first love (and I worked hard on researching and preparing for it), I would not feel right deleting it from my page. So, in tribute to Lesotho, and our November 2010 group that was canceled, I will leave this information up. Maybe someday some of us will be able to make it there after all....

Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:LocationLesotho.svg

Lesotho is a small (approximately 12,000 sq. miles~ about the size of Maryland) mountainous (entire country is above 4,000 ft.) country in Sub Saharan Africa. It is entirely surrounded by the country of South Africa (1 of only 3 countries in the world to be surrounded in entirety by another country). 85% or more of the population is considered rural. Lesotho is ranked relatively high in education (compared to other African countries), but also has the third highest Adult HIV/AIDS prevalence rate (23% of population) in the world. Peace Corps has been serving in Lesotho continuously since 1967, and focuses on areas of Education, Agriculture, and Health. To assist you in learning more about Lesotho, please visit some of the following websites:
Peace Corps- Lesotho
Peace Corps Wiki- Lesotho
Peace Corps Journals- Lesotho
Friends of Lesotho
Lesotho- Wikipedia
Lesotho- Government Page
Lesotho- U.S. Dep. of State

HIV/AIDS in Lesotho
Lesotho has the third highest prevalence rate of Adult HIV/AIDS in the world. Ranked first, Swaziland (very close neighbor to Lesotho) has a prevalence rate of 26.1%. Ranked second, Botswana (another very close neighbor to Lesotho) has a prevalence rate of 23.9%. Ranked third, Lesotho has a prevalence rate of 23.2%. (To put this into perspective, the United States has a prevalence rate of 0.6%).

Think about it in this way:
Nearly 1 in every 4 adults (ages 15-41) in Lesotho is infected with HIV/AIDS.
58% are females
42% are males

An estimated 270,000 of Lesotho's total population (2,130, 819) are infected.
12,000 are children (<15 years).

In 2007, there were an estimated 18,000 AIDS deaths (adults and children).
And 110,000 children orphaned by AIDS.
Only 26% received Antiretroviral Therapy (ARV)
Only 32% of HIV positive pregnant women received ARV

To learn more about HIV/AIDS in Lesotho and Worldwide please refer to these websites and interactive maps:

U.S. Global Health Policy  (also has statistics for other diseases and health issues)
UNAIDS
AVERT