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Lesotho, officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is an enclaved country surrounded entirely by South Africa. It is by far the largest of the world's three independent states completely surrounded by the territory of another country, with Vatican City and San Marino being the other two. Additionally, it is the only such state outside the Italian peninsula, and the only one that is not a microstate. Lesotho is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) and has a population of about 2 million. Its capital and largest city is Maseru. The official languages are Sesotho and English.
The economy of Lesotho is based on agriculture, livestock, manufacturing, mining, and depends heavily on inflows of workers’ remittances and receipts from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU). Lesotho is geographically surrounded by South Africa and is economically integrated with it as well. The majority of households subsist on farming. The formal sector employment consist of mainly the female workers in the apparel sector, the male migrant labor, primarily miners in South Africa for 3 to 9 months and employment in the Government of Lesotho (GOL). The western lowlands form the main agricultural zone. Almost 50% of the population earn income through informal crop cultivation or animal husbandry with nearly two-thirds of the country's income coming from the agricultural sector. About 70% of the population lives in rural areas and works in agriculture.
HIV/AIDS denialism is the refusal to acknowledge that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), despite the conclusive evidence. Some of its proponents reject the existence of HIV, while others accept that HIV exists but argue that it is a harmless passenger virus and not the cause of AIDS. Insofar as they acknowledge AIDS as a real disease, they attribute it to some combination of sexual behavior, recreational drugs, malnutrition, poor sanitation, haemophilia, or the effects of the medications used to treat HIV infection (antiretrovirals).
A visa is a conditional authorization granted by a territory to a foreigner, allowing them to enter, remain within, or to leave that territory. Visas typically may include limits on the duration of the foreigner's stay, areas within the country they may enter, the dates they may enter, the number of permitted visits or an individual's right to work in the country in question. Visas are associated with the request for permission to enter a territory and thus are, in most countries, distinct from actual formal permission for an alien to enter and remain in the country. In each instance, a visa is subject to entry permission by an immigration official at the time of actual entry, and can be revoked at any time. Visa evidence most commonly takes the form of a sticker endorsed in the applicant's passport or other travel document but may also exist electronically. Some countries no longer issue physical visa evidence, instead recording details only in immigration databases.
HIV/AIDS originated in Africa in the early 20th century and is a major public health concern and cause of death in many African countries. AIDS rates vary dramatically although the majority of cases are concentrated in Southern Africa. Although the continent is home to about 15.2 percent of the world's population, more than two-thirds of the total infected worldwide – some 35 million people – were Africans, of whom 15 million have already died. Sub-Saharan Africa alone accounted for an estimated 69 percent of all people living with HIV and 70 percent of all AIDS deaths in 2011. In the countries of sub-Saharan Africa most affected, AIDS has raised death rates and lowered life expectancy among adults between the ages of 20 and 49 by about twenty years. Furthermore, the life expectancy in many parts of Africa is declining, largely as a result of the HIV/AIDS epidemic with life-expectancy in some countries reaching as low as thirty-four years.
Freedom of movement, mobility rights, or the right to travel is a human rights concept encompassing the right of individuals to travel from place to place within the territory of a country, and to leave the country and return to it. The right includes not only visiting places, but changing the place where the individual resides or works.
Regional Integration is a process in which neighboring countries enter into an agreement in order to upgrade cooperation through common institutions and rules. The objectives of the agreement could range from economic to political to environmental, although it has typically taken the form of a political economy initiative where commercial interests are the focus for achieving broader socio-political and security objectives, as defined by national governments. Regional integration has been organized either via supranational institutional structures or through intergovernmental decision-making, or a combination of both.
Help Lesotho is a non-governmental organization that was founded in 2004 by Dr. Peg Herbert. Based in Ottawa, Canada, Help Lesotho is made up of dedicated people, working to help prevent HIV/AIDS in the country of Lesotho, which has the 2nd highest rate of infection of this disease. Lesotho is located in southern Africa and is entirely surrounded by the Republic of South Africa. Dr. Herbert started the organization after meeting a student, from Lesotho, at the University of Ottawa, where she taught a class in educational psychology. Many Canadians and Basotho have helped the organization, which has support from Canada and many other countries around the world.
An international non-governmental organization (INGO) is an organization which is independent of government involvement and extends the concept of a non-governmental organization (NGO) to an international scope.
Blood: Water Mission is a grassroots organization that empowers communities to work together against the HIV/AIDS and water crises in Africa.
HIV/AIDS is one of the most serious health concerns in South Africa. The country has the highest number of people afflicted with HIV of any country, and the fourth-highest adult HIV prevalence rate, according to the 2019 United Nations statistics.
The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the African Union. The bloc was founded on 26 May 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and launched on 9 July 2002 in Durban, South Africa.
Sentebale is a registered charity, founded in 2006 by Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho.
An open border is a border that enables free movement of people between jurisdictions with few or no restrictions on movement, that is lacking substantive border control. A border may be an open border due to intentional legislation allowing free movement of people across the border, or a border may be an open border due to a lack of legal controls, a lack of adequate enforcement or adequate supervision of the border. An example of the former is the Schengen Agreement between most members of the European Economic Area. An example of the latter has been the border between Bangladesh and India, which is becoming controlled. The term "open borders" applies only to the flow of people, not the flow of goods and services, and only to borders between political jurisdictions, not to mere boundaries of privately owned property.
HIV/AIDS in Lesotho constitutes a very serious threat to Basotho and to Lesotho's economic development. Since its initial detection in 1986, HIV/AIDS has spread at alarming rates in Lesotho. In 2000, King Letsie III declared HIV/AIDS a natural disaster. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 2016, Lesotho's adult prevalence rate of 25% is the second highest in the world, following Eswatini.
Mozambique is a country particularly hard-hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to 2008 UNAIDS estimates, this southeast African nation has the 8th highest HIV rate in the world. With 1,600,000 Mozambicans living with HIV, 990,000 of which are women and children, Mozambique's government realizes that much work must be done to eradicate this infectious disease. To reduce HIV/AIDS within the country, Mozambique has partnered with numerous global organizations to provide its citizens with augmented access to antiretroviral therapy and prevention techniques, such as condom use. A surge toward the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS in women and children has additionally aided in Mozambique's aim to fulfill its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Nevertheless, HIV/AIDS has made a drastic impact on Mozambique; individual risk behaviors are still greatly influenced by social norms, and much still needs to be done to address the epidemic and provide care and treatment to those in need.
Lesotho–South Africa relations refers to the current and historical bilateral relations of South Africa and Lesotho. Lesotho, which is completely surrounded by South Africa, depends on South Africa for most of its economic affairs, and its foreign policy is often aligned with that of Pretoria. Both are member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Southern African Customs Union and the Southern African Development Community. It's believed that Lesotho, along with Eswatini, are satellite states of South Africa.
Lesotho’s Human development index value for 2018 was 0.518 — which put the country in the low human development category — positioning it at 164 out of 189 countries and territories. Health care services in Lesotho are delivered primarily by the government and the Christian Health Association of Lesotho. Access to health services is difficult for many people, especially in rural areas. The country’s health system is challenged by the relentless increase of the burden of disease brought about by AIDS, and a lack of expertise and human resources. Serious emergencies are often referred to neighbouring South Africa. The largest contribution to mortality in Lesotho are communicable diseases, maternal, perinatal and nutritional conditions.
The United States intelligence community (IC) has a long history of producing assessments on infectious diseases. Most of these papers are distributed to government administrators and inform the choices of policymakers. Three of these assessments stand out as analytical products that have had important impact on the awareness, funding and treatment of infectious diseases around the world. The first paper is the National Intelligence Estimate on the Global Infectious Disease Threat, the second paper is the assessment on the Next Wave of HIV/AIDS, and the third paper was the assessment on SARS. This page summarizes the findings of these three papers and provides information about their impact.
In 2017, 1.1 million women were living in Lesotho, making up 51.48% of the population. 33% of women are under 15 years of age, 61.4% are between 15 and 64 years old and 5.3% are over 64 years old. They received full legal status in 2008 with the passage of The Lesotho Bank Savings and Development Act of 2008, and they die at a disproportionate rate from HIV/AIDs. But, historically women have wielded power as heads of households, with control over household financial decisions. The government has also taken steps to ensure more equal representation of genders in government with quotas, and women in Lesotho are more highly educated than men. Still, domestic abuse, sexual violence, lack of social mobility, and aforementioned health crises are persistent issues. Social and economic movements, like the mass immigration of men to South Africa, and the rise of the garment industry, have contributed to both the progress and problems facing women in Lesotho today.
References
- ↑ "HIV/AIDS in Lesotho". HelpLesotho.org. Archived from the original on 5 November 2014.
Lesotho has the second-highest HIV prevalence rate in the world – more than 23 percent of people, or just under one in four people in the country are living with HIV.
- ↑ Rosenberg, Scott; Weisfelder, Richard F. (2013). Historical Dictionary of Lesotho. Scarecrow Press. p. 256. ISBN 9780810879829.
- 1 2 3 Smith, Alex Duval (6 June 2010). "Lesotho's people plead with South Africa to annex their troubled country". The Observer. Maseru, Lesotho. Archived from the original on 15 September 2013. Retrieved 4 July 2010.
- ↑ RFI (27 May 2010). "Lesotho people march to become part of South Africa".
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