Throughout history, it's been no secret that the people of South Africa, mainly the blacks, have been oppressed by the country's apartheid government. Recently, in 1994, the apartheid era ended as the new, democratically elected president, Nelson Mandela, was sworn into office. Although the abolition of the apartheid era was an enormous turn-around for South Africa, throughout this transformation, a new underlying situation threatened the endurance of the country; a situation that would prove to be an even "more formidable foe than apartheid" (Kapp, p1202 2004). This threat has evolved into the full-blown pandemic of the HIV/AIDS virus.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief overview of the current HIV/AIDS situation in South Africa, explain several programs that have been initiated by international organizations to aid the country, and explain the impact globalization has had on the awareness of this disease, and how the organizations...