Assignment question: 3. A) What are some of the possible consequences of HIV/AIDS epidemic to:
1. Society
2. The infected individual
b) What are some of the Human Rights, confidentiality and criminal law implication of HIV/AIDS?
Q1. HIV/AIDS has increasingly taken a toll on the society in a myriad of dimensions which are worth discussing in order to find the best solutions. Due to HIV/AIDS epidemic, the economies of various countries have been badly affected and societies have experienced major losses. There is a rapid increase in the number of HIV infected people with resultant financial burden and major psychological and emotional consequences. The rising HIV prevalence has adversely affected the quality of labour in that many skilled and experienced workers have succumbed to the disease. Due the loss of skilled workers to HIV/AIDS, the standard of labour quality has been badly affected resulting in low levels of production, development and low labour inputs (Nations, n.d).
HIV/AIDS also threatens the quality and supply of future labour in that infected people are incapacitated from engaging in any productive work as their bodies are rendered extremely weak. People who stay out of work need to be supported by others and this creates a high dependence on the limited resources available. The socioeconomic consequences of HIV/AIDS to the society are enormous. For instance, many children whose parents are infected with HIV are often forced to stay out of school and look for work to support their ailing parents. Consequently, a huge and dangerous gap in education is created and the future of these children is marred with uncertainties. At the same time, the ability of the affected children to serve the society is compromised (...
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...he infection through reckless male partners. Criminalization of HIV has triggered debate in which people argue that criminalising HIV infected people does not address the complexities involved in disclosure and instead increases HIV stigma (UNAIDS, International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, 2006).
In addition, imprisonment cannot help people come to terms with their status and develop better attitude. Instead, a better course would be to promote education and psychological counselling. Treating HIV transmission as murder offence increases stigma and discrimination because it is like saying HIV equals death, while we know with the availability of antiretrovirals, people can lead healthy lives even when they are HIV positive. No illness has been treated with the same hysteria as HIV and this is because of its associated stigmatization and promiscuity.
In any situation for the criminal justice system, there will be factors to consider for each case, and should be handled thoroughly. Choosing when to use these methods is the important part and should not be taken lightly. For example, a person that killed someone and did it simply because they wanted to and do not care at all, should be tested for mental illness. If this person has severe mental problems,than rehabilitation can be an option. If this person is a threat towards themselves and others, than releasing them would not be the wisest decision and should continue on with treatment. A criminal that simply commits crime simply through stupidity and not caring, than deterrence can be the option to choose. It is all considered through the details of the individual and their crime they performed. Some criminals do not learn from their mistakes and do not benefit from treatment or any type of help what so ever. I believe that some people can simply not be
HIV is a virus that can be sexually transmitted, obtained through hypodermic needles or contaminated blood transfusions, or passed on from mother to child through pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding. It starts off with flu-like symptoms, then it interferes with the immune system, making people prone to illnesses. Their immune system becomes very vulnerable. Sadly, there is no cure for HIV. Research shows that HIV originated in Africa; however, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) was not recognized until 1981. HIV is a source of heavy castigation and it causes economic problems as well, especially count...
The stigmatization and discrimination that goes hand and hand with a positive diagnosis of HIV/AIDS is overwhelming. FreeDictonary.com defines discrimination as the “treatment or consideration based on class or category rather than individual merit; partiality or prejudice.” In essence, discrimination is about actions and stigma relates to beliefs and attitudes. Both however are built up on negative views of a person just because they are apart of a specific group. All over the world, there are well-documented cases of people living with HIV that are being denied the right to health- care, work, education, and freedom of movement, among others. (UNAIDS 2005) This stigma and discrimination exist globally, although it appears differently...
(Allen et al., 2000) The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a clinical situation that requires the ethical principle Justice to be implemented. AIDS can be transmitted by sexual activity, intravenous (IV) drug use, and passed from mother to child. Due to the judgments and fears from the general population and some healthcare professionals, patients who have this disease may find themselves suffering from discrimination in many ways of their lives. This discrimination comes from the stigma placed by the factors in which AIDS is mainly spread. These factors are poverty, homelessness, illiteracy, prostitution, human-trafficking, which create the labels like the “drug user” or “homosexual”.
Punishment, when speaking on serious terms, is socially valuable because it deters criminals from repeating their crimes and may keep others from repeating the same acts. If in fact the deterring effect misses its point, it is the fault of the justice system the all the red tape found behind it. At its current standing, the system is viewed as a joke because no authority is taken, no one believes, let alone fears, the system. Both the lengthy time and the high expense result from innumerable appeals, including many technicalities which have little nothing to do with the question of guilt or innocence. If these wasteless amount of appeals were eliminated or at least controlled, then the procedure would be much shorter, less expensive and more
Spink, Gemma. "AIDS." AVERTing HIV and AIDS. 23 Dec 2009. Web. 11 Jan 2010. .
The author mentions a few key take away main points. First of all, solutions must address the underlying causes of HIV risk among women. This mainly includes poverty and disempowerment because women in lower living standar...
During the 1980s, efforts increased to alert the public to the dangers of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and unintended pregnancy, yet these problems have increased. Adolescents and young adults have been especially hard hit. Pregnancy and birth rates among teenagers are at their highest levels in two decades.
While the chapter only covered one disease it is how this one disease has affected so many people from patients to health care employees. Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome better known as AIDS first appeared in 1981. There are more than 21 million people that have died from the infection of AIDS. A highly contagious blood borne virus caused by Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a fatal disease that destroys the body’s immune system. With the body having a defenseless immune system bacteria and viruses are free to affect the body. I chose to cover the topic of HIV and the effects is has on the health care environment.
There are many ethical and legal issues regarding the disclosure of HIV status in Australia, specifically before engagement in a sexual relationship. These issues are investigated in a variety of articles and reports, including “The paradox of public HIV disclosure” (Paxton, 2002), which analyses the multifaceted benefits of disclosure in relation to social, psychological and physical health. Incongruently, alternate articles such as, “Disclosure of HIV-positive status among people from minority ethnic communities in Sydney” (Korner, 2007), assess the social risks for those who disclose their HIV status, investigating the negative impact disclosure may have on an individual’s health. Additionally, “The problem with Section 79: the call to amend HIV disclosure laws in NSW” (Harlum, 2016) and “Should it be illegal for HIV-positive persons to have unprotected sex without disclosure?” (Horvath, 2010) examine the legal aspects of HIV disclosure through a thorough evaluation of the laws regarding it, while assessing the outcome of the implementation of these laws. Although it is acknowledged that the social stigma surrounding HIV causes substantial social risks for those who disclose their HIV status, the benefits of disclosure must also be considered in order to determine whether or not laws should be put in place to make disclosure a requirement prior to engagement in a sexual relationship. This essay argues that there is an insignificant need for laws regarding disclosure of HIV status to sexual partners.
By the year 2000, 58 million people have been infected by HIV/AIDS and alarming numbers such as 22 million would have already died. And the epidemic continues to spread. HIV/AIDS historically is considered to be one of the longest running worldwide epidemics that we have ever seen, and figures cannot be placed on the true death tolls or estimation of the damage as the cycle still is yet to reach an end (Whiteside 2002). With Africa being the worst hit continent in the world in terms of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the severity of it’s prevalence; one can only begin to question whether HIV/AIDS and poverty and directly connected or the inter-linkages exacerbate one or the other. This paper aims to argue that HIV/AIDS is a manifestation of poverty, and simultaneously poverty contributes to growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. Development in response both to poverty reduction and to HIV/AIDS is complicated when both have multi-dimensional and multi-faceted impacts on a society, whether it be social, economic or human development impacts. This paper will argue that pre-existing socio economic conditions within a country such as high levels of poverty, poor sanitation, malnutrition, environmental degradation and poor public healthcare systems and limited access to preventative care are crucial factors in contributing to the transfer of the infection (Pasteur: 2000, Mann: 1999).
From the above situations and examples, the globalized international society has helped reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, it is because globalized, international organizations have been able to come forward to solve this issue. At the same time, it is important to remember that many international organizations or states act in self interest due to which many developing states like Brazil initially faced problems in solving the issue of HIV/AIDS. Therefore, health issues such as that of HIV/AIDS are not only shaped by the science of biology, but also through policies, decisions and events in this globalized international society.
...ld Health Organization (WHO) report shows that, most people living with HIV or at risk for HIV do not have access to treatment, care and prevention and there is still no cure. In spite of these challenges, there have been successes. Global efforts have been made to address the epidemic, specifically in the last decade. The HIV prevalence rates have been reduced in a small but growing number of countries due to prevention and new HIV infections are believed to be on the decline. In addition to this, the number of people with HIV receiving treatment in resource poor countries has increased 10 times since 2002, nearing an estimated 4 million by 2008.
The disease's association with behaviours (such as sex between men and injecting drug-use) that are already stigmatised in many societies
...ile the pandemic will absolutely leverage the rate of financial development, structural alterations are furthermore expected to be one of the prime economic hallmarks of the AIDS pandemic (Arndt 427-449). The effect of the HIV/AIDS epidemic can be visualized by the overwhelming change in mortality rate of South Africans. The yearly number of mortalities from HIV increased distinctly between the years 1997, when about 316,559 people died, and 2006 when an estimated 607,184 people died ("HIV AIDS IN SOUTH AFRICA"). Those who are currently assuming the burden of the increase in mortality rate are adolescents and young adults. Virtually one-in-three females of ages 25-29, and over 25% of males aged 30-34, are currently living with HIV in South Africa (UNAIDS). The good news, thanks to better supply of ARV treatment, is that life-expectancy has risen vastly since 2005.