According to the Public Health Agency of Canada HIV – the Human Immunodeficiency Virus - is a virus that attacks the immune system, resulting in a chronic, progressive illness that leaves people vulnerable to opportunistic infections and cancers. (Canada 2008) Essentially over time, when your body can no longer battle the virus it progresses into a disease know as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. The transmition of HIV occurs when a person’s contaminated body fluids enter another individual. Unprotected sexual intercourse (vaginal, anal or oral), sharing needles, using unsterilized equipment for body modification, mother to infant transmition, as well as occupational exposure in health care are all ways HIV can be spread. HIV/AIDS as an illness is relatively new. The first reported case of AIDS in the world was in 1981, and a year later in Canada. Scientists all around the world are busy searching for a cure or vaccine to treat the millions of people internationally dying of HIV/AIDS.
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...
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Same-sex marriage is now legal, spouses now have rights to pension benefits, continued insurance coverage, immigration laws are applied, as well as the right to tax filing status. Most people are allowing themselves to be more educated when it comes to homosexuality. Nurses who are more empathetic and compassionate tend to be those who work among PLWHA, or people living with HIV and AIDS, and are associated with lower feelings of psychological distress. There are also several studies that depict the more negative attitudes of health care providers towards patients with HIV/AIDS for reasons such a general fear of working with the terminally ill, perceptions of personal risk, being professionally adjudicated upon, fear of contracting the disease, and the unwillingness to work with patient populations including but not limited to homosexuals and intravenous drug users. These findings are consistent with Allport’s social psychology theory of intergroup contact (SOURCE), a theory that describes a weakened prejudice caused by increased contact with “an out-group” leading to a more positive attitude toward that group. In regards to nurses, it was found that the perception of stigma related to HIV influences their job satisfaction significantly. Research has also shown that
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...
HIV is the human immunodeficiency virus; this virus can lead to acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS. Accoring to Avert, 2.6 million people became infected with HIV in 2009, there are now an estimated 33.3 million people around the world who are living with HIV. HIV is transmitted by the exchange of bodily fluids via sharing contaminated syringes, from infected mother to the child, and sexual contact. Contact with blood, semen, vaginal secretions, breast milk, or saliva that is contaminated with HIV, puts an individual at higher risk for contracting HIV. However, HIV cannot be transmitted by touch, coughing, or by bits from insect vectors.
"UNAIDS Guidance Note on HIV and Sex Work." Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) (2009): n. pag. UNAIDS. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
...s been made evident that disclosure can cause loss of employment, the breakdown of relationships and families as well as rejection from sexual partners. Consequently, those who suffer from the issues that come with disclosure also suffer from poor mental health and low self-esteem. Additionally, the article also states that, “leading a double life is psychologically disturbing” positing the unseemly notion that experiencing discrimination due to HIV status is not harmful to an individual’s mental health, despite copious evidence that it has an extremely detrimental affect on mental health, and in some cases, physical health.
The sub Saharan belt has been worrisome host for major health scrounges and the latest in the chain of health issues are that of increasing and exponential prevalence of high rates of +HIV/Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) among Women Population in this locale of Africa. Paucity of evidenced literature and resources notwithstanding, it is the professed focus of this dissertation concept paper to sift and weigh facts, figures, data and statistics on this major health care issue and offer the best of both worlds, in terms of scaffolding a credible, solid and convincing Research Proposal on this much tabooed topic and bring to light what really transpires in health care zones of STD- related diseases and conditions among womenfolk in sub Saharan
"Untouchability in Nigeria | International Humanist and Ethical Union." International Humanist and Ethical Union | The World Union of Humanist Organizations. Web. 08 Apr. 2010. .
When HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus) was first discovered as a disease in 1980, the affected individuals were stigmatized to the extreme. HIV/AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) was first reported with homosexuals and IV drug users, which led the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to label the disease as Gay-related Immune Deficiency, as “gay” individuals were synonymous “drug users” due to their similar activities in the 1980’s (Stine 22). However, it soon became clear that female population were just as susceptible to contracting HIV as males.
HIV has always been a disease people fear the most and would stigmatize anyone associated with this disease, especially in Africa. Mbonye et. al. (2013) explains how deep the stigma goes and why people continually live in fear of sharing their status. For instance in Uganda, individuals who are diagnosed with this virus go through the withdrawal stage as they are extremely afraid of anyone finding out their status so they pull away and manage or control the diseases as best as they ‘think’ they can. Another example is, one of the Muslim women part of the study completely withdrew from the public when her status was confirmed; she felt an immense about of shame and remained fearful of w...
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Human Development Report (2000) Human Rights and Human Development (New York) p.19 [online] Available from: [Accessed 2 March 2011]
Discrimination has grown over the years to be a major problem around the world. There are many different issues that discrimination addresses. One of the main issues that it evaluates is HIV/AIDS. Many people who are infected with the disease are discriminated against for something that they cannot control after they are diagnosed. More specifically, insurance companies and employers are one of the big factors in discrimination of these people in the work place. It is very important to them because they need the money in order to live and they need to coverage in order to stay healthy. Many people go through this battle of live with companies in order to survive, like Devin a middle aged man. These are very important issues that needs to be evaluated closely at and also their needs to be a solution for this problem in the world today.
From the moment scientists identified HIV and AIDS, social responses of fear, denial, stigma and discrimination have accompanied the epidemic. Discrimination has spread rapidly, fuelling anxiety and prejudice against the groups most affected, as well as those living with HIV or AIDS. It goes without saying that HIV and AIDS are as much about social phenomena as they are about biological and medical concerns. Across the world the global epidemic of HIV/AIDS has shown itself capable of triggering responses of compassion, solidarity and support, bringing out the best in people, their families and communities. But the disease is also associated with stigma, repression and discrimination, as individuals affected (or believed to be affected) by HIV have been rejected by their families, their loved ones and their communities. This rejection holds as true in the rich countries of the north as it does in the poorer countries of the south.
...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.
Janet Wash. “Women’s Property Rights Violations and HIV/AIDS in Africa.” Peace Review April-September: Page 190, 192, 193
When one hears the words “LGBT” and “Homosexuality” it often conjures up a mental picture of people fighting for their rights, which were unjustly taken away or even the social emergence of gay culture in the world in the1980s and the discovery of AIDS. However, many people do not know that the history of LGBT people stretches as far back in humanity’s history, and continues in this day and age. Nevertheless, the LGBT community today faces much discrimination and adversity. Many think the problem lies within society itself, and often enough that may be the case. Society holds preconceptions and prejudice of the LGBT community, though not always due to actual hatred of the LGBT community, but rather through lack of knowledge and poor media portrayal.