Adults of 50 years or more that have lived HIV positive since the times where it was not understood as today feel the greater effects of HIV. In fact, they suffer from an additional complication that the younger generations have yet to worry about, which we all as humans will eventually suffer from in our life time: aging, which adds additional issues to an HIV infected body. Clinical social workers David J. Brennan and Charles A. Emlet, with registered social worker, Angela Eady, authors of HIV, Sexual Health, and Psychosocial Issues Among Older Adults Living with HIV in North America, argue, “Increasingly more people living with HIV are aging, the issues of aging and HIV disease can no longer be seen as unrelated” (313). Thus, the younger generation of HIV infectees do not have to worry about the aging aspect of living with HIV—yet. Years of therapeutic medications on adult infectees can have a negative affect on the body. It is obvious that HIV deteriorates the body, but with aging added to the mix it can really change the impact of the disease on those adults that have been living with HIV.
In addition, there is negative attitude toward 50 plus HIV positive patients based on the belief that aging “makes people unattractive, unintelligent, asexual, unemployable, and mentally incompetent’’ (qtd. in Emlet 781). These views accompany the perception that older adults are no longer involved in sexual intimacy and sexual behaviors. These ideals lead the public to believe that HIV occurring with in older adults are not a recurring issue. Although HIV rates among older women are increasing, older women often do not perceive themselves to be at risk for HIV infection (qtd. in Brennan, Emlet, and Eady 321). With this uneducated mindse...
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...mes difficult, HIV should not take away from this.
We as humans should have a moral and behavioral obligation to the millions living with a chronic illness, not just HIV. We need to acknowledge facts of reality; there are worse diseases out in this world than HIV. The families living with any chronic health condition deserve to be loved, respected and understood. Why do we as an advanced society lack the empathy needed to regress HIV? We are so quick to judge what we do not understand: the fear, depression, self loathing and the many other negative emotional baggage that comes with a HIV diagnosis, not taking into account the already existent stigmas. HIV affects more than just the body; it creates psychological torment. The great Freddie Mercury, a HIV infectee, summarizes it best, “I am a human being. I would like people to recognize the fact I am a human being.”
“Clinically, the HIV infected adolescents present as physically stunted individuals, with delayed puberty and adrenarche. Mental illness and substance abuse are important co-morbidities” (Naswa, 2010). Naswa, 2010 also reports that adolescences with HIV have a higher susceptibility rate to contract STD’s that the average individual due to the thinner lining of mucus in the ovaries at this stage of their development. The stigma of living with HIV is also a factor for her psychosocial development. The fact that she contracted this disease from her father further contributes to emotional trauma.
Demeter, Debora (1998). The Human Sexuality: Sex and the Elderly. Retrieved November 10, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.umkc.edu/sites/hsw/age/
AIDS discrimination is a bit more complex than that against patients with other diseases. Although years of education has decreased the discrimination in the clinical care setting toward patients with AIDS, prejudice stills occurs. Twenty-six percent of patients with AI...
Spink, Gemma. "AIDS." AVERTing HIV and AIDS. 23 Dec 2009. Web. 11 Jan 2010. .
"Demanding that life near AIDS is an inextricably other reality denies our ability to recreate a sustaining culture and social structures, even as we are daily required to devote such time to the details of the AIDS crisis." -Cindy Patton
The main reason why this article was written was because there was a lack of attention on risk behaviours regarding women’s HIV prevention in the US. Since women have not been paid attention to, they are more susceptible then men in contracting HIV/AIDS. We need to design a risk reduction program that pays more attention to women.
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
AIDS is a deadly disease that affects people world wide. AIDS is a disease that brings about many social consequences. Many of these consequences result in physical, emotional, and economic problems. AIDS compromises the immune system of the human body, making a person susceptible to many different illnesses and infections. Among these are: unexplained fatigue and weight loss, night sweats and flu-like feelings. These infirmities can interfere with a person’s daily physical tasks. For example, taking a shower, eating, working, excersing, caring for a child, and cooking. Being unable to perform these tasks makes an n individuals life extremely difficult. Individuals with AIDS also experience a number of emotional problems because of the social stigmas attached to AIDS. For instance, a person having to be scared to let others know he or she is infected, and being unable to engage in intimate relations without infecting others. Further emotional problems can be caused with the continuous worry of death, which can inhibit a person’s normal functioning .People who have these issues develop a great deal of emotional problems because one feels that they do not fit into society. AIDS is not only a disease that affects an individual, but it also affects the larger society . This is so because of the financial needs to help fund programs and organizations to help stop the spread of AIDS and help those who suffer from AIDS. Although, the money goes towards helping AIDS victims it is costly for tax payers, when it can go towards helping people and developing educational programs within their communities. Why should the population pay for the bill for the consequences of others? As one can see, AIDS doesn’t only bring about consequences that indirectly affect individuals, but it also brings about consequences for society as well.
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.
For over thirty years HIV and AIDS have presented historic challenges to the human nature, especially to our planet’s public health, scientific and medical communities. It is estimated that just in the United States between 900.000 and 950.000 persons are living with HIV and about one forth of those infected have not yet been diagnosed and are unaware of their infection. The number of people with AIDS is increasing as effective new drug therapies keep HIV-infected persons healthy longer and dramatically reduce the death rates. However in spite of extremely beneficial advances in the field of HIV-AIDS treatment in recent years the epidemic is far from being over. The Center for Disease Control in the United States has estimated that about 40.000 people become infected every year and most of these are young persons under the age of 25. The epidemic of HIV is severely impacting the communities of color, particularly young men and women. Roughly about sixty percent of new infections continue to be among men having a sexual intercourse with another man. The National HIV Prevention Committee suggests that there has been resurgence in unsafe behaviors among some communities of gay men. With all the research and evidence available from various government and non-profit organizations dealing with HIV and AIDS prevention far too many Americans believe that the epidemic is over in the United States. Among minorities, women, and the poor the worst may yet to be come. African Americans represent 12 percent of the American population, which is about 35.000.000 people, but about 50 percent of the new HIV cases (www.statehealthfacts.org). In the United States some 80 percent of all women infected are women of color. In addition African-American women are becoming infected at younger age compared to their white peers primarily through heterosexual contact. Hispanics present about 14 percent of the US population, about 40.322.930 people, and 20 percent of HIV-AIDS cases. The HIV infection rate among Native Americans is approximately one and a half time that of whites and they die from AIDS much faster than the whites due to late diagnosis.
I am positive; the simplest statement suddenly carries a huge weight when the words HIV or AIDS are followed right after. In the 1980’s HIV meant AIDS and AIDS meant a rapid and awful death. Death always seemed to be the end result in a world where we did not understand the disease that seemed to come from nowhere but was killing at an expedited rate. Thirty plus years later there is still no cure but there is now hope. Having HIV or AIDS is no longer an immediate death sentence. People infected with the virus can live a long and relatively normal life (2).
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.
Since the first cases of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in 1981, over 36 million people have died from the disease’s progression from HIV to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, scientists generally accept that the HIV virus started in a specific type of chimpanzee in Western Africa. HIV weakens the patient’s immune system by “destroying important cells that fight disease and infection.” After HIV is acquired, progresses, and grows it turns into a much more lethal stage, AIDS. Because their immune system is heavily damaged and virtually incompetent, AIDS patients is increasingly susceptible to other infections. If medical attention is not provided for an AIDS victim, they will almost certainly die (“What Is HIV/AIDS?”). In this recent and ongoing AIDS epidemic, about 75 million people have been infected with the virus, causing 36 million deaths; but there is hope because organizations like the Samaritan’s Purse are doing their best to combat the disease.
There is more than enough data that shows the extent to which AIDS cripples millions of individuals and households around the globe. Also, there are verified methods we can take to address this pandemic. We, as citizens of the world, need to recognize the severity of this problem and take action. Those in power must better distribute resources so that more is spent on saving the families and lives of AIDS stricken patients.
The emergence of HIV/AIDS is viewed globally as one of the most serious health and developmental challenges our society faces today. Being a lentivirus, HIV slowly replicates over time, attacking and wearing down the human immune system subsequently leading to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) at which point the affected individual is exposed to life threatening illnesses and eventual death. Despite the fact that a few instances of this disease have been accounted for in all parts of the world, a high rate of the aforementioned living with HIV are situated in either low or medium wage procuring nations. The Sub-Saharan region Africa is recognized as the geographic region most afflicted by the pandemic. In previous years, people living with HIV or at risk of getting infected did not have enough access to prevention, care and treatment neither were they properly sensitized about the disease. These days, awareness and accessibility to all the mentioned (preventive methods, care etc.) has risen dramatically due to several global responses to the epidemic. An estimated half of newly infected people are among those under age 25(The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic). It hits hard as it has no visible symptoms and can go a long time without being diagnosed until one is tested or before it is too late to manage.