In 2009 an estimated 33.2 million human beings were unfortunate enough to be infected with AIDS or HIV. A hefty 22.4 million of those individuals live in where the story of humanity began, Sub-Saharan Africa. The good-fortuned United States on the other end of the spectrum ,is home to 1.2 million infected. The statistics for the amount of infected in the U.S. is almost negligible in comparison to those of Africa’s ,because of the obvious difference in amount of infected ,but also in the amount of power the disease has in the confines of each spatial variation. In the growing quest for equality amongst all humanity it is a necessity to understand why Africans are bearing the statistical load and why the number of infected grow in amongst them and are barely noticeable in America. The clever disease thrives on human weaknesses like stereotyping, unjustified hatred and social inequality, and apathy. The toll the disease has on a society is determined by how pervasive those human weakness are. The disease is deadly ,however, the deadliness is exacerbated by our flaws. Because there is no cure or vaccination for HIV, education and awareness or our most effective tools in the fight against HIV and for equality.
In the United States 47 percent of HIV infected are from the homosexual community and future projections predict that those numbers will grow. The growth of the disease amongst this community more so than others points out the underdeveloped social and economic traits in today’s America. The fundamental rule in slowing the spread of HIV is knowing who is infected and who isn’t. Studies show that an infected
individual while take precautionary steps to protect their partner. Many homosexual men are not even awa...
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huge strain on the flimsy economy. It narrows a future workforce and the work force that currently exist. Because HIV is sexually transmitted , younger people that provide most of the labor are more likely to have the disease. With collapsing economies and no future prospects, African countries will continue to live is sub-human conditions and a perpetual gap in global equality will exist.
As rich as Bill Gates is, the Bill & Malinda Gates foundation is still not enough representation from America to do this problem justice. Pharmaceutical companies need to loosen there grip on medicinal rights allow a production of affordable medicine. An interest needs to be placed on Africa’s future and welfare. Americans need to challenge the accepted idea that Africa is a hopeless continent of endless turmoil and put a stop to the spread of HIV.
There are still many issues that the government has been trying to address. One barrier that continues to exist is the stigma of HIV/AIDS. People avoid getting tested and sick individuals would wait until they were extremely ill before seeking treatment. The government has countered social stigma through a public health campaign to promote HIV testing. As more people participated in testing, public attitudes started changing (Glassman, 2016, p.28). Still, many traditionally at risk groups continue to be vulnerable. Female sex workers, young adults, and men who have sex with men, have lower rates of HIV testing and have less knowledge about HIV prevention (Glassman, 2016, p.28). Addressing these populations will require additional social
Although the sub-Saharan region accounts for just 10% of the world’s population, 67% (22.5 million) of the 33.4 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 1998 were residents of one of the 34 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, and of all AIDS deaths since the epidemic started, 83% have occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (Gilks, 1999, p. 180). Among children under age 15 living with HIV/AIDS, 90% live in sub-Saharan Africa as do 95% of all AIDS orphans. In several of the 34 sub-Saharan nations, 1 out of every 4 adults is HIV-positive (UNAIDS, 1998, p. 1). Taxing low-income countries with health care systems inadequate to handle the burden of non-AIDS related illnesses, AIDS has devastated many of the sub-Saharan African economies. The impact of AIDS on the region is such that it is now affecting demographics - changing mortality and fertility rates, reducing lifespan, and ultimately affecting population growth.
According to the CDC, almost 1.1 million people in the United States have HIV, yet almost 20% of those people are unaware that they are living with the condition (CDC, 2013c). When the HIV broke out almost 30 years ago in the United States, the number of new cases in a year was 130,000. Now, each year the new number of cases being presented is approximately 50,000 (CDC, 2013c). In locations like Sub-Saharan Africa, the statistics are higher. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) states, “In 2011, an estimated 23.5 million people living with HIV resided in sub-Saharan Africa, representing 69% of the global HIV burden” (UNAIDS, 2012). The World Health Organization (WHO) reinforces this point by saying, “Sub-Saharan Africa is the most affected region [of HIV], with nearly 1 in every 20 adults living with HIV. Sixty nine per cent of all people living with HIV are living in this region” (WHO, 2013a). The statistics of infected people living in the United States is alarming but there are other countries, like Africa, which have higher rates of HIV due to very limited
According to WHO in 2007, “more than 95% of HIV cases are in developing countries, with two-thirds of them in sub-Saharan Africa. “ In addition, there were 2.1 million deaths related to HIV and 2.5 million...
Helen Epstein.(2008) .The invisible cure: Why we are losing the Fight against AIDS in Africa. New York:
AIDS, or the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome has been one of the most threatening diseases of the 20th century. Ever since it has been discovered in 1981, it has been constantly infecting men, women, adults, newly born children, homosexuals and heterosexuals. In definition AIDS is an extremely serious disorder that results from severe damage to the body’s defense against disease. Even though AIDS was born in an era of sophisticated medical and surgical developments, it still remains incurable. The ways through which the HIV, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, can be transmitted are: blood transfusion, contaminated needles used in drug addiction, from an infected husband to his wife through sexual intercourse, or from an infected mother to her new born baby during pregnancy. Because it is that much spread and so far incurable, AIDS has aroused a lot hysterical fears and a number of controversies and ethical questions related to the patient’s rights, doctor’s rights and the right of the public at large. While some people think that AIDS patients should be isolated in quarantines, alienated from the rest of the world, others find no reason in this harsh form of separation and discrimination against the infected patients. The patients must also have the right to lead a normal life that must be respected by all the public, and government too. Although AIDS is not more contagious than any other disease, its patients are suffering both social and medical discrimination, and that is not only unethical but could also cause an increase in the spread of the disease. The fact that AIDS is no more contagious than any other disease, makes the reasons behind the people’s fear of AIDS totally illogical. All people are thinking of is that it’s a deadly virus, but there is a lot more to know about AIDS than this. People must be more educated about this virus and how it may be transmitted in order to protect themselves and avoid their constant paranoia about AIDS patients. AIDS, unlike many diseases, is not transmitted by shaking hands, or through coughs, or by swimming in the same pool with an HIV positive. It has also been proven that even the exposure to body fluids such as saliva through deep kissing wouldn’t transmit the virus. This is because the HIV is found to be very weak in open air; it can easily be killed by ordinary household disinfectants (Kelly 33-34).
Chelala, Cesar. “HIV/AIDS: Managing a Pandemic.” Americas Vol. 61, No.2. Mar/Apr 2015: 20-26. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 25 Mar. 2015. In this article, Latin America and Caribbean adults have infection rates lower than rates in Africa, but the number of HIV-positive people in this hemisphere is still quite high. It is estimated that in Latin America and the Caribbean, there are two million HIV-infected people. This is more than the number of cases in other countries combined. In 2014, according to United Nations figures, there were 20,000 new infections in the Caribbean and 140,000 in Latin America. Discrimination against HIV-infected people and the humiliation
As the AIDS epidemic in the United States advanced into the 1990s, it became clear that AIDS had a new target population. AIDS was no longer strictly a gay disease but was leaking into the general heterosexual population as well. Moreover, as the decade progressed, new cases of HIV infection were being increasingly identified in poor, minority communities. While the focus of the AIDS epidemic shifted from the high-profile male homosexual population to poor, minority communities, political activism and financial support for the fight against AIDS also began to decline. With the new limitations set by decreased public support and decreased financial resources, policy-makers, humanitarian organizations, and AIDS activists began to analyze how best to extend AIDS-related resources to these new target populations.
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).
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, commonly known as HIV/AIDS is a disease, with which the human immune system, unlike in other disease, cannot cope. AIDS, which is caused by the HIV virus, causes severe disorder of the immune system and slowly progresses through stages which disable the body’s capability to protect and instead makes it vulnerable for other infections. The first blood sample to contain HIV was drawn in 1959 in Zaire, Africa while molecular genetics have suggested that the epidemic first began in the 1930s (Smallman & Brown, 2011). Currently, according to the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS, 35.3 million people worldwide are living with HIV. In 2012, an estimated 2.3 million people became newly infected with the virus and 1.6 million people lost their lives to AIDS (Fact Sheet, UNAIDS). It is due to the globalized international society that a disease which existed in one part of the world has managed to infect so many around the world. Globalization is narrowly defined by Joseph Stiglitz as "the removal of barriers to free trade and the closer integration of national economies" (Stiglitz, 2003). Globalization has its effects in different aspects such as economy, politics, culture, across different parts of the world. Like other aspects, globalization affects the health sector as well. In a society, one finds different things that connect us globally. As Barnett and Whiteside point out (2000), “health and wellbeing are international concerns and global goods, and inherent in the epidemic are lessons to be learned regarding collective responsibility for universal human health” (Barnett & Whiteside, 2000). Therefore, through all these global connections in the international society, t...
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.
While HIV affects Americans from all walks of life, the epidemic continues to disproportionately impact gay and bisexual men, transgender women. According to the CDC, there are over one million Americans currently living with HIV and approximately 50,000 new infections every year. Almost two-thirds of those new infections are among gay and bisexual men. In most states in our country (as well as at the federal level), there are little or no protections against discrimination in employment, housing, and other areas based on sexual orientation and gender identity. For minorities within the LGBT community, racial and other forms of bias compound an already challenging situation. The potential consequences job loss, lack of access to healthcare,
A country once in denial now has it’s South African political leaders addressing the disease that is slowing killing their population The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which evolves into acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is affecting South Africa socially as well as economically. This disease is also leaving over a million and a half children orphaned. Most of these children are not only orphaned but living with the virus as well.
HIV does not only affect the well-being of individuals, it has large impacts on households, communities and even nations as a whole. Peer discussions and personal research has also made me realize that some of the countries suffering from this HIV epidemic also rather unfortunately suffer from other infectious diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis, relative poverty and economic stagnation. Despite these setbacks, new inte...
... diseases such as AIDS are also becoming a problem in places like Africa. Knowledge of how to prevent these diseases is not widely known, so an increasing number of people are infected. More attention needs to be placed on adequate health care and technology in these countries. While these third world societies may not have the resources with which to implement these changes, more advanced societies certainly do.