The Impact of HIV/AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is a fatal physical condition that is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The virus damages the human body’s immune system, so that the body cannot protect itself from bacteria, viruses, and prions that cause diseases. With severely lowered defenses, AIDS patients die from common illnesses such as pneumonia, diarrhea, cold, and tuberculosis. The HIV virus does not directly attack its victim; the disease that patients suffer from after receiving the virus is what hurts and kills them.

AIDS is a disease that is transmitted easily through unprotected sexual intercourse, sharing of needles, blood transfusion, and childbirth. Without proper knowledge and equipment, it is very difficult to prevent the spread of AIDS. Ever since the illness was discovered thirty years ago, it has taken the lives of thirty million people and affected the lives of many, many more. The AIDS pandemic has been and still is most severe in third-world countries in sub-Saharan Africa. It has impacted the economies of entire nations by crippling and killing individuals in the most productive years of their lives (“HIV/AIDS”). AIDS greatly influences the government sector, agricultural sector, private corporations, and individual households. Among those impacts, the impact on households is the most significant and severe. This paper will discuss the various ways AIDS affects families and the most effective ways of solving this issue.

One way AIDS impacts a household is by preventing the breadwinner of the family from earning income. The patient, who is often a man, would be unable to go to work for an extended period of time until he or she recovers. More often than not, the patient will also ultimately pas...

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...ms include: home care for people with AIDS, foster and orphanage care for orphans, support of basic needs for AIDS patients, food support for children, and educational support for children. Secondary programs, such as reducing school tuition and removing commercial sex help children stay in school and keep workers from getting infected (Stover 12). These programs may be costly for governments, but they are absolutely essential and beneficial.

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.