HIV/AIDS in South Africa and China - Research Paper Example

HIV/AIDS in South Africa and China The republic of South Africa is the most developed and industrialized state in Africa. The country has an estimated population of forty million consisting of seventy percentage blacks and the rest consisting of whites, Indians and Asian. Most of the population is concentrated in the urban areas where there are opportunities for better jobs, education and welfare services. The country was for over many years under the apartheid rule that discriminated against the blacks creating a wide difference in terms of wealth, access to education and health services and representation in political leadership. This rift led to widespread poverty among the black who were mostly concentrated in the urban slums commonly known as ghettos. The country economy relies heavily on mineral exploitation contributing over 30% of the country’s GDP. However, unemployment is quite rampant in the country with over half of the black population being either unemployed or underemployed. However, the country faces serious with socio-economic problems occasioned by the high rates of HIV/AIDS infections and prevalence rates especially among the poor (James 172). The people’s republic of China is one of Asia’s largest economies and developing at a rapid rate. Its population is the largest in the entire with an estimated population size of over a billion persons. The Han Chinese is the largest ethnic group making up over 91% of the population according to the 2000 population census. Beijing is the capital city and the economic hub of the country with the highest population density in the entire country. The country is on a population control undertaking through policies limiting the number of children per couple to only one in order to check its burgeoning population. Economically, China is one of the greatest economies of the world owing to its technological and innovative advances, cheap qualified labour, vibrant mining, and agriculture and service industries. The country has for a long time followed communist ideologies. Up to date the population practices traditional medicine as well as well as traditional religious beliefs among a majority of its population. The country has one of the most developed infrastructure systems in the world as well as health and social services. The HIV/AIDS epidemic first came to the lime light in the early 1980s and has ever since puzzled scientists and researchers around the world. The scourge accounts for many deaths in their millions around the world and is now one of the leading economic burdens globally. Particularly the poor sub Saharan Africa is the most affected region of the world accounting for approximately 70% of the infected population worldwide. Transmission in the poorer states especially in Africa and Latina America is largely through heterosexual relationships in commercial sex as well as in marriage and long-term relationships. South Africa falls here, and is one of the leading regions in terms of numbers of the already infected as well as the rising new infection rates under this region. In contrast, in other developed countries, transmission is predominantly among drug addicts during injection, homosexuals, and commercial sex workers. However, lately the transmission has changed significantly especially in the Asian and Eastern Europe regions. The virus is now mostly being transmitted through heterosexual intercourse in places where only drug injecting addicts and gays. In parts of Asia, where it has generically being transmitted among injecting drug users, commercial sex workers, gays and their clientele , is increasingly being found in other sectors of the society considered as low- risk areas through heterosexual transmissions. China falls under this region and is recording increased rates of infection from heterosexual ways (Joseph et. al. 314). In the case of South Africa, the news article, “South Africa launches new drive to cut HIV infection”, focuses on the monetary implications of fighting the scourge through provision of preventive measures as well as well as providing various therapies. The newspaper article focuses on the various methods used to curb the spread of the disease, emphasising on; the benefits of taking up anti retroviral therapies and their effectiveness in prolonging lives as well as reducing the probability of spreading the virus, and the impact of male circumcision in lowering the spread of the virus in men. Issues like the effect of policy on the initiatives taken to lower the spread, foreign aid, local initiatives and traditional systems in managing the situation. The author of the article delivers a well thought out framework for both the local citizenry and decision makers in containing the effects of the scourge on the nation and by extension the rest of sub Saharan Africa. The china situation is quite the opposite of the South African case. Here the article, “China Reveals Significant Surge of HIV/AIDS Cases Among its Citizens”, captures a developing trend in the society, which is leading to changes in the way people go around their daily life in the process encouraging the spread of the disease in new ways. The focus is on the soaring cases of new infections, which are resulting from the generically unpopular sources of new transmissions. Here the focus is on putting an end to the new way in which the disease is finding its way into the society. The article points out the need to broaden intervention from focusing only on injecting drug addicts, sex workers, and gays to include those having irresponsible heterosexual relationships out of wedlock. The two articles both focus on fighting HIV/AIDS in the respective countries, seeking to inform their audience on the developing trends and options available for the population in dealing with the scourge. The South African experience is one that centres on managing the situation and preparing the community to focus on measures to integrate the various support measures into the fight against the disease. The information provided gives hope to the citizenry of the nation that there is life after infection with the virus. The China scenario on the other hand focuses more on the emerging trend of rising rates of infections from the various centres otherwise regarded as low risk areas. Simply, the two articles addressing the same challenge but at different intensities and different general behavioural patterns, in that the South African approach is more focused on giving hope and inspiration to continue fighting the scourge. The Chinese case on the other hand focuses more on making the population shy away from behaviours that will expose them to possible infection and transmission of the virus. HIV/AIDS presents one of the most difficult health and economic problems facing the world and especially in the less developed countries in sub Saharan Africa. The origin of the deadly virus has been a matter of debate among various scholars, scientists and social activists. However, there seem to be a consensus that the virus has its origin in Africa, from some primates in the southeast region of Cameroon. Scientist have been able to able to conclusively identify a strain of Simian immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) within several colonies of chimpanzees in this region which they determined to be the parent strain which mutated to the HIV-1 strain that causes the disease in humans. Similar researches done on primates from other parts of the world failed to find any SIV strain leading to the decisive conclusion that it has its origin in Africa. Ironically, it is Africa where the virus has taken its greatest toll on populations (Dennis 41). The major means of spreading the virus is through the exchange of body fluids through such means as sexual intercourse, injecting drugs using same equipments, prick by sharp objects contaminated with infected fluids, mother to child transmission at birth and unscreened blood transfusion among other ways. Of all the various ways through which it is spread, sexual intercourse and mother to child transmission account for over 90% of infections especially in the developing and third world countries, followed by injecting drugs using same objects especially in the developed world. Today, many interventions have been put forth to create the necessary awareness needed to slow down the rate of spread as well as to provide therapies that will help manage the infection among victims (Kartikeyan39). The WHO alongside other United Nations agencies and international nongovernmental organizations as well as national governments around the world has invested billions of dollars in fighting the scourge with successful outcomes. Infection rates have gone down around the globe and especially in the hardest hit regions, although some countries are registering increased rates of transmission. Mortality rates from the scourge have also decreased significantly owing to the introduction of anti retro therapies that help stabilize the immunity to keep opportunistic infections at bay as well as prevent new transmissions. However, issues like ignorance, some traditional cultural practices, stigmatization, poverty and irresponsible behaviours and lifestyles have dealt serious blows to these interventions. As the people around the globe commemorated the World HIV/AIDS day recently, some regions were jubilant about the strides they have made in combating the scourge and laying down new measure to manage the situation, others were mourning the revelation that the scourge was gaining grounds and entrenching itself in to the society. One such state is the people’s republic of china where the rates of infection are reported to be on the upsurge. The United States also registered increasing trends in some sections of its society, same as the case is in several East Europe nations. The world health organization (WHO) warns that though the intervention measures advanced by various national states have made remarkable efforts in fighting the epidemic, more still needs to be done to ensure zero rates of transmission and complete eradication of the menace. To The Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health Government of South Africa Dear Sir/Madam Re: HIV/AIDS as a Pandemic Having studied the subject of HIV/AIDS in various parts of the world and knowing various situations that national governments, development organizations, and grass root communities are dealing with, I hereby write to your esteemed office with suggestion on possible measures to boost the already existing efforts. Assessment on the various intervention measures, their application, and reception by the recipient societies, the impact they cause and the general interaction with prevailing culture pointed out to the need for engaging local communities at a more involving level. Basing my assertion on the two regions that the newspaper articles above focused on and studies carried out in those regions, there is an intricate role played by the local cultures in dealing with any disease condition. Owing to the undoubted influence of culture in dealing with disease situation, it is imperative that behaviour and cultural change be instituted at individual and society level in order to allow for lifestyles that permit open disclosure and seeking of medical attention without risking stigmatization and seclusion. This will requires that medical health practitioners involved in eradication of the disease employ a multidisciplinary approach, which will involve an in depth understanding of the general beliefs and customs as well as religious persuasions and ideologies that lead people to have reservation in handling certain diseases. Participation of all stakeholders including the healthcare practitioners, social workers, government, religious and community leaders as well as the affected persons is quite important in shaping the perception of people and effective treatment of such diseases. Therefore, in order to effectively curb the spread of the disease in the areas that your organization intervenes, there is need to design projects that will go down to the grass root levels by first carrying out extensive research on the communities in order to correctly align intervention measure. It is also important to consider taking various traditional therapies on board and find out how they can blend with the contemporary medication in taming opportunistic infections. This is important because any traditional medication for other ailments have proved effective over the years although they may have serious and fatal side effect on those already on HIV/AIDS therapy. Yours faithfully Work Cited Dennis, Kieserling. HIV/AIDS in South Africa: Some Facts and Myths and Their Role in the Nation’s Distrust of Western Medicine. Munich: GRIN Verlag, 2008. Print. Florence, W. Soroses. University of South Carolina. Assessment of factors influencing participation in HIV/AIDS voluntary counseling and testing in Namibia. Jonesburg: ProQuest, 2006. Print. James, Thurlow, Gavin George, and Jeff Gow. HIV/AIDS, Growth and Poverty in KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa: Integrating Firm-Level Surveys with Demographic and Economywide Modeling. Washington: Intl Food Policy Res Inst, 2006. Print. Joseph, D. Tucker, Dudley L. Poston, and Qiang Ren. Gender Policy and HIV in China: Catalyzing Policy Change. New York: Springer, 2009. Print. Pineda, Erik. China Reveals Significant Surge of HIV/AIDS Cases Among its Citizens. Business & Health: health Guide for he Modern Lifestyle. Web 3 Dec. 2011. Kartikeyan, S. HIV and AIDS: basic elements and priorities. New York: Springer, 2007. Print. Thompson. South Africa launches new drive to cut HIV infection. Reuters Africa. Web 3 Dec. 2011. Tiaji, Salaam-Blyther. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Global Health Programs. Darby: DIANE Publishing, 2010. Print. Read More