AIDS as a Worldwild Epidemic - Essay Example

Health Sciences and Medicine AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a worldwide epidemic that has affected 50 million people since its discovery by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). However, Dr. Robert Gallo, a renowned AIDS researcher was a co discoverer of the virus causing AIDS despite several controversies. He has made several contributions and subsequent AIDS research. AIDS is caused by a virus called HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). The HIV/AIDS virus has remained the leading global threat to health. Governments and international organizations have long been tasked with objectives to end the AIDS pandemic. In fact, there has been so much progress in determining a cure for HIV/AIDS over the years. However, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic (Avert, 1). AIDS prevalence in Western countries and in Africa has been different. This has raised the question of unique risk factors in Africa and whether the mode of transmission of the HIV virus in Africa is different from that of the rest of the world. In Africa, the ratio of AIDS infection between the males to females is 1:1 while in the Western society is 8:1. The spread of HIV/AIDS varies in terms of sex, age and sexual orientation. It is feared that heterosexuals will continue to make 95% of people lining with HIV/AIDS (Stine 269). In addition, gay men in the United States will make up 53% of new HIV/AIDS infections in the coming years (Stine 295). There are various modes of transmission of the various methods that aggravate the spread include: promiscuity, female circumcision and infibulations, exposure to infected blood and practices involving sharing of instruments. HIV can be contracted through any of the forms of sexual intercourse. HIV virus is spread the same way AIDS is spread. Recent research showed that nearly half of all AIDS cases in the US were mostly from the southern region (Stine 298). Currently, the number of new infections has gone down, but this is not to mean that the problem is over. Much is being done though to prevent HIV transmission. In the USA, the first people to contract AIDS were five homosexual men who were diagnosed with unusual form of pneumonia. Ever since, the disease has killed many people more than the deaths resulting from the World War II and military deaths combined. It is estimated that over one million people suffering from AIDS die each year and around 9,000 new infections are reported daily worldwide (Stine). AIDS has had a great impact on medicine and a mark on the American culture. It has brought forth the need to discuss sexuality and the issue of homosexuality in the open. Also, patient activism has been rampant in the recent past and people are not afraid to disclose their status. There have been many campaigns by different organizations and the government encouraging people to get tested know their HIV status. AIDS does not carry the stigma it carried when it first set in since nowadays AIDS patients can access quality health care and the anti-retroviral drugs that suppress the effect of the disease. Responsible sexual behavior and safer sex has been a subject in the media encouraging the people to use protection each time they have sex with anyone else other than their spouse. The young people are also advised to embrace chastity or delay the first time they have sex so as to limit the number of potential sex partners. Television programming and music has also changed since some of these platforms are used to sensitize people on HIV and AIDS and the available care (Farber 50). In addition, sex education in schools for preventive purposes has been included in the school’s curriculums. Peer counseling has also become a common phenomenon during schools hours and condoms availed to the youth for prevention. In many countries in Africa, condoms are given for free in health care centers and public facilities (Avert, 1). There has also been increased condom use by the sexually active people. Couples are encouraged to test their HIV status together. Expectant mothers are also not left behind. As they go for their pre-natal care, HIV/AIDS testing is part and parcel of the tests carried out on them. Those that test positive are immediately put on drugs to prevent mother to child infection and even at birth and after. AIDS has remolded many aspects of the society. People have become more open to discuss issues surrounding the spread. Patient activists and gay rights have also come up in the recent past regarding the subject of HIV/AIDS. Many voluntary counseling and testing centers have been put up in many towns and cities to reach out to many people who may be afraid to walk into hospitals for tests. AIDS has had great impact in the society and stigma surrounding the disease and those infected. AIDS is also a social phenomenon as much as it is a health concern since the disease is associated with stigma and discrimination. It is a pandemic that has affected human capital and human resource management. The rapid spread of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa has become a major hindrance to development. In fact, the age group that is mostly those between the ages of 15-24.In some countries like the Middle East and Islamic strongholds, AIDS victims are seen as promiscuous and as a disgrace to the community. These retrogressive beliefs by these societies hinder the fight against HIV/AIDS. HIV infection is seen as a death sentence even though some of those infected and are on anti-retroviral drugs have shown much improvement on their health. Many children have been orphaned by AIDS and have been left vulnerable. The spread of the disease has made many societies in Africa to abandon some of the cultural practices which help in spreading the virus. Wife inheritance and polygamy was a common practice in many African cultures but has since been discontinued due to increased risks of spreading HIV. Traditional circumcision practices that involve sharing of knives have also been abandoned. The communities have been educated on the importance of leaving such cultures and the infected have been put on anti-retroviral drugs. Community groups that include the infected people have been of great help in many African countries to prevent the stigma and to help one another in living a new lease of life. Many governments have set aside funding to fight HIV and to take care of the infected victims. In the early 1980’s, AIDS was a disease associated with the gays and little attention was given to it. However, in 1984, Rock Hudson was diagnosed with HIV which became a concern in the mainstream media. According Poindexter (5) it was brought to public attention that he had AIDS in the following year (1995). Randy Shilts published a book about the early stages of the AIDS epidemic. He was an author and an activist for gay rights. He campaigned and pushed for AIDS stories to be moved from the back pages to the front pages. In the end, he managed to sell his book on AIDS which could not sell before and he became rich and famous. All he had ever yearned from was love, fame and gay freedom. By the year 1987, he had all what he had wished for and AIDS. He later died of AIDS in 1994. More than a decade and a half ago, a brave young boy by the name Ryan White came into the limelight in America after he was infected with AIDS. Ryan was suffering from hemophilia and he needed blood transfusion to treat his condition but he received blood infected with HIV (Poindexter, 5). He not only battled with AIDS but also stigma. People would not shake his hands or sit near him. He was an example in America of public discrimination that changed his life and the lives of those that were living with the disease. He received quite a number of TV interviews, news media and public appearances. His desire was to live a normal life and go to school like the rest of the children. However, he succumbed to the disease two years later after diagnosis. A bipartisan Ryan White comprehensive aids resources emergency (care) was signed into law in 1990. The Ryan White CARE act remains to be a very important response to the AIDS pandemic in the USA (Poindexter, 5). It provides federal funds that cater for the treatment of people living with HIV who lack financial resources and health insurance for their treatment. Each year, many people benefit from this program in the USA and its environs every year. More than half of the beneficiaries live below the poverty line. The funding provided is divided into six parts that cater that are named part A to part F. Part A gives funds to urban areas with numerous people living with HIV and emerging mid-sized cities with a large population of people living with HIV. On the other hand, part B gives funds to all the 50 states in the USA, Puerto Rico, District of Columbia, Guam, Virgin Islands and the five jurisdictions in found in the Pacific. The funds are used for community-based care, drugs, health insurance or support services to low-income earners. The third part, part C gives direct grants to faith based groups, community clinics and public health facilities for early preventive purposes. Part D avails grants to women, children, infants and the youth. On the other hand, part E was meant for emergency response employees under the prior law but was never funded. Some of its parts were deleted and others added. Lastly, part F is reserved for demonstration and training. It is a fact that the fight against HIV/AIDS cannot be abandoned at this time since a cure is being sought. Many research firms are still finding an AIDS vaccine that can be used to cure those living with HIV and another one to prevent the disease. However, the strides that have been taken since AIDS was discovered in 1982 to date should be appreciated. Works Cited Avert. “HIV and AIDS in Africa.” Web. 26 April 2012 . Farber, Celia. Serious adverse events: an uncensored History of AIDS. New York: Melville house Publishers, 2006. Print. p. 50. Poindexter, Cynthia. “Handbook of HIV and Social Work: Principles, Practice, and Populations.” New Jersey: Wiley, 2010. Print. Pp. 3-15. Stine, Gerald.J. AIDS UPDATE.2011. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies incorporated, 2011. Print. Pp. 265-300. Read More