HIV Testing Raises Human Right Issues - Assignment Example

? M10 Discussions HIV/AIDS Discussion HIV testing raises human right issues related to personal autonomy and nondiscrimination. The knowledge of HIV status is crucial to the AIDs fight owing to the need to protect one another from infection. Voluntary counseling and testing was particularly introduced with intention to guarantee that people who tested positive would not suffer discrimination and ensure that they are psychologically prepared for the implications of a positive result (Forsythe, 2009). As such, patients who test positive for HIV/AIDS are not any less of a human being and they enjoy all rights and freedoms enjoyed by ‘normal’ or HIV negative people. HIV positive patients or employees have a right to justice and can therefore file a case or sue an individual or institution that he or she believes that have undermined constitutional or human rights (Forsythe, 2009). I strongly believe that HIV patients have a right to receive health care services from the healthcare providers sought by any other person regardless of their HIV status. This is in line with the ethical principle of nondiscrimination in health care profession or as provided under the legal framework governing the rights of an individual. Therefore, HIV positive patient have both a legal and ethical right to sue individuals or institution that undermine their rights. A private business can hire and fire those they want but this must be done with the legal limitations provided under labor laws. Employers have a legal obligation to conduct their hiring and firing processes according the laws governing such processes. However, every individual has right to seek health care services where they want and should not be discriminated against provided they their demands are within the providers capacity to execute. “Any Dentist in the UK who is HIV-Seropositive Must Stop Treating Patients.” I strongly agree that this restriction on HIV-positive dentists is unethical and openly contradicts other legal requirements such as those that advocate for equal job opportunity for all and illegalize any form of discrimination. Denying HIV-positive dentists the right to practice contravenes laws against any form of discrimination regardless of the justification (Shaw, 2008). The essence of HIV testing is to ensure that those affected are aware of their status to enable them adopt precaution to avoid involuntary infection of other people. There are different mechanisms that can be applied by HIV-positive dentists to ensure up to 99% effectiveness in preventing transfer of the virus to their patients. Dentist are also guided by dentists’ professional ethics which requires them not to intentionally harm the patients but do all that is within their capacity to save life. The restrictive law is therefore discriminative and unethical and should not exist in a country that upholds the rule of law and high regard for human rights. Instead of the restriction, healthcare organizations should provide the necessary equipments and guidelines to ensure maximum prevention of HIV infection during health care services as in other countries. Like the HIV-positive patients and other patients, dentists too should be safeguarded from any form discrimination and unfair treatment. The screening of dental students for HIV is also unethical and goes against the voluntary counseling and testing approach applied to all patients which should also be applied for the students. The testing may be ethical but it must be conducted in a manner that respects other ethical principles such autonomy and informed consent (Shaw, 2008). As in the case of patients, students should have the final on whether to be tested hence making the process compulsory makes unethical and unacceptable. In addition, the intention of the testing is not guarantee the students against any form of discrimination on the basis of the disease but to discriminatory deny them the opportunity to study and practice dentistry. Commercial and Social Marketing Discussion Social marketing in the context of health programs and projects has been defined as the application of commercial marketing technologies to planning, implementing, and evaluating services designed to influence the voluntary behavior of target audience in order to improve their personal welfare and that of the society (Longest, 2004). Social marketing can also be viewed as a process of influencing human behavior on a large scale, using marketing principles for the purpose of societal benefits rather than commercial profit. On the other hand, commercial marketing is defined as planning, implementing, and evaluating activities designed to bring about voluntary exchanges with people in target markets for the purpose of achieving the desired results established for a program or project. In United States, social marketing has been used to address such health issues such as anti-smoking, safety, drug abuse, breast cancer screening, immunization, and drinking and driving. I would apply social marketing strategy in marketing the school-based sealant program. The social marketing would entail adoption of a consumer-centered orientation to ensure the school going children can understand the message on the importance of sealants. The entire social marketing process would entail emphasis on the benefits of sealants in preventing dental cavities as one of the major threat to dental health among the children (Longest, 2004). The marketing would be drafted in a manner that fits the needs, wants, perceptions, lifestyles, media preference among the children. The success of the social marketing will be evaluated on the basis of change in perception and attitude towards sealants among target populations. Strategies Discussion Social Marketing of a School-Based Sealant Program The social marketing strategy would entail televised events emphasizing on the benefits of sealants and the negative effects of tooth decay or cavities. The marketing process involves evaluation of sampled schools students to determine the most preferred and effective media, needs, wants and perceptions about sealants. The marketing strategy will also cover educational information defining sealants and how they are used. The marketing process will entail a component in which volunteers in the program will visit different schools to create awareness about the sealant sensitization programs and how it would be carried out. The volunteers will also establish existing perceptions, attitude and knowledge level to serve as the benchmark for evaluating the success of the social marketing strategy (Donovan & Henley, 2010). Analysis of the results after the marketing strategy against the established benchmark will determine the effectiveness of the social marketing strategy. The evaluation process will be based on the key determinants in the successful implementation of the school-based sealant program such as perceptions, beliefs, attitude and knowledge about the benefits of the program. Therefore, evaluation of the social marketing will revolve around comparison of the findings about such parameters following the implementation of the marketing strategy will findings made prior to the implementation of the social marketing strategy. This should provide a good indication as to whether the marketing strategy achieved the objectives of changing the perception, belief and increasing knowledge about the benefits of sealants. References Donovan, R., & Henley, N. (2010). Principles and practice of social marketing: an international perspective. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Forsythe, D. (2009). Encyclopedia of human rights, Volume 1. Oxford University Press. Longest, B. (2004). Managing health programs and projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Shaw, D. (2008). Dentistry and the ethics of infection. Journal of Medical Ethics, 34, 184-187. Read More