Aspects of HIV/AIDS - Assignment Example

Final Review Paper Name Institution Course Date Executive Summary Since the early 80s, HIV pandemic has continually troubled humanity throughout the world. People of all walks of life are affected, where if one is not infected, then he is affected. There are many measures put in place by national and international bodies to control the disease but it continues spreading anyway. This essay analyzes some aspects of HIV/AIDS in relation to Pacific and Asian Countries. Final Review Paper Question 1: Bangladesh is one of the Asian countries with low prevalence of HIV/AIDS. This can be attributed to the culture and religion of the people in the area. Most of them strictly follow the Islamic culture which strongly advocates against fornication or extra-marital affairs. With such a belief, it is no wonder that the prevalence is low given that most of HIV infections emanate from engaging in sexual activity. The law of the country prohibits drug usage just like the religious beliefs. This helps in reducing infection rates from the use of inject able drugs. Such practices keep the prevalence low. Japan appears in the list of low HIV infection rates. Ruxrungtham, Brown and Phanuphak (2004, 3) indicate that over half of Japanese cases of HIV/AIDS are borne by homosexual men. This explains the low prevalence rates. Major reason for the low rates is that there are not many homosexual men in the Japanese society. Of all the homosexuals, it is not all who have the infection. This means that a portion of a small homosexual group is the one at risk. The rates must therefore be quite low. The other means of transmission are not so prevalent in Japan. Philippines is also quite free of HIV infections. There are two reasons that could contribute to this. One of them is responsible behavior. Philippines tend to have a lower rate of pre-marital or post-marital affairs. Their culture holds great respect for marriage, which is an entire family’s affair. In trying to safeguard family respect, the spread of the disease is kept at the minimum. Though condom usage is not highly popularized in the country, yet the few who are sexually active or who engage in sexual affairs ensure proper usage of the condoms (Ruxrungtham, Brown and Phanuphak (2004, p.5). This has helped to keep the prevalence rates down. South Korea is the last Asian country on the list of counties with low prevalence. Just like Bangladesh, religious beliefs could be attributed to these low rates. The country has an aspect of Islam in its culture. As such, sexual behaviors that lead to HIV infection are highly discouraged. While keeping within the confines of religion, the disease prevalence is kept down. As opposed to their Northern neighbours, South Korea also has relatively more peace and stability. This reduces instances such as violence against women and rape which effectively reduces the infection rates in the country. Question 2: In times of war, peace keeping activities are quite essential, but there are instances where they lead to the spread of HIV and other STIs. First, there are the incidences of rape. In times of violence, both the perpetrators as well as the peace keeping forces often engage in rape activities. No protection is used in most of these cases, leading to higher spread of the disease. There is also the aspect of sex trade. As people get displaced from their homes, some find themselves in compromising situations where they have to do something to boost their finances. Most women with refugee statuses find themselves in a sex-trade trap. They have to give sexual favors in exchange of comforts such as money, food, shelter or protection. While some do it out of free-will, there are others who find themselves between a rock and a hard place and they have to do it against their will. Such risky activities increase the chances of spread of the disease. The situation is worsened in cases where women have to have such affairs with several men. This constitutes a chain of infection where many people can be trapped in the chain. In instances where stability and peace are disrupted, the societal set up is somehow disoriented. Victims at times tend to let go of their moral standings and loose hope in life. As such, in refugee camps or concentration centres, people are engaged in all forms of vices without much concern for their health. Such activities can propagate spread of the disease. Lastly, when there are such situations, the provision of health services becomes a major problem. Though the people may have awareness on responsible sexual behaviors, they might lack the necessary services to oversee this. For instance, there might be nowhere to purchase condoms. Access to health care services in case of an infection also becomes a problem. The gross result of this is that people tend to engage in risky behaviors simply because they have no choice. On the other hand, HIV/AIDS and other STIs continue spreading like a bushfire. Lack of peace and instability, as seen in the above paragraphs, play a major role in spreading HIV and STIs at a higher rate. As such, governments and the international society should always strive to have a peaceful and orderly society. Otherwise, the effects of instability might be quite difficult to bear. Question 3: Observing a treatment-oriented program might not be very effective in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. As it is known, the virus is not curable. Therefore, bringing in a curative measure can not be as efficient. All that it would do is helping those already infected to live longer and be strong. In a factual sense, such a program can lead to a greater risk since the infected individuals can look healthy and strong to unsuspecting partners. If such individuals are not virtuous, they can spread the virus to quite a lot of people. Therefore, this curative measure may not be the answer to ridding humanity of HIV catastrophe. The only way to curb it is by preventing rather than curing it. After all, the cure has not been discovered yet. Secondly, it is known that testing and counseling on the disease is a matter of choice, not coercion. Once an individual tests positive, the choice as whether to use the ARVs or not is for the individual to decide. Some people may not be willing to comply with the medication or at worst, even going for the tests. It would therefore be quite impossible to control infection in such populations. This could be a major drawback with the recommended “3 by 5” program of the WHO. There is another perspective to this. Though the program can be successfully launched in some countries, it can fail in others. For instance, nations in the developing world might not have enough facilities or infrastructure through which the drugs can be delivered to the infected. The logistical processes can also be quite long and tedious to keep up. This can lead to total neglect of the infected, interpreting into failure for the program. Demographics of the various countries are also varied. These differences are in terms of geographical locations, political situations, resource availability as well as the beliefs and cultures of the people. Some of these factors can act against the success of a curative program such as the one suggested by WHO. For instance, there are nations of the world which are war-torn. It would be quite difficult to penetrate such areas in order to deliver the medication to those infected in the interior of the land. With such constraints, it might be quite difficult for such curative program to succeed in controlling the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS. Question 4: Having good biological and behavioral surveillance data on injecting drug users in the pacific countries is quite advantageous in several ways. First, it can help in ascertaining the magnitude to which such behaviors contribute to the spread of HIV and other STIs. Secondly, the data can be used in studies to determine the correlation between risky behaviors and the spread of STIs. This can be used as one of the parameters of study in dealing with the pandemic, such as the study conducted by Ruxrungtham, Brown and Phanuphak (2004, p.70). It can help in noting the impact of sharing sharp and piercing objects on the statistics of the disease. With such importance, it is crucial to have good data collection strategies for such individuals. Approaching individual drug users and asking them to freely participate in such a study is one strategy that can be used in data collection. For this, the researcher needs to identify a small number of drug users. These can then help in recruiting more into the study since there is a high probability that such people have friends who also use the injective drugs. The snowballing kind of sampling is used in this case. On the second count, the researcher can collaborate with the local health care provider to collect the data. This channel should be pursued with permission from the relevant authority for the researcher to have access to the records. On the last count, the researcher can also collaborate with correctional and rehabilitation centres. In most countries, drug use is illegal and abusers are often put behind bars. At times, they are taken to rehabilitation facilities for detoxification. Approaching such facilities for permission and requesting the individuals to participate in the study can be a good strategy. There are challenges with such an idea. First, it cannot be easy to approach the drug users and request for volunteer participation. More often than not, there might be suspicion about the researcher’s motive. Secondly, there are patients’ confidentiality regulations observed at the health centres. This can make it quite difficult to gain permission for accessing their files. The process of acquiring permission can be time consuming. At times, the permission can even be totally denied. There is also the threat of personal danger. Most drug users tend to be violent and rude. At times, they can rough up the researcher while requesting them to collaborate. Security issues are therefore a major concern. Question 5: With such challenges facing the female sex-workers in Myanmar, there are various responses that can help in pulling them out of this muddle. For starters, there should be a change in policies concerning these individuals. They should be recognized as individuals who play an active role in the economy of the country. As such, the political arena should advocate for equal rights for these people with others in the population. Secondly, there should be awareness programs to sensitize these women on the risks of engaging in risky sexual behaviors. The marginalization should be reduced such that they can access medical care and advice as well as protection services. Elusive healthcare facilities undoubtedly have an upper hand in spread of the disease among sex workers. The effects, however, spill over to the community since the clients to the sex workers are members of the community. The female sex-workers should therefore be protected for the sake of the entire community. Social stigma can have serious impacts on the social and psychological well being of individuals. As such, there should be civic education on the need for respecting the choices that others make in life. As it is said, one man’s meat is another man’s poison. Everyone should be free to make their choices in life and these choices should be respected by all. With such an understanding, the society can have some respect for these female sex workers. Lastly, the health infrastructure should be developed. This is not only to the benefit of the female sex workers, but also for the entire population. However, the female sex workers would benefit more from such improvements since they are more susceptible to STIs and HIV as compared to the general population. Proper health-care holds the key to a HIV free population. This essay has looked at various aspects of HIV/AIDS and other STI infections in Pacific Asian countries. Through literature review and reflections from the course, it has been established that observing responsible sex behaviours can help in effectively controlling this catastrophe. Violence and wars have the effect of increasing disease occurrences. Countries should therefore seek peace and stability. Unless the population is keen and informed on issues to do with HIV/AIDS and other STI infections, there is no way that the problems can be totally eliminated from the society. Bibliography Ruxrungtham, K., Brown, T. & Phanuphak, P., 2004. HIV/AIDS in Asia. Lancet, Vol. 364, July 3, 2004. [Online]. Available at http://alumni.kit-ipp.org/drupal-6.14/sites/alumni.kit-ipp.org/files/HIV-AIDS%20in%20Asia.pdf [Accessed 13th Feb 2012] Read More