Social Implications in the USA - Essay Example

Your first and sur Your Due AIDS: Social Implications in the USA AIDS, short for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is a scourge affecting the worldwide society and has become the number one killer disease which has no cure till date. The first case of AIDS diagnosed in the US was in 1981 when it was detected in some gay men (men indulging in same sex sexual activities). However it was established later that the first case in history was that of a man in Belgian Congo in 1959 whose blood sample was analyzed for the virus later as he had died from some unidentifiable disease (fohn.net). It was established later that it is caused by a virus which was named HIV-I and HIV-II (Human Immunodeficiency Virus). The virus is spread by unprotected sex between affected individuals and through shared needles when used for hypodermic infections. Inadvertent transfusion of blood from a suffering person to a healthy person can also transmit the virus. However there are skeptics who claim that the AIDS virus was intentionally developed in a secret military program in the United States as a means of biological warfare to curb world population (Mazza J., 2005). In a controversial article, the author debates the unlikelihood of the accepted theory of a green monkey biting an African native, thereby transmitting the virus to humans and provides an argument in favor of the biological warfare theory and the subsequent creation of this virus in a laboratory. Nevertheless, whatever the origin, AIDS is now a worldwide phenomenon and the subject of intensive research for getting the human population rid of this deadly malady. As far as the United States is concerned, it is believed that almost one million people are living in this country with HIV infection and it has spread to all the states and to all sectors of society (www.avert.org). Half a million deaths have occurred due to HIV infection but the statistical data is not comprehensive as it is based on reports of AIDS diagnosis. The American Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data till 2006 suggests that 448,871 people suffering from this disease were living in America. The ethnic data suggests that the black people are the ones leading the group in terms of people affected as they accounted for 44% of the cases with the white majority close at heels with a figure of 35%. The Hispanic population of America suffered at a rate of 19% and the rest 1% were from other races (www.avert.org). Figures of adults and adolescents above the age of 13 years, who were living with AIDS in the USA till 2006, show that in majority of the cases (59%), infection was transmitted due to homosexual contact within the gay community, 20% of infections occurred due to sharing of hypodermic needles between habitual drug users, 11% were exposed through heterosexual contact and 8% in persons who has the combined history of homosexuality and drug use. On the contrary, in women, the majority (65%) was exposed to the virus through heterosexual contact and 33% of them were infected due to drug abuse when they shares injections. An interesting fact is that 77% of the adults and adolescents above 13 years of age are men (www.avert.org). As far as children below the age of 13 are concerned, the figures till the end of 2006 showed 3,775 cases to be present in the United States and the majority acquired the infection from their mothers while still in the womb, or during birth and through breast feeding (www.avert.org). It has been seen that in the United States, cases of HIV infection increased in the 1980s after the first detection in 1981 and then peaked till 1993. The introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy in 1996 resulted in the decline of cases as well as deaths due to HIV. Year 2000 onwards the annual figures of AIDS cases have more or less remained constant and the total number of people so far diagnosed with AIDS has been slightly above the one million mark (1,014,797) (www.avert.org). The impact of AIDS has been so profound in the world and more so in the USA that no stone has been left unturned to rid the humanity from this dangerous disease. The International AIDS Society of USA (IAS-USA) is a non profit organization which organizes continuing medical education programs (CMEs) for the medical professionals (www.iasusa.org). It has an extensive network of experts in the field and organizes highly professional educational programs, publishes literature on the latest findings and treatment guidelines for physicians. This is a totally non commercial organization and provides web based information to the physicians about the latest guidelines of control and treatment of HIV infection. The board of directors along with the expert researchers and clinicians plan and review the programs of the IAS-USA and are responsible for hunting and recruiting a wide variety of talent throughout the nation. International concern for HIV is great and the World Health Organization keeps tabs on the international status of the disease including the United States. Under the UNAIDS (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV AIDS) regional summary of the AIDS epidemic is updated regularly from time to time (www.unaids.org). According to their latest published data, in the United States, racial and ethnic minorities are affected disproportionately with the AIDS epidemic with it being the fourth ranked cause of death among African Americans aged 25-44 years. They account for majority of the new cases detected during the last few years although they are just 13% of the total US population. The Hispanics are ranked second in terms of people diagnosed with new cases in the US (www.unaids.org). The most tragic of all cases of AIDS are innocent children who are born to people suffering from HIV infection. Maternally transmitted infection is a curse for the newborn, innocent child and concern for such kids has been addressed by a project in the US which has been named as the Children with Aids (CWA) Project. The aim of the project is to give voice to the concerns and difficulties faced by such children in life. The organization with headquarters in Arizona recruits families to adopt HIV positive children, orphans and drug addicted infants (www.aidskids.org). They locate destitute children suffering from this malady from all across the country and maintain their data with collaboration of the National Adoption Centre located in Philadelphia. Families who volunteer to adopt such children are brought together to maintain close ties under the auspices of this organization. It holds national workshops, conventions and seminars and provides financial support with the aid of other networked organizations (www.aidskids.org). The organization is providing yeoman services by finding permanent homes with loving parents for such unfortunate children. As per the organizations’ claim they have till date recruited 1000 families within the 50 states of US as well as 3 in foreign countries (www.aidskids.org). Because of the fear of AIDS, certain rumors and myths about the disease are likely to spread, especially among the less educated and general people in the society. Some of the myths and fears about the disease have been shattered by appropriate explanations on the web site of the American Red Cross Society (chapters.redcross.org). The first myth to have been refuted is that one can get AIDS from donating blood. As there are strict norms and guidelines for single use of the needles used for blood collection or transfusion, there is no scope at all for spread by this means as the sterilized needles are destroyed after a single use. The second myth that the blood supply available in hospitals is unreliable is refuted by the explanation that the use of blood for transfusion is made only when all other means fail, and the collection is done under a very strict donor screening procedure which involves identification of healthy donors who contribute regularly to the cause. The latest technology is impeccable and an AIDS positive blood sample is 100% unlikely to bypass the strict screening procedure. The American Red Cross organization never makes payments to the blood donors which is a completely volunteer effort. This makes the likelihood of paid donations negligible as it is no longer an incentive for blood donation (chapters.redcross.org). Moreover blood from close relatives could prove more dangerous as it could be donated more out of familial emotion rather than being based on the actual requirement and may not meet the standards criteria for healthy blood. Keeping one; own blood for transfusion later in an emergency is also impracticable as the frozen blood requires a time consuming process of thawing and moreover when a person actually requires the blood, he may be located in an entirely different and unreachable geographic location. In the United States, a number of local AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) are there which provide a range of free services to people infected or affected by aids (www.avert.org). These organizations are non governmental and non profit organizations which mostly provide free testing and counseling but may charge for providing clinical services, if they exist. Such organizations invariably have their own websites which are easily accessible. All major cities in the West pacific, Mountain Region, Midwest, South Central, Northeast and South Atlantic regions have a number of such organization that are at the beck and call of anybody in need of help with HIV. The best approach to save oneself from AIDS is the preventive approach where safe sex and the use of condoms are the major approaches. Other approaches are targeted at preventing mother to infant infection and indiscriminate use of hypodermic syringes or needles by drug users. Concerns had been expressed in the past about the less spending of the overall budget on preventive measures in 2005 when the budget allocation for this activity was just 5 percent of the total budget (www.avert.org). The US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has initiated a major strategic plan in October 2007 which has been extended till 2010 which aims at reducing the number of new infections, providing linkages between preventive, care and treatment services by short listing their aim to four major goals which include decreasing the number of persons at risk by 10%, increasing the proportion of persons with HIV with knowledge of their infective status, increasing the proportion of persons newly diagnosed cases linked with treatment/prevention programs and strengthen the nation wide monitoring program to strengthen the prevention strategies (www.avert.org). A closer watch on African American populations especially in people indulging in homosexuality is being increasingly targeted. The use of condoms is being encouraged through educational campaigns in public programs in the media. Condom use has become more popular ever since the scare of HIV has existed. Education of young people to practice safe sex is another contributing factor which has increased condom use. Harm reduction prevention programs for drug users have also contributed significantly to reduction of HIV spread. Hypodermic syringe or needle exchange programs have played an important role as the drug addicts get new needles for used ones thereby reducing the chance of HIV transmission by this method. However this program has been controversial as some concerned politicians have voiced the opinion that this practice will encourage drug dependency amongst the youth (www.avert.org). The best and the most successful prevention program has been that of the mother to child spread of AIDS as taking appropriate antiretroviral drug therapy and desisting from breast feeding of babies by HIV positive mothers has reduced the transmission to the new born to a low level of 2% (www.avert.org). Abstinence from sex until marriage has been incorporated in many educational campaigns in the US since 1996 and federal funding for such programs has been increased in each successive year. However as per the results it has not been a very successful program and many states have opted out of it due to the futility of its application and compliance in the American society. AIDS will remain a deterrent to healthy sexual relationships until the elusive cure for it is discovered. Worldwide research is currently focused on this deadly viral disease. Although ways and means to prolong the life of an infected person have been discovered, unless a total cure is available, it will remain a hot topic for concern, discussion and research in the future as well. Works Cited Children with AIDS Project, Available online at: http://www.aidskids.org/ HIV Prevention in America, Online Article available at: http://www.avert.org/hiv-prevention-america.htm IAS-USA, International AIDS Society-USA, Available online at: http://www.iasusa.org/overview/index.html?gclid=CNr8-dTzwZYCFQntegodS2q7xg Local HIV/AIDS Service Organizations in the USA, Article available at: http://www.avert.org/hiv_usa.htm Mazza J. (2005), The AIDS virus: Made in the USA?, Online article available at: http://www.onlinejournal.com/health/102605Mazza/102605mazza.html Myths about AIDS and the Blood Supply, Available online at: http://chapters.redcross.org/br/nypennregion/safety/mythsaid.htm The History of AIDS, Online article available at: http://fohn.net/history-of-aids/ United States Statistics Summary, Online Article available at: http://www.avert.org/statsum.htm 2007 AIDS epidemic update, Online data available at: http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/HIVData/EpiUpdate/EpiUpdArchive/2007/default.asp Read More