Patents and the HIV/AIDS Pandemic - Research Paper Example

The responsibility of looking after ones health is shared by the person himself, his family, and local community. The emergences of issues pertinent to health services make health the concern, not only by a nation, but on a global scale. Currently, for those afflicted with HIV/AIDS, there are serious concerns regarding the effect of patents of antiretroviral medications which need to be readily accessed. According to Attaran & Gillespie-White (2001, 1886) “patent protection for AIDS drugs - blamed by some activists for restricting access to medication needed in the African AIDS epidemic - actually has little effect on the distribution of the drugs on that continent.

” They averred that “there is no apparent correlation between access to antiretroviral treatment, which is uniformly poor across Africa, and patent status, which varies extensively by country and drug." (Attaran & Gillespie-White 2001, 1886) Therefore, the role of the human service workers is to investigate the patent of availability of medication, identify what other barriers may stop Africans for receiving treatment, and to implement an action plan to address this social problem. In this regard, this paper is written to present a study on the HIV/Aids pandemic from a human service worker perspective.

It would initially explain the social problem HIV/AIDS; determine why it is a problem; and identify from human service approach using concepts and intervention plans how it can be addressed. A plan of action would be presented, outlining the reasons why the action is necessary to address the identified concern. “AIDS was first reported June 5, 1981, when the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded a cluster of Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (now still classified as PCP but known to be caused by Pneumocystis jirovecii) in five homosexual men in Los Angeles”