Aids, Expertise, And The Rise Of American Global Health Science Essay

When it came to differing views between western beliefs and the native point of view, one of the bigger problems was the conflict about contraception and stopping the spread of HIV and AIDS. Southern Africa, were the Dobe Ju’/hoansi subside, has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS in the world. “[T] he world U/N. figures for June 2000 show a seropositive rate among adults of 19.54 percent in Namibia, 19.94 percent in South Africa, and a staggering 35.8 percent in Botswana (Lee 2003: 190).” Because of the epidemic the life expectancy in the area has also drastically dropped. Western medical professionals have made clear to most communities that condoms are the most effective protection from HIV/AIDs. Because of this many western clinics and organizations in Africa distribute condoms to the local people. Regardless of the

My first meeting with a Wahehe Sex Worker in Urban Iringa was a short superficial interview on healthcare access that played only a minor part in our USAID-funded study. But the interviewee thanked me vehemently, not only for realizing her ceaseless struggle, but for taking on her issues as an African, and for working with my professor every day to achieve true health equity for all of the sex workers and MSM in the city of Iringa. I won’t lie, the experience was validating, but I do not want it to be one fond memory in the background of my life but rather my life’s central theme. Like me, the Global Health Corps is dedicated to the health equity of all people regardless of sexuality, race, or ethnicity, and it has proven that it has proven

“I have spent the last four years watching people die.” In his 2005 Massey Lectures, Stephen Lewis, a Canadian politician and humanitarian, caught the attention of millions with these words. Within these lectures, he shared his experiences of watching Africans suffer through the AIDS pandemic, and critically examined how the neglect of global communities and their discrimination contributed to its failure to resolve. While the rest of the world seemed to be unresponsive to an AIDS-ravaged continent, Mr. Lewis found himself passionately involved in the crisis and began to take action. Since his involvement with the United Nations in 1984, Stephen Lewis has tirelessly advocated for African citizens affected by HIV and AIDS, ensured that health care and treatment is provided to victims, and reached out to African citizens with education and counseling through his organizations. Through all of this, Stephen Lewis has proven to be one of Canada’s most influential humanitarian advocates for impacting the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Africa.

I chose to read The Lassa Ward: One Man’s Fight Against One of the World’s Deadliest Diseases for the AP Human Geography summer assignment. The Lassa Ward is authored by Ross I. Donaldson, who received his doctor of medicine and master of public health degrees from the University of California at Los Angeles. St. Martin’s Press, headquartered in New York, NY, published the novel in 2009. Dr. Donaldson’s memoir focuses on how he treated Lassa cases in Sierra Leone, in the midst of an outbreak of the virus during the summer months of 2003. Through explanations of his surroundings and the ward where he treated his patients, the book addresses the medical need of the region by describing the primitive condition of medicine occurring in the third-world country that is Sierra Leone. Thus, The Lassa Ward effectively and captivatingly communicates the necessity encompassing the current medical situation in Sierra Leone through its detailed descriptions and arguments regarding the culture of the people living there and the region itself.

The Human evolution would not have been complete without science, life forms, cars, fantasy, skydiving or the niches microorganisms call home would still be a mystery, Infection and diseases would not be easy to diagnose, and research work will neither improve until man decided to take a stand and make a change. Where and how would a Disease with so much Power shut down our immune system and leave us like walking corpse, this kind of Disease was either sent down as a spell or from the hands of unclean people this would be questions that would basically cause a whole community to drink hot tea in the dead of the night from roots and shrubs to cure an infected person of a disease undiagnosed as Hiv but with fevers symptoms

The 2014 epidemic was the first truly transnational outbreak of Ebola, the longest in duration, and the first with a human case diagnosed on American soil. (Wilson, 2015, 1) This was a pivotal moment of global health, as it occurred at the formal end of the UNMDGs, some of which aimed to improve health conditions in vulnerable countries. (Wilson, 2015, 3) These and other MDGs were set back by this epidemic, (UNDP 2014) exposing the role that chronically weak and underfunded public health systems played in disrupting perceptions of global health security. In an epoch characterized by neoliberal globalization, vulnerabilities caused by interdependency between the Global South are easy to identify, producing discourses of explanation,

There has been countless conversations over whether AIDS warrants an exceptional response. As such, AIDS is exceptional, but not everywhere. Exceptionalism grew as a Western reaction to a once inadequately understood epidemic but is still relevant in the recent multi-dimensional worldwide response. The attack on AIDS exceptionalism has happened because of the extent of subsidy directed to the disease and the firmness that AIDS activists rank it above other health concerns. The strongest critics of exceptionalism claim that the AIDS response has undercut health structures and systems in developing countries.

The early days of the AIDS epidemic drastically contrast AIDS in the present day. In order to get deep insights into the early days of the epidemic, two interviews were conducted. The two individuals interviewed were Scott and Susan. Both were in their 20’s when AIDS first emerged in 1981. Scott’s connection with HIV is extremely personal, as he was infected with the virus in 1987 and continues to remain HIV positive. On the other hand, Susan, is more removed from the situation having not personally experienced it. Scott currently works as a health educator for youth and speaks all around the country about both his story and about sexual education. Susan works in a preschool in Florida and is enjoying her life with both of her children at college. The 1980’s were a period of hiding and fear of HIV, it was not talked about during this time. Both public opinions and public health center’s (hospitals) decisions during this time did not help the growing stigmatization that HIV and AIDS patients already faced. Public education about HIV around the world through speakers like Scott and Florence from Uganda helped alleviate the fear and stigma behind HIV and AIDS to its current state of cultural acceptance and normality.

AIDS has also taken a greater toll on certain ethnic groups. In 2004 the American Journal of Public Health released a study that showed that AIDS has a disproportionate effect upon Latino women, and represents the fourth leading cause of death for Latinas aged 25 to 44 years old. It was also noted that 38.3% of Mexican-American women had not received any sex education in schools. Around half received no sex education from their parents. The journal also reported that parents in Latino families generally don’t discuss sexuality with their children, and gave a few possibilities why. Religion plays a factor as Catholicism is particularly prevalent in Latino culture. Traditional parents may not discuss things such as contraceptives or sex

Government officials in Africa argue the inefficient response during the critical threshold and the amount of money spent on establishing an American health care system parallels the imperialism movement and has left the countries vulnerable to future outbreaks, indebt and currently still unprepared. The monetary “loans” less than half of which actually reached affected countries last year failed to educate the public, this raises the question of owing money that was not distributed to tackle immediate threats but attempted to repair years of corruption and unstable healthcare foundations. In this sense America has years of compiling

HIV/AIDS is an acronym that has become synonymous with the weakening of the human immunity system and has become a constant source of anguish for the infected and their families. According to the Center for Disease Control, more than 1.2 million people in the US are living with HIV. What may be worrying is that 1 in 8 persons are unaware of their positive status. Despite the number of new HIV diagnoses has decreasing by 19% between 2005 and 2014, there is still a lot of unsightly statistics that paint a picture of uncertainty regarding its eradication. HIV is incurable, the only relief comes in the form of ARVs which help the body adapt to the weakened immune system. Globally, the World Health Organization puts the numbers at over 100 million people and most of them in developing countries. A terrible scourge indeed and a relevant disease to analyze closely.

In severity, however, South Africa’s story of HIV and AIDS is unique even in Africa. It remains the country with the largest AIDS epidemic in the world. South Africa is home to the greatest number of HIV-positive people in the world, totaling over 5.7 million in 2007 (UNAIDS 40). But why was South Africa hit so hard when other countries came away comparatively unscathed? The answers can be found by examining South Africa’s social structure, looking at issues in traditional society such as gender inequity, polygamy, promiscuity, condom use, dry sex, widow inheritance, rape, and women’s societal role. When we consider these issues and customs that keep African women powerless, we begin to realize why these causes represent well more than half of all cases of HIV transmission, and why factoring culture into the equation is so vital (Biakolo 43).

South Africa currently has the largest number of people in the world living with HIV/AIDS (avert.org, 2014). In the worldwide population, there are 37 million people with HIV and 25.8 million of those people live in Sub-Saharan Africa (AMFAR.org, 2015). This total is 70% of the total population diagnosed and 88% of the HIV population are children (amfAR.org, 2015). The Foundation for AIDS Research estimates that 1.4 million people were infected in 2014, and Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 66% of the AIDS mortality rate in 2014 (amfAR.org, 2015). Many political,

The humanitarian intervention and international aid provided by Western forces to combat diseases such as ebola and AIDS reinforce already preconceived patriarchal notions of Africa as the afflicted continent. From the colonial era leading up to the present day, Africa has been constantly afflicted in one form or another by various types of lethal disease including but certainly not limited to ebola and AIDS. The epidemics caused by these diseases have often been considered to necessitate outside intervention namely by Western influences. Perceived as due to causes such as “lack of infrastructure, access to healthcare and education” (culanth.org, 2014), states such as Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea in the context of the ebola epidemic, and much of sub-Saharan Africa in the context of HIV/AIDS, have been inadequately equipped to successfully deal with the repercussions caused by these diseases. The aid and resources provided by large scale entities such as the World Health Organization (apps.who.int/ebola, 2015) and the Red Cross (redcross.org/ebolaoutbreak, 2015) somewhat mitigate the devastating impacts caused by these diseases through financial contributions (redcross.org/ebolaoutbreak, 2015). However, since they are largely driven by notions of guilt and self serving intentions, these contributions serve only to perpetuate the image of Africa as being in a constant state of ‘affliction’. Because the West views Africa on the whole as a continent that always requires

Discussions about HIV/AIDS have changed radically since the disease was first identified in the early 1980s. As physicians and public health workers developed a fundamental understanding of the disease and discovered ways to ameliorate its devastating effects, HIV/AIDS victims coupled hope for recovery with changed lifestyles at least in some socioeconomic sectors (Lane, et al., 2004). At backward looking analysis reveals that he incidence and survival rates of HIV/AIDS continue to be solidly associated with country of residence, economic class, and gender (Lane, et al., 2004).