Applying Public Health Principles For The Hiv Epidemic

Since its identification approximately two decades ago, HIV has increasingly spread globally, surpassing expectations (1). The number of people living with HIV worldwide is estimated to be 36 million, with 20 million people having died from the disease, giving a total number of 56 million being infected (1). In 2000 alone, 5.3 million people were infected with HIV and there is potential for further spread. HIV infection rates vary all over the world with the highest rates in Sub-Saharan Africa (1). Responding to this epidemic has been a challenge as infection rates have increased worldwide despite tremendous public health efforts by nations (1). The identification of potential interventions to reduce the magnitude of the problem has

Education of HIV/AIDS is very important to help prevent from becoming infected with this deadly disease. There are many factors that are being looked at that may be associated with the affect of the transmission of HIV such as, gender relationships, social exclusion and poverty, etc. These issues happen every day and health care providers must help those infected with HIV/AIDS to start treatment right away (Mayo Group, 2010). A national health policy must formulate different guidelines what will enable the policy to help the government govern the public. This stage is really important to help bring health care policies together.

Though the disease is still infecting many, new technology and medical techniques that include medication have made it possible to live a normal life after being infected with the HIV virus. Doctors are now far past the era in which they would deny care to an HIV-positive patient and that is because they are aware of the disease and are not afraid. Being afraid of something can unknowingly turn a person into a monster. Since being educated doctors and other healthcare professionals have been able to turn a new leaf and hop over to the supporting side of AIDS. Other than being under a doctor’s care, successful strategies for combating AIDS include “increasing awareness about prevention strategies such as using clean needles and condoms and, most recently, promoting male circumcision” (Conley 442). All these biological measures combating the chemical nature of AIDS work hand in hand to reform the social structure of the disease. Those living with AIDS in the United States today are not looked at as if they are lepers, instead they are view as survivors and

In the United States, HIV (infection) has changed remarkably over the past 30 years. According to CDC.gov “At the end of 2013, 498,400 African Americans were living with HIV (40% of everyone living with HIV in the US), and 1 in 8 did not know they were infected.” More than 44,000 people were diagnosed with HIV in 2014. HIV is currently a disease of greater demographic diversity, affecting all ages, sexes, race and involves various transmission risk behaviors. At least 50,000 new HIV infections will continue to be added each year, however, one-fifth of persons with new infections may not know they are infected, and a substantial proportion of those who know they are infected are not engaged in HIV care. It is tragic that there are a huge number

HIV/AIDS is capable of destroying a country, killing millions of people, promoting gender barriers, discrimination, debt, abuse, and increasing poverty. In addition, “HIV/AIDS results in gossip and rejection by family, friends, and neighbors and physical, verbal, and sexual abuse by intimate partners, ultimately distancing women from sources of economic and food support, causing infected people to be fearful and hesitant to disclose their HIV status. With people hiding HIV/AIDS, it will be impossible to tell whether or not that person has it, causing it to spread rapidly, without people even knowing it. People could share needles with others and engage in sexual intercourse to spread HIV without even knowing if they or the other person has

According to the CDC (2015), more than one million people are living with HIV in the United States, and more than 50,000 become newly infected each year. Unfortunately, one in five Americans living with HIV are unaware of their infection. I believe using the strategy which stresses the use of the 10 essential services of public health will help reduce the incidence of HIV in our

HIV is an epidemic that is present worldwide, the disease is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa for the most part. In context, of the estimated thirty-four million cases of HIV in 2008, twenty-two to twenty-three cases were in sub-Saharan Africa. On the contrary, 1.4 million people are infected with HIV in North America. (Sigall K. Bell, MD, 2011, p. 38). Further, the sum of global infections approximately two million are under fifteen of age. Approximately 50,000 cases a year are in the United States due to the lack of prevention, which then leads to overall prevention. Potential causes of the spreading of HIV are non-effective educational messages along with the high-risk sexual behavior. Also, this just calls for increasing chances of acquiring

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2012) states that more than a million people in the United States alone are living with, and dying from Human Immunodeficiency Virus infection or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), and almost one in seven people are unaware of their HIV infection status. Over the past decade, the number of people living with HIV has increased, while the annual number of new HIV infections worldwide has remained relatively high. The trend of new infections continues at an increased level particularly among certain population groups and geographical locations with many separate epidemics. Each of these epidemics involves different risk behaviors and practices, such as unprotected sex with multiple partners or sharing intravenous drug equipment (Marcus et.al, 2015). Some countries have made tremendous efforts in expanding and ensuring access to treatment, but have made little to no progress in advancing HIV/AIDS prevention programs, whereas other countries with declining HIV/AIDS prevalence are not making enough and rapid progress to ensure access to, and availability of HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention resources. HIV/AIDS has gradually declined in the amount of media attention it receives, especially in the United States as cancer remains the global number one health issue. HIV/AIDS is still prevalent in the communities and it is important that the general public remain educated and sensitized about the disease process and its

An epidemic is sweeping the nation. Rapidly more cases of STD’s are being noted to appropriate health officials and are steadily increasing instead of declining. The Centers for Disease Control, commonly known as the CDC, have vigorously tracked HIV numbers and an estimated “1,218,400 persons aged 13 years and older are living with the HIV infection” (“HIV in The United States: At A Glance”). This doesn’t include the amount of people clueless to being infected at all: a whopping 156,300. Discouragingly and surprisingly enough, a factor contributing to this number is that people aren’t being informed when they engage in relations with another person who has the virus. The risk of transmission from one to the other is excruciatingly high if one party isn’t given the opportunity to take the appropriate precautions to protect themselves. Furthermore, when a person is warned that their partner has a transmittable disease, they aren’t really equipped to make an informative decision because of lack of information. Every citizen has an undeniable duty to take action to reduce the spread of STD’s in Arizona so that eventually these harmful diseases can be altogether eradicated for future generations to come.

HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, is a global issue that is classified as a pandemic by the CDC and WHO, however an epidemic is on the rise at an alarming rate in Atlanta, Georgia. This cluster in downtown Atlanta is being contributed to several factors, including poverty, a greater percentage of African-American residents and behaviors that increase the risk of HIV, including unsafe gay sex and injection drug use. Approximately half of newly diagnosed HIV patients in Atlanta have unknowingly progressed to full-blown AIDS, according to testing conducted by Grady Hospital (Archer, 2015). A disquieting amount of those patients, approximately 8%, reside within the same 30303 zip code as the hospital itself (Archer, 2015). According to the CDC more than 1.2 million people in the United States are living with HIV infection, and almost 1 in 8 (12.8%) are unaware of their infection with Atlanta’s HIV positive rate ranking fifth highest in the nation (CDC, HIV in the United States: At A Glance, 2015).While the words HIV and AIDS are still considered taboo with a significant stigma attached, this incurable disease is treatable and with early testing available and prevention combine with transmission education can increase an individual’s overall life expectancy and quality of life.

HIV/AIDs is a huge epidemic still plaguing society today. The lack of knowledge and technical advances has caused an increasing number of cases. It has made its way around the world since the 1940s, causing countries to join together in the fight against AIDs. With all the campaigning that has been done the numbers of cases continue to rise. Countries have separated the disease into three patterns to make it easier to distinguish the effects that AIDs has on different regions of the world. As well as what subtypes sprout from what areas. HIV/AIDs can be spread in many different ways. The future is still uncertain for the victims whom lives have been dramatically changed by this deadly disease.

Just as clearly, experience shows that the right approaches, applied quickly enough with courage and resolve, can and do result in lower HIV infection rates and less suffering for those affected by the epidemic. An ever-growing AIDS epidemic is not inevitable; yet, unless action against the epidemic is scaled up drastically, the damage already done will seem minor compared with what lies ahead. This may sound dramatic, but it is hard to play down the effects of a disease that stands to kill more than half of the young adults in the countries where it has its firmest hold—most of them before they finish the work of caring for their children or providing for their elderly parents. Already, 18.8 million people around the world have died of AIDS, 3.8 million of them children. Nearly twice that many—34.3 million—are now living with HIV, the virus [9].

In the last three decades HIV/ AIDS has become the one of the most notorious and widely spread diseases in the modern world. Its discovery in the late seventies prompted worldwide concern. The one thing that has become the most bothersome thing about the HIV/ AIDS epidemic is prevention. Prevention or stopping the transmission of the diseases is hindered by factors such as: denial or non-acceptance by infected persons, unsafe sex, and non-disclosure by infected persons to their at risk sexual partner(s). According to Alghazo, Upton, and Cioe (2011):

Over the years, communicable diseases have created a host of serious problems. These diseases cause physical, emotional, and even financial problems in our societies today. A communicable disease spreads from one host to another direct or indirect. People, food, animals or water can pass many infections from humans to humans or animals to humans. Humans can pass infectious diseases to each other from touching or exchanging body fluids. In 1981, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) marked the official start of the HIV epidemic which became one of the world’s most deadly communicable diseases (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2015). The widespread of the human immunodeficiency virus has affected approximately 1.2 million people in the United States, and roughly 35 million worldwide is living with HIV (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2015).

Over the years, communicable diseases have created a host of serious problems. These diseases cause physical, emotional, and even financial problems in our societies today. A communicable disease refers to a sickness that passed through the transmission of infectious illnesses. People, food, animals or water can pass many infections from humans to humans or animals to humans. Humans can pass infectious diseases to each other from touching or exchanging body fluids. In 1981, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) marked the official start of the HIV epidemic which became one of the world’s most deadly communicable diseases (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2015). The widespread of the human immunodeficiency virus has affected approximately 1.2