Band Played On

Based on what you observed in the film or read in the book; clearly articulate and delineate at least three of the sociopolitical factors that influenced public health policy development for HIV/AIDs prevention and control in the United States. Then discuss separately each of the three sociopolitical factors each factor and discussion is equal to three points each. The three sociopolitical factors that influenced public health policy development for HIV/Aids prevention and control in the United States were identifying early possible ways of spreading the disease, how it affected our blood supply and that to acknowledge the social implications that it could be

The movie, And the Band Played On, illustrates the beginning of the AIDS virus and how it unexpectedly spread across the world. It used the Ebola disease to indicate that there will be another severe disease surfacing. The world was not prepared to handle such a transmissible disease. Doctors globally presumed that the first cases of the HIV virus to be just a deformity of a specific disease. Their negligence of this issue was the beginning of the spread of this AIDS. Throughout the movie, it shows various points, such as the start of HIV, the misunderstandings it gave, and the fear it stimulated amongst doctors and everyone else.

With headlines in the news such as The Sun dubbing AIDS as the ‘gay plague’ it was an irresistible red rag to the bull for the media, even though in Africa other populations were infected right from the beginning. (Dowsett, W, Gary. 2009) In an excerpt from Simon Garfield’s The end of Innocence Britain in the time of AIDS, Roy Greensdale the assistant editor of the Sun from 1981 to 1986 recalls that ‘AIDS appeared to be just desserts for being involved in deviant sexual behaviour. It was quickly realized that it came about due to anal sex, and heterosexual executives on the Sun thus fed in the fact that it was a gay plague. AIDS tended to suggest that it might stop all that kind of behaviour, and might lead to fewer gays being about.’ The gay community has always been an easy target for hostility throughout history and when the controversy surrounding the AIDS panic began to surface it became another way in which to ostracise them for their ‘wages of sin’. (The Daily Telegraph). 1983).

Anyone who enters cannot leave the cell and therefore once an individual is infected, then, death is the only next probable thing. This painting attracted views from all persons and groups in our society after they realized that handling and addressing the AIDS epidemic is a collective responsibility. Discussions of disease, death, race, sex, drug addiction and homosexuality which are shunned by polite individuals became common topics (Mahoney, n.p.). Gatewood created a scenario where everyone had to acknowledge that the AIDS epidemic was now a threat that needed to be addressed immediately. Humanity ought to give the AIDS epidemic the weight it deserves by advocating everyone to play their role in this collective responsibility of reducing infections and deaths caused by the spread of HIV. Gatewood wanted humanity to realize the price they have to pay for their prudishness and ignorance of AIDS as a killer

Throughout the Age of AIDS film many topics that were related to AIDS were brought up that I did not know anything about before. I did not know that there could so many strings attached to a disease and have such an influence in people’s lives whether it was negative or positive.

In the documentary “The Age of AIDS,” FRONTLINE examines the outbreak of AIDS since its first diagnosed case in 1981. The film investigates different medical, political and social environments under AIDS pandemic in the US and worldwide. The film not only focuses on the scientific research and progress in treating the disease, it also looks at the social stigma, government strategies and public campaigns around different countries.

One important scene in the film ‘The Age of Aids’ is “Port Au Prince, Haiti”. In this scene it outlines the conditions in Haiti, which were very poor and it turn left the city defenseless against the new disease. In 70’s and 80’s the disease began to be seen by doctors and priests who were being sought after to cure a unseen disease which left the people with the “look of death, [making them] so skinny you could see their bones”. The scene then goes on to take a look at one of the first HIV clinics in Port Au Prince, which was opened in the roughest parts of town. One of the surprising things that this clinic found when they were looking at the patients coming in was that the mean they were analyzing had more

When the AIDS and HIV virus crept its way into the human-race, it quickly, and without warning, claimed the lives of millions. Then when its destructive wake had finally been abated, it left behind several untold mysteries. Throughout the course of this class, all the new material we have been exposed to has added some unique piece to the puzzle of the AIDS epidemic. Each puzzle pieces have ranged from speculations on how the AIDS epidemic had begun, to what exactly has the epidemic done. We have also tackled the question and how it forced a change in society. Our newest piece of the puzzle is the documentary “The Age of AIDS,” by William Cran. Although this documentary did not surprise me in its content, it did, however, affirm certain types

According to a report published in the February 1998 edition of “Nature”, scientists identified what they believe is the earliest case of AIDs in a man from the Congo in 1959. (Lerner and Hombs 39) By the end of the year 1980, 80 men would have been diagnosed with at least of the opportunistic infections that are a characteristic of AIDs. (Lerner and Hombs 40) AIDs cases in the 1980s increased dramatically not only around the world but in the United States, primarily in larger cities like Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco. The numbers of AIDs diagnoses and deaths spiraled out of control throughout the 1980s and towards the end of 1989 there were 117,500 cases of AIDS reported and 89,000 related deaths.(Lerner and Hombs 54) In the

I recently read an article written in The NEWYORKER called The Deadliest Virus by Michael Specter. The article talked about the Avian Flu virus, also known as “bird flu”. In the article, Specter interviewed many people, but the most important person, in my opinion, is a virologist who conducted research on the Avian Flu, Ron Fouchier. This article raised many ethical questions. The questions are as followed: Should research be conducted on this virus? Does Fouchier’s research pose a threat? Does the risk of the work outweigh the benefits of the research?

During 1977 in Copen hang, a lady died after being diagnosed with pneumocystis pneumonia shortly after her immune system failed her with no signs before doing so. However, in Paris during 1978 a man was diagnosed with pneumocystis pneumonia, he showed symptoms of fungus in his mouth, warts on his hands and legs, and a toxoplasmosis cat disease that was eating away his brain. After this outrageous outbreak of pneumocystis pneumonia, doctors in Paris came to the conclusion that they should look more into this since people don’t usually die from this illness. This was an important moment because doctors should have been more attentive to patients who were being diagnosed with the pneumocystis pneumonia. This was the start of a coactive enterprise. Doctors wanted their patients to be more than just victims who were all

And the band played on is a true story published in 1987 that illustrates the AIDS epidemic. The AIDS outbreak started in this book around the 1970’s and is still around in today’s society. Randy Shilts wrote this book in order to show the many errors that occurred and killed while trying to find what this virus was and how it was spread. Many people during this time were affected by this virus especially in New York and San-Francisco, which is where most of this story takes place. AIDS which is also known as acquired immune deficiency syndrome is being spread fast after the first known account discovered by the CDC, and is extremely difficult to identify. Shilts discusses the many issues that

I think Bob Gallo is a good representative person of pride and selfishness. He was already the number one in his field by discovering the human retro virus, yet he desired to have more. His greed overtook the sense of honesty and truthfulness that scientists should have and dishonored his fame and even his previous work. He should have respected the French research team as well as the other researchers in the US who were trying to help people dying of the unknown virus. Over all Bob Gallo was so greed and did not realize what the real purpose of scientific research is. This clearly shown in his “us versus them” idea if he was a true scientist who cared about people, he would have supported the others.

Part 1: Background of Topic: What became later known as aids was detected in West Africa when scientists identified a species of chimpanzees that had a version of this virus in their immune system. They later found out that the disease was transmitted to humans and created into HIV when people hunted these animals for food and came in contact with their infected blood. Decade after decade this illness swooped over Africa like a blanket and began to spread to other countries. The first case of aids was in 1959 when a man’s blood sample was contaminated with HIV. What we didn’t know was how he became infected. “Genetic analysis of this blood sample suggested that HIV-1 may have stemmed from a single virus in the late 1940s or early 1950s.” Cited from The Aids Institute online. Estimated to start since 1930 now every nation has been corrupted with this illness already killing 21.8 million people since the epidemic began. The infection spread so quickly from our inability to know how you are able to get the STD and our unawareness that it existed. It is spread through sex (body fluids), breast feeding, and sharing injected drug equipment, manly needles. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation. “There were 35.0 million people living with HIV in 2013, up from 29.8 million in 2001, the result of continuing new infections, people living longer with HIV, and general population growth.”

AIDS is transmitted throughout 8,000 people around the world more than half of them are women. In the late 1900’s people began to believe that AIDS was a disease caused because of gay men. The disease was perceived as an illness that came from gay men. Therefore, people believed that a women could not retrieve this disease. AIDS/HIV is misinterpreted and is seen as something it is not. This paper will discuss what AIDS/HIV is, the biology of the disease, some symptoms, treatments, genetics and social economic impacts.