Does Gender Play a Role in HIV/AIDS?
When AIDS made its debut in the early 80s, societies branded it as a disease that infected homosexuals and/or IV drug abusers. People often confused HIV with AIDS. HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is the virus that infects a person, and if left untreated leads to the fatal disease AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome). However, over the last 35 years, we have learned that, in reality, AIDS does not discriminate against sexual orientation, drug addictions, race, age or any other factor; however, it victimizes one gender more often than the other. Researchers prove that, on a global scale, women are more susceptible to contracting HIV/AIDS than are men. Both statistically and logically, women experience higher incidences of HIV exposure than men for multiple reasons. Women engage in sex work more often than men, they also experience a higher rate of sexual violence, and simply by being the inferior partner in a domestically abusive relationship. Understanding how gender increases the HIV risk of women is crucial to winning the fight against HIV/AIDS. Women are the center of societies everywhere; therefore, it is urgent that nations stand together to educate and rid women, worldwide, of this infectious life-threatening disease. Sex workers, most of whom are female, are particularly vulnerable to being infected with the HIV virus (UNAIDS 5). Sex workers comprise a group of people who exchange sexual favors for money, such as
Women have accounted for 12.5% of all positive HIV test reports in Toronto since 1985. 48% of all infections among women in Toronto have been among women from countries with high rates of HIV”.
African-Americans are the ethnic group most affected by HIV/AIDS. Ironically african-americans represent 14% of the population of the United States , but represent 44% across the gender line. African-american men represent 70% of HIV infections among the ethnic group, however african-american women are also highly at risk of HIV infection. Indeed they have a rate of infection that is 15 times greater than the rate for caucasion women (HIV among African-Americans, 2012). Most African-american women (85%) are infected with HIV through heterosexual sex, often with partners, who claim to be
In the 1980s and 90s, women who face the HIV epidemic often had to go at it alone. As the media portrayed the disease a one for gay, white males, women were often left without knowledge of the disease and without knowledge of how to keep themselves safe. Along with that, women also had to deal with the discrimination of doctors who didn’t want to treat those with HIV or didn’t want to treat those who didn’t want to accept their form of treatment. For example, Isle Groth, in her tale Bright Candles in the Dark, was swept aside after she told her doctor at the hospital that she didn’t want to partake in the AZT. Additionally, women also had to deal with being married and believing that they are not at risk. They would never think to worry if
If women were treated with respect and viewed as equal to men, then the discovery towards a microbicide would already be well on its way, and incidents of sexual violence would decrease tremendously. Since HIV is passed through sexual fluids, fewer cases of sexual abuse would lead to a decrease in the spread of the virus to women and their children. When Stephen Lewis had a conversation with two women outside of a clinic in Rwanda, they said “‘...We’ll do anything to save our babies, but what about us?’” Access to medical treatment for those in third world countries should not be seen as an impossibility. With modern medicine, so many new pills, injections, and patches are available to slow down the progression of HIV in the body, minimize symptoms, and prevent fetal infection.
In previous years, black women have continued to be infected by HIV. HIV is not all about biology but social determinants can determine their risk of contracting the virus. Understanding the social determinants of health gives clear incite on why certain people encounter illnesses and diseases. Poverty, racism, inequity of income and wealth, stability in the work force, neighborhood environment, education, and health care are the major social determinants of health. In this paper, the social determinants of HIV among African American women are discussed, including the effects of their socioeconomic status, gender and race, and age.
There are multiple reasons as to why women are more vulnerable to be infected with AIDS
Of the 35 million people living with HIV in the world, 19 million do not know their HIV-positive status. Adolescent girls and young women account for one in four new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. Women are much more vulnerable to HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis B and C than the general public. Which is supported by this excerpt from a recent AIDSTAR-One regional report “Women and girls often face discrimination in terms of access to education, employment and healthcare. In this region, men often dominate sexual relationships. As a result, women cannot always practice safer sex even when they know the risks involved. Gender-based violence has been identified as a key driver of HIV transmission in the region.” (Ellsberg, Betron 2010) Many children are affected by the disease in a number of ways: they live with sick parents and relatives in households drained of resources due to the epidemic, and those who have lost parents are less likely to go to school or continue their education. Studies in the regions of Southern Africa and South-East Asia have found HIV/AIDS to negatively impact both the demand for and supply of education. Orphaned children are either pulled out of school or not enrolled at all due to the financial constraints of
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) along with other sexually transmitted infections (STI) have emerged as a health epidemic over the recent decades and continue to threaten the lives of people today. In order to better understand the virus and other STIs, in terms of the populations they affect, it is important to observe the diverse risk factors among different genders and ethnicities that are HIV positive. One vital consideration for a study of this nature is the difference in HIV-positive care provided between genders. By examining the disparities that exist within STI treatment across the variables of gender and ethnicity, information for various people of age, gender and race have more viable information to use. Therefore, careful examination of the trends in equity (or lack thereof) across education programs and care for different gender and ethnicity groups, can lead to important changes that can be made for better health treatment of all people. However, not all groups of people can be treated entirely equally. For example, risk factors for transmission of HIV have been known to shift according to gender trends and remain higher for some ethnic groups than others. Effective public health interventions will need to combat overt discrimination in treatment while balancing the influence of known trends across these two broad variables in order to manage a positive output for clients.
Human immunodeficiency Virus also known as HIV is a sexually transmitted disease. It attacks your body's immune system. The virus destroys CD4 cells, which help your body fight diseases. HIV damages your immune system and it leads to acquired immune deficiency syndrome also known as AIDS. AIDS is the final stage in HIV, and it’s a disease where severe loss of the body's cellular immunity occurs. The disease lowers the resistance to infection and malignancy. Anyone can get HIV/AIDS. Men, women, and children, of all different races and descents can get infected with the virus. People who are gay or straight can also be infected with HIV/AIDS. There is currently no cure for HIV/AIDS. HIV treatments may reduce
HIV/AIDS is a devastating condition that afflicts many people in the world. It is condition that can be managed for a certain amount of time but will ultimately take the affected individual’s life. Both men and women can develop this disease through sexual contact, substance injections, or any form of blood-to-blood contact. The cases of HIV/AIDS among Euro-Canadians are decreasing whereas the cases in First Nation communities are increasing (Barlow, 2009). “Recent 2011 data indicates that Indigenous people constituted an estimated 12.2 % of all people in Canada newly diagnosed with HIV, which corresponded to an HIV incidence rate that was 3.5 times higher than among non-Indigenous people” (Pearce et al., 2015). Aboriginal women represent 45.3% of the positive test reports for HIV/AIDS, in comparison with
To start off, although many people are aware that Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Sexually Transmitted Infections are real most of them forget about the protection needed against any. The women and men involved in prostitution do not get to worry about that kind of protection. The health risks involved are brutal and dangerous. “Sex-work communities around the world are in dire need of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services” (Doyle 1). It is not unheard of that, the current prostitution rings do not care about these diseases, in fact “a meeting of sex workers held at the International AIDS Conference heard that the criminalization of the profession was fueling secretive transactions and unsafe sex practices, putting people at risk of HIV and
15. Women and HIV related MDGs, its target and impact of HIV to achieve the target
Many people are unaware of their health status further increasing transmission of disease in young adult African American(AA) women age 18-24. Human Immunodeficiency Viruses (HIV) infects and also destroy blood cells (i.e. lymphocytes) that the body need to fight off infection (Mays 2011). African American women HIV positive, age 18-24 the magnitude of issue of the health disparity in this particular population will be addressed along with the many factors of social and health determinants. The health concern is towards the increase of transmission among young AA mothers and their children who are the health outcomes in many ways than one. The many social and health determinants that affect the women today are on going cycles that have yet to be broken. African American women make 64% of new infection cases for HIV. African american obtain a vulnerability unlike other minorities. The health population’s culture and stigma has played an important role in the community. The concern for AA women is the increase of new cases and most importantly the spread of the disease to these women’s children. The mortality rate of AA women with HIV is 47.1% as of 2012. (Siddiqi 2015)
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 50,000 people are infected with HIV each year. In 2010, the most recent year for which this information is available, there were around 47,500 new HIV infections in the United States (p. 1). The population of people with HIV is diverse due to the fact that it does not discriminate. Men and women of any age,
Partially due to a culture that frowns upon premarital sex and promiscuity, the spread of HIV from sex workers to the rest of the population is an easy exchange, resulting in thousands of new cases of infection every year. Sex workers are affordable and willing to engage in riskier acts for more money to help support their families, therefore married men are some of the most frequent clients to both brothels and to independent sex work. These men will then pay extra or intimidate the workers into not using a condom,