Hiv / Aids : A Global Health System

HIV has affected people all across the world. HIV comes with physical and mental symptoms. The body symptoms include skin flaking off, being dry, skin peeling off (Saliba 23) , fingernails falling off (32), and weight loss (14). Mentally it is hard to sleep, people become weak, and are tired all the time (23). People all across the world are infected with this disease, and the problem with this is the fact that most do not even know they have it. The most people who are infected each year are African Americans, gays, or bisexuals. 10,315 African Americans were infected in 2015. The U.S.A. has estimated about 1.1 million are infected with the disease. Equally to about 12,333 deaths happened in 2014 from AIDS related diseases, and 6,721 deaths from AIDS directly. Although there are a large amount of people getting infected, on the other hand eighteen percent of the population with HIV is declining since 2008-2014 (“U.S. Statistics”). In the world about 33.2 million people worldwide have HIV, with 22.5 million people in sub Saharan Africa are living with this condition, one out of nine people who live in South America have HIV or AIDS (Saliba 8).

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,

The term Human Immunodeficiency Virus is commonly known as (HIV), which is a virus that attacks the immune system of humans by destroying the amount of CD4 cells in their bodies. Without CD4 the human body is unable to fight against diseases, which can lead to Acquired Immune deficiency syndrome known as AIDS for short. The first case of the HIV/AIDS virus in the U.S. occurred in the early 1980’s. The first spark of the virus was found in San Francisco with couple of homosexual Caucasian American males. Today African Americans account for the largest proportion of HIV and AIDS in this country, represent approximately 13% of the U.S. population, but accounted for an estimated 44% of new HIV infections in 2010(the last year a study was

From 2005 to 2014, the number of new HIV diagnoses among young African American gay and bisexual men (aged 13 to 24) increased 87%. But that trend has leveled off recently, with the number declining 2% since 2010.6

There are many health problems that we face globally and each of them are important for us to be aware of and to take precautions and measures to prevent and treat such diseases that affect our global population. HIV/AIDS is a disease that is spread through direct contact with body fluids from a person who is infected with the virus, these fluids include blood, semen, rectal fluid, vaginal fluids and breast milk. There are an approximate 35 million people living with the disease globally as of 2015 and about 1 million of those people are children under the age of 15 (Aids.gov, 2016). There are approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. living with the disease and of those individuals many became infected with HIV by needle or syringe sharing,

Being that Blacks/African AMericans make up only 12 percent of the UNited States population, they account for about 44 percent of new HIV infections annually. It is estimated that at least 280,000 Black/African American men and women have died since the the epidemic began. Another race/ethnic group also disportionately affected by HIV/AIDS are Hispanics/Latinos. They make up about 15 percent of the United States population and account for 21 percent of new annual HIV infections. In total both minority groups makes up about 65 percent of HIV/AIDS cases. The likelihood of an African American or Latino male or female contracting the viruses are twice that of their white counterparts (CDC).

HIV infections in African American Males have been a national growing problem since the early 1990’s. According to CDC, in the United States, there are more than 1 million people living with HIV. 48 percent are afro American males between the ages 13-44(CDC, 2007). It is estimated that around 1 million people in the United States will be diagnose with HIV in the up coming year with the lifetime risk of becoming infected is 1 in 16 for black males (CDC,2007).

The brunt of the impact of HIV has taken over the African American population due to complex set of social, individual and environmental factors. The spread of the disease is the number one cause of death in African Americans, both male and female. It is alarming and at the same time devastating for the African people throughout the world not able to organize and work together to combat the reality of HIV that is invading the black communities. With this alarming epidemic, this paper will identify the internal and external risk factors or challenges affecting the prevention/intervention that has been developed for the African Americans with HIV.

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

“At the end of 2013, an estimated 1.2 million persons aged 13 and older were living with HIV infection in the United States, including an estimated 161,200 (13%) persons whose infections had not been diagnosed (cdc.gov).” Many people report never experiencing any symptoms and don’t even know

Progress in decreasing new HIV infections among adults has slowed in recent years. Since 2010, the annual number of new infections among adults (15+) has remained static at 1.9

One of the growing public health problems in the United States today is the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, among the American population. Beginning in the 1980s, the U.S. public health system has been working vigorously to come up with effective methods for preventing the spread of this debilitating virus. HIV has persistently stayed within the human population due to the continual transmission of the disease. Before widespread transmission of HIV, the two most transmissible way of contracting the disease was either using unsterile needles for drug use or by unprotected sex with partners who were infected – most of the infected individuals in the 1980s were those who were or had been in homosexual relationships.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) weakens the immune system and makes people vulnerable to infections and some types of cancer (HIV/AIDS, 2016). HIV various vague symptoms that are flu like. These symptoms are vague and can last from a few days to several weeks. HIV is a sexually transmitted disease (STD) from one person to another via the mucus membranes (About HIV/AIDS, 2016). HIV can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) if undiagnosed or untreated. There is no cure for HIV or AIDS. Depending on the individual, HIV can take from two to fifteen years to develop into AIDS. Thirty-five million people have lost their lives to HIV, making this a global health issue (HIV/AIDS, 2016). In the United States, approximately 1.2 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2012. Approximately 13% were unaware that they were infected. HIV has decreased 19% in the US between 2005 to 2014 (About HIV/AIDS, 2016). There are many factors that contribute to HIV, including, the epidemiologic triangle, community nurses assisting in the reduction of HIV, national and world organizations that address HIV with the goal of reducing the spread of HIV.

Since the beginning of the epidemic, AIDS has killed more than 30 million people worldwide, including more than 500,000 Americans. AIDS has replaced malaria and tuberculosis as the world's deadliest infectious disease among adults and is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. Over 13 million children have been orphaned by the epidemic. A person who is HIV-infected carries the virus in certain body fluids, including blood, semen, vaginal secretions, and breast milk. The virus can be transmitted only if such HIV-infected fluids enter the bloodstream of another person. This kind of direct entry can occur (1) through the linings of the vagina, rectum, mouth, and the opening at the tip of the penis; (2) through intravenous injection with a syringe; or (3) through a break in the skin, such as a cut or sore. Usually, HIV is transmitted through:

HIV, or the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is a virus which damages and kills cells of the immune system. It attacks the T-cells, key cells of the immune system, and uses them to make copies of itself. After being infected with the virus it progressively interferes and eventually destroys the immune system's ability to fight the anti-genes. HIV may develop into the syndrome AIDS, the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. HIV is an STD - a sexually transmitted disease - and therefore most commonly it is spread through sexual contact, and the virus mainly enters the body through the penis, mouth, lining of the vagina or vulva during sexual activity. HIV can also be spread through sharing syringes or needles with someone who is infected with the