Each individual’s experience with the contraction of HIV/AIDS varies in terms of being personal or family related. HIV/AIDS has been a longstanding health issue affecting sub Saharan Africa. However, countries around the world are all susceptible to having a heightened risk of HIV/AIDS infections spread to their regions through the migration of people. HIV/AIDS is a health concern characterizing sub Saharan Africa because of the treatment of women in society, extreme poverty resulting in the lack of education for people and access to basic needs, and government inaction to address the concern with the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
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
Access to healthcare has been a factor for patients livening with HIV/AIDS in promoting and sustaining health. The advances of HIV/AIDS over the years have been a step in the direction of understanding of how best to deliver primary care while at the same time give the accessibility of new medication regimens. People living with HIV/AIDS are now living longer lives through medical advancements through medication therapy and by practicing a healthy lifestyle. A first step in ensuring that patients are actively involved in their care is to create systems that include mechanisms for coordination and communication of care. Furthermore, efforts starting with the community on receiving educational information about the
What is Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)? AIDS is the disease that an individual with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) has a chance of getting when their immune system becomes so damaged, opening up the body to many different illnesses. According to medical research not everyone who has HIV will in fact be advance to the final stage of the disease, especially when caught and treated early on. For someone to be diagnosed with AIDS typically they would have contracted an infection or cancer from their immune system being too weak to fight the infection away, and in most cases their CD4 cells (T-cells) count would be under 200, the normal amount being between 500 and 1,600. A lot of people may wonder where did the HIV disease initially come from, and how did it spread? The answer is simply from chimpanzees in Central Africa, their version being called Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV). When humans needed to hunt these animals for food as far back as the 1800’s, it is believed that is when they contracted the virus and it transformed into the human version known as HIV, slowly working its way from Africa to the United States in the 1970’s (AIDS.gov, 2015). Once a person contracts HIV it starts to attack the CD4 positive lymphocytes which are part of our immune system that helps to fight off infection. The virus being so strong it has the power to turn healthy cells into unhealthy ones, eventually taking over the body’s defense against illnesses.
“Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), is among the greatest threats to health worldwide. In 2005, an estimated 38.6 million people were living with HIV. During 2005 alone, about 4.1 million people became infected and another 2.8 million lost their lives.”1 “With around 15 percent of the population living with HIV. Zimbabwe is experiencing one of the harshest HIV and AIDS epidemics in the world. Between 2002 and 2006, the population is estimated to have decreased by four million people. The country is now seeing an annual growth rate of 2.2 percent. Average life expectancy is just under 53.7. By 2011, there were one million children living in Zimbabwe who had been orphaned as a result
As an upper-middle income country with high spending on healthcare, South Africa has been performing poorly on certain health indicators (as seen in Table 1), with their biggest issue being in the fight against HIV/AIDS (Country and Lending Groups, n.d.). They have one of the highest prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS in the world at 19.1%, and the incidence of new cases is increasing steadily (Milan, 2014; CIA, n.d.). To combat this growing problem President Jacob Zuma launched the largest HIV Counseling and Testing campaign in the world in April 2010 (“Global AIDS”, 2012). In the same year, the country also achieved a significant reduction in the price of antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) (“Global AIDS”, 2012). Despite this progress, these
Women with drug addictions has conclusively linked with HIV/ AIDS since this epidemic has started. HIV is the acronym for human immunodeficiency virus and it causes the immune system to become weak. As a result, this causes the body to be terrible at protecting itself against diseases and other viruses. HIV causes damage by harming the immune cells in the body. The immune cells it affects are called CD4 positive (CD4+) T cells, which are vital for fighting infections in the body. HIV metamorphose the CD4+T cells into little factories that cause the production of more of the virus to destroy other healthy cells, which eventually destroys the CD4+ T cells. When a person has less than 200 in cell count, the patient diagnosed with the disease AIDS. HIV/AIDS and its link to drugs is involved when risky behaviors are involved when transmitting or contracting the deadly disease. Since AIDS is not cure-able, prevention of transmission can be avoided is very important to understand in sexual education. Some treatments and therapies are given to drug abusers, which aid these goals of sexual education. The immune system weakens when the T cells are lost and as a result, a person becomes more subject to infections and common illnesses, to help slow this process down, special medicine is distributed to the person infected with the virus. Some medicines and remedies are given to HIV patients to help lower the risk of transmission and advancement of the disease. In addition, it helps
Picture this: a young child who is very skinny, ribs and all other bones are showing through the skin, they are born with HIV. it then leads to AIDS, due to their parents. HIV is a Human Immunodeficiency Virus. If HIV is left untreated, it can lead to AIDS, which is an acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome. In Nigeria, Africa millions of people have the disease of AIDS and HIV. There is not many treatment options or solutions for this serious issue that takes place all over the country. There are a few aspects one must understand about this movement to fully understand its importance, whether those are what exactly HIV/AIDS is and how deadly it actually is, how potently it is actually affecting Nigeria and other
The Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). HIV and AIDS gravely reduces a person’s immune system allowing them to be more susceptible to serve infections. At the end of 2009, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated 1,148,200 people over the age of 13 in the United States were infected with HIV. The CDC estimates that the incidence every year is 50,000 people. (2) The main treatment therapy is highly active antiretroviral therapy (HARRT). This therapy utilizes nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors, non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors, and protease inhibitors to prevent replication of HIV. This extends the latency period of HIV,
HIV/AIDS is a virus that has been going around for many years. Most people do not really know what HIV stands for. HIV is a Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). HIV attacks the part of your body that fights disease better known as the immune system. The virus makes the immune system shut down and stop working. The immune system shutting down is the worst part about HIV not having any signs or symptoms to notify you of the virus is the worst part. Most people that have HIV looks health and only knew that had the virus by taking blood tests. There is however some ways a person cannot get HIVAIDS. A person and not transfer AID/HIV by hugging, kissing, talking to or touching a person with HIV. A person cannot get the virus by sharing foods, drinks using a public restroom, swimming together. Some of the ways to reduce HIV and AIDS is by Limiting the number of sexual partners, getting tested and knowing your partner’s HIV status.
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and the Auto Immune Deficiency Disease (AIDS) are one of the leading killers around the world. Statistics provided by the Joint United Nations Program approximate that over 33 million people have been infected with HIV and AIDS. Of those 33 million, 1.1 million of those carriers are in the United States and even more shockingly, a fifth of those carriers are unaware that they have been infected. The World Health Organization estimated that annually, 2.7 million individuals contract the virus and 2 million die from the diseases.
During the 1980’s, a very devastating infectious disease broke out in America, which is now known as the Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Aids have been one of the most damaging and destructive diseases in history. The only reason behind the spread of the deadly disease- AIDS is lack of knowledge which has resulted in growing number everyday. “UNAIDS estimates that as of December 2000, there were an estimated 36.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS (34.7 million adults and 1.4 million children under 15)” ("AIDS Information, Education, Action, Awareness | How Many People Have HIV and AIDS?" AIDS Information, Education, Action, Awareness | How Many People Have HIV and AIDS? Web. 1 Nov. 2015). Aids has become a worldwide
HIV, the virus which develops into AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome), is one of the world’s largest health concerns. The first cases were discovered in 1981. Now, about 35 years later, there are over 36.9 million people living with the disease (UNAIDS 1). Cases have been reported in all regions of the world. The majority of those living with HIV/AIDS, and those at greatest risk for contracting the disease, have limited to no access to education, prevention, care and treatment. There also is still no cure for the disease. Despite challenges faced by those trying to develop techniques for prevention, global efforts have been developed to try to curtail the spread of the disease and prevent as many new cases as possible. The number of AIDS related deaths each year has declined, showing that efforts for prevention are making a difference. In addition, the number of people with HIV receiving treatment has increased tenfold from 1.4 million in 2014 to over 15 million in March of 2015 (UNAIDS 1). This increase in the numbers of those being treated reflects the success that public safety programs have had when it comes to spreading knowledge of the disease and providing assistance to those infected. Both of these, as well as numerous other interventions and vaccine research, are key factors when it comes to how the U.S. Government and other public safety divisions are approaching the war on AIDS over the last 30 plus years and moving forward. The HIV/AIDS epidemic is being
In the early 1990’s, around the time during which the movie Philadelphia came out, HIV/AIDS was thought to occur only through MSM (men who have sex with men) and was commonly referred to as “the gay disease.” Nowadays, it is no longer seen that way. HIV/AIDS is “now recognized as the most serious disease pandemic of our time” (Baur et al., 2011). With that being said, there are several prevention techniques that may reduce the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. It is important to be aware of the six bodily fluids that can contain HIV and which of those have the highest concentration of the virus as well as to know the difference between the facts and the myths/stereotypes about HIV/AIDS. Although there is no cure for HIV/AIDS, there are many available treatments that have proven to be pretty effective over the years. Finally, an organization that is making a real contribution to the world through education and prevention of HIV is the International AIDS Society.
HIV/ AIDS affects many people in the world. One of the many places that have the highest HIV/ AIDS epidemic is in South Africa. South Africa has one of the highest prevalence of HIV/ AIDS in the whole world. There are 6.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa. There is a 19.1% adult HIV/AIDS prevalence, 340,000 new infections, 200,000 AIDS related deaths, and 42% adults on antiretroviral treatment. South Africa has the largest antiretroviral treatment program in the world. There are also many HIV/ AIDS prevention programs in South Africa. A lot of South Africans have to deal with this horrible disease on a daily basis, affecting and changing their lives forever. Other than the programs to prevent HIV/AIDS, there are many other solutions to prevent HIV/ AIDS in South Africa such as HIV/ AIDS education, HIV Awareness, etc.