The HIV/AIDS Epidemic in China Essay

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,

In the 1980s, a mysterious disease began to take the lives of Americans. With the cause unknown, a fear grew among Americans. An unusually high rate of people was becoming sick with strange and rare diseases. When experimental treatments failed to work, people died. This mysterious disease is what we now know as HIV–Human Immunodeficiency Virus. In the past thirty-five years, the HIV has taken many turns in history. Although we do not hear about HIV and AIDS now, it is still a prevalent issue in the United States and in the world.

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

Sexually transmitted diseases as a whole affect millions of people in the United States and around the world each year, causing significant morbidity and mortality.

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

HIV and AIDS have affected millions of people throughout the world. Since 1981, there have been 25 million deaths due to AIDS involving men, women, and children. Presently there are 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS around the world and two million die each year from AIDS related illnesses. The Center for Disease Control estimates that one-third of the one million Americans living with HIV are not aware that they have it. The earliest known case of HIV was in 1959. It was discovered in a blood sample from a man in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Looking further into the genetics of this blood sample researchers suggested that it had originated from a virus going back to the late 1940’s or early 1950’s. In 1999,

HIV/AIDS is a health issue that has affected the lives of 35 million individuals globally and has continued to spread due to social conditions which surround us. Risky behaviors such as men having sex with men, large number of homeless population, large number of African American men incarcerated, and injection of drugs also attribute to the large number cases of HIV/AIDS.

In traditional Chinese culture, sex is taboo. Parents don’t teach their children anything about sex. It is expected that people suddenly know everything about sex after marriage. This traditional belief is costing millions of young people’s health. The year-on-year HIV infection growth rate among young people is around 35% (Fang). The fact that some LGBTQ groups have a higher risk of contracting STDs than heterosexual people makes it more necessary to give LGBTQ teenagers the information they need. We educate LGBTQ teenagers about safer sex by giving lectures at our organization. For all those who come to our organization, condoms are free. We can take teenagers to hospitals for check-ups and medicine if they have high-risk sexual

The AIDS pandemic continues to rage and sexually transmitted diseases and the trafficking victims in the global sex trade are exposed and spread the long list of diseases.

A significant reason for the spread of HIV infection in the Asian community is attributed to being undiagnosed. Others factors are based on discrimination, immigration worries, shame and language barriers. Within the Asian culture, research, prevention and intervention programs are somewhat limited. Some of the limitations are based on the misconception that Asian don’t contract the HIV virus. The Asian population, because of their cultural beliefs, many not always get tested or seek

In China it’s a slightly different view regarding same-sex couples, and they face many more problems than in the United States. China used to have a fairly accepting society regarding homosexuality, but under communist rule this changed and made being homosexual wrong and punishable. “Gay men and transgender women found themselves harassed under ambiguously framed anti-hooliganism laws” (Burki 2017, 389). These laws made it to where homosexuality was illegal; but were abolished in 1997 and four years later homosexuality was declassified as a mental disorder. Sexuality in China is also largely controlled by the states idea of, Chinese tradition. “In a Foucauldian sense, the state’s dominion over sexuality remains very much present within the realms of ideology and discourse, indicating that the state never has and never will withdraw its power to control sexuality” (Chen 2017, 955). Chinese tradition also has different views on gender and sexuality; “The general understanding of gender in the Chinese context is primarily heterosexual oriented and thus neglects lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer related issues” (Yingying 2009; Suiming 2009; Tao 2009; Yanning 2009, 283). Chinese surveys and interview have also estimated that nearly 70% of homosexual men and

In a review of the early response to HIV/AIDS, both foreign and domestic, it clearly illustrates the manner in which a public health (PH) issue is first defined directs and determines the hypothesis of not only what can be done about it, but also the course of action taken by the field of PH in response to the issue. Subsequently, when a change occurs regarding the perspective, it alters the plan of the PH response, as proved the case with HIV/AIDS given the recognizable changes associated with the PH response; especially early on in the epidemic. For example, at the height of the outbreak, the immediate response centered on alerting the public to the danger of HIV/AIDS. Shortly after that, the focus shifted to that of a problem associated with “individual behavior, next to a societally contextualized behavioral issue, and finally, to human rights linked challenge” (Mann & Tarantoal, 1998, p. 5). Subsequently, these visible directional changes resulted from the emergences of new information.

Another vector, agent of propagation of the disease, called At-Risk groups, is formed of prostitutes and drugs addicts. These groups should be subjected to a HIV/testing every six months. Lots of evidence existing in venereal diseases cases, identified by the Control of Disease Center (CDC), show prostitution and intravenous drugs use are the potential foci of the HIV infection. The multiplication of sexual partners and the exchange of needles in drugs use have caused the proliferation of the disease. In 1991, the Thailand’s government had enumerated “143, 000 new infections cases accrued in a country of roughly 65 millions people” (Behrman 113). The same year, that government had projected “10 million HIV infection cases by 2010” (114). Therefore Thailand has set up an educational program of prevention and control of the AIDS, massive public information campaign, mass condoms distribution among prostitutes rings, and a comprehensive needle exchange program”(114). From 1991 to 1995, a behavioral change of the prostitutes has been registered bringing Thailand’s annual rate of infection “from 143,000 to

HIV is a serious problem both in the United States as well as worldwide. The

HIV is a virus that is spread almost all over the world. Although in some places health care isn’t as developed and therefore it spreads more in those regions. Sub-Saharan Africa holds more than 70%, 25 million, of all HIV positive people in the world. Second highest is Eastern Europe together with Central Asia with 1.3 million. It is spread over most of the world, including Asia and the Pacific, the Caribbean, Central and South America, North Africa and the Middle East and Western and Central Europe (“The Regional Picture”).