The Link Between Aids And Poverty

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

This history of HIV/AIDS as a blurry timeline before the 1980’s since that was around the time reports came in which eventually become an HIV report. The origin of HIV can be traced back to the early part of the century. Some believe that in the 1920’s chimpanzees from the Congo came into contact with humans (Avert, 2016). Though reports were not identified as HIV until the 1980’s, the belief that HIV was already scattered throughout four other continents may have been incident (Avert, 2016). Even though for the past 30 years the world has been diligently working to find a cure and pushing prevention, we are still struggling each year with increasing diagnosis. The beginning of HIV did end with lots of death, but now with our improved antiviral medication there is hope for many.

Due to gaps in policy oversight, the percentage of minorities living with HIV and AIDS in the United States remains high. It has remained high due in part to policies that were implemented during the early 90’s, emblematically The Ryan White Care Act, along with in policy makers for their failure to recognize the special needs and factors that pertain to minority groups, specifically African Americans and Non-white Hispanics. The racial disparities that have historically plagued these minority groups were initially overlooked in the policy making and implementation process. In turn, it is no disheartening wonder that certain figures and data are now representative of the minority demographic; example:

Did you know “AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa” (Quinn, online). Twenty percent of Africa’s population has died from AIDS. Poverty is a big problem in Africa. Men have been forced to become migrant workers in urban areas. And antiretroviral treatment at this time is not available to African people. AIDS is a big problem in Africa today that is now requiring help from the world.

The world as a whole should be mortified by what is happening in Sub-Saharan Africa. In places like Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho poverty, crime and systematic corruption are the tinder for the fire that is the HIV epidemic in Africa.

The AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, consisted entirely of deaths, illnesses and most of all fear, changing the way society viewed gay men. Being that it was only happening to homosexuals and everyone became super homophobic and believed that the disease was a cause of being gay until it started happening to women too. This affected the entire medical metaphysics in society on what is considered safe methods of having sex and health precautions as well. Before the 1980s hit HIV was thought to originate form Kinshasa which is in Congo. In the 1920 HIV crossed between chimpanzees to humans on the Democratic Republic of humans.(Avert 1). AIDS is caused by HIV and is the last stage of HIV and can lead to death. It attacks every single

Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or better known as HIV, has been in the United States since the mid to late 1970’s. HIV, if left untreated can lead to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS. Once HIV is contracted it is a life-long disease and as of today there is no cure for the virus. The virus works by destroying CD4, or T cells, and eventually destroys enough to break down the body’s ability to fight off infection and disease. If left untreated the virus will break down the CD4 cells and once these cell levels drop below 200 cells per cubic millimeters of blood you are then considered to have developed AIDS (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). The virus is thought to of come from West

It is believed that HIV originated in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo around 1920 when HIV crossed species from chimpanzees to humans. The first time HIV was presented, it was unknown and not presented to heterosexuals as a disease because people thought it was a disease specified for homosexuals. Within the history of discovering HIV, different groups were targeted and subjected to the virus unlike others. This misconception still carries on in the Orangeburg community, but the targeted group today is black males and

In 1920, HIV originated in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo when it crossed species from chimpanzees to humans. Up until the 1980s, researchers did not know how many people were infected with this disease. HIV was completely unknown and the transmission was not connected with the noticeable signs or symptoms. Also, HIV may have already spread to five continents of the world: North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia. In this period, between 100,000 and 300,000 people could have already been infected. In June 1982, a of cases among gay men in Southern California suggested that the cause of the Human immune deficiency or HIV was sexually transmitted. This disease was initially called gay-related immune deficiency or “GRID”.

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,

The origin of AIDS can be traced back to 1959 in Zaire, but it wasn’t until the 1980s where AIDS was discovered that it can be transmitted by bodily fluids and that HIV operates by destroying the T-4 cell, which makes people vulnerable to infections. This was an important as it showed retroviruses such as HIV can cause other diseases.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the region of the world that is most affected by HIV/AIDS. The United Nations reports that an estimated 25.4 million people are living with HIV and that approximately 3.1 million new infections occurred in 2004. To put these figures in context, more than 60 percent of the people living with the infection reside in Africa. Even these staggering figures do not quite capture the true extent and impact that this disease causes on the continent. In 1998, about 200,000 Africans died as a result of various wars taking place on the continent. In that same year, more than 2 million succumbed to HIV/AIDS (Botchwey, 2000).

Since the nineteen hundreds, Africa coped with countless problems related to HIV and AIDS. Anthropologists, scientists, doctors, and psychologists discussed theories related to the issues presented by HIV/AIDS. Researchers study the effects of poverty, polygamy, geography, and social relationships on HIV/AIDS. One of the prevalent theories on how the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) spread is through the increase of sex workers in Africa. An increase in sex work correlates to an increase in poverty. Due to the economy and culture, women turned to sex working as a way of acquiring income. In order to reduce HIV contraction among sex workers and their clients, a change in intervention methods and legislation is needed to protect the rights of those in poverty and stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.

33.3 million people are infected or living with HIV, of which 22.5 million are in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, of the2.5 million children in the world estimated to be living with HIV, 2.3 million are in sub-Saharan Africa. Southern Africa, the most affected region, includes a number of middle- and lower-middle-income nations known as the hyperendemic countries. In South Africa alone, there are about 5.7 million people living with HIV/AIDS. In Swaziland, 42 per cent of women attending antenatal clinics are infected, with similar rates found elsewhere in the region. 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 with 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.1,2 Orphaned children are either pulled out of school or not enrolled at all due to the financial constraints of their affected families, and have to assume responsibilities of heading or providing for households. In this respect, girls are more vulnerable. In Kenya, links were found between parental deaths and children 's progress through school. In Tanzania, households that have experienced an adult death have been found to delay the enrolment of younger children in school, but try to keep older children

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”).