The Spread Of HIV/AIDS In The United States

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 today’s world we seem to put aside things that we consider no longer a threat. Well we are wrong to do this, because HIV/AIDS still affects over 5.4 million people that are walking around with this infection or full blown AIDS. They are friends, Criminals, neighbors, and even children attending school, etc. So, why do we think it is ok to not worry about a problem that does not have a cure, but only a life time of meds? Within this qualitative research method, we will explore Sexual risk, there or the Measures, Sexual risk, method, demographics, HIV/AIDS risk and may add other areas as they relate to this study.

According to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 1.2 million individuals in the United States have HIV (about 14 percent of which are unaware of their infection and another 1.1 million have progressed to AIDS. Over the past decade, the number of HIV cases in the US has increased, however, the annual number of cases remains stable at about 50, 000 new cases per year. Within these estimates, certain groups tend to carry the burden of these disease, particularly the gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men (MSM) and among race/ethnic groups, Blacks/African American males remain disproportionately affected. (CDC)

In 2015, specifically in LA downtown, I met Sara who is an African American girl who was suffering from HIV virus. She told me her sadly story when she was having sexual things with random people just because of having money. She didn’t have any knowledge about this virus. So, because of that, she got the HIV virus, and she thanked god that she treated so long to be clean. So, some people in this world don’t know what the AIDS means. So, the AIDS is a dangerous virus that attack cells human’s immune system, and if the people who didn’t treat themselves in the hospital, they probably are going to die. It is dangerous because this virus happens when the human’s immune system badly damaged and it becomes impressible to opportunistic infections. When the number of the human CD4 cells decrease below 200 cells per cubic millimeter of blood, it is considered to have progressed to AIDS. People who have the AIDS virus need medical treatment to prevent death. Overall, it takes time to treat around one year, and without treatment it is typically survive about three years (AIDS.gov). According to Tony L. Whitehead that between June 1981 and October 1995 in United states that U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention got report of 501, 310 cases of AIDS. In addition, there were sixty-two percent of groups who have died, and although African American was represent only 12 percent of the United States, African American was represent 34 percent among them. In only five years, the

In Ronald O. Valdiserri’s article “Thirty Years of AIDs in America: A Story of Infinite Hope,” it is said that we have data that shows we have improved in our prevention of AIDs/HIVs diseases over the years. However, Valdiserri’s article also points out that these statistics contained data resulted from inadequate or incomplete information, which makes me question how much do we really know about the improvements being identified.

Every culture has its own way of dealing with sickness and illness. Growing up both in Angola and the United States, a person is able to reflect on cultures and their own myths as well as beliefs. These cultures are very different from one another in respect to their outlook on illness and hospitalization. Being Angolan in the American healthcare industry, they experience many different attitudes about how to best treat medical illness. During the time of sick or for curing disease in Angola, the people would rather see their traditional healer than a doctor for such things as; fever, stomachache, bad dreams, pain, or mental disorders. They don’t have access to the same kind of healthcare services as the Americans do. Only a few people can afford good medical care and unfortunately many have a life expectancy that is below fifty years of age mostly related to poverty related diseases such as; tuberculosis, malaria, and measles.

HIV is highly prevalent among the United States population, primarily affecting African Americans of all economic levels and age groups. HIV is transmissible through sexual contact and damages the immune system as it interferes with the individual’s capability to fight off any infections or illnesses. Health inequalities that greatly affect the high rates of HIV include but are not limited to: higher rates of poverty, lack of awareness, intercourse within the same sex, having anxiety towards getting tested for STD’s or HIV, as well as being fearful of “coming out”. Local, state, and nationwide organizations are designed to inform and provide assistance to those who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. S.A.A.F. (Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation)

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that there are currently 1.1 million people living with HIV in the United States (2017). The southern region of the United States continues lead the country in rates of new HIV infections (CDC, 2017). Jacksonville, Florida is among several southern cities reporting disproportionately high numbers of new HIV infections (ADSVu, 2017). In 2014, there were 6,553 individuals living with HIV in Jacksonville, Florida and 309 new infections were reported in 2015 (ADSVu, 2017).

The prevalence of HIV in prison populations has been a growing concern as the number of infected prisoners is nearly double that of the general adult population. HIV in prison settings is a serious issue not only in the U.S but worldwide due to the commonality of high risk-behaviors among all prison populations such as rape, drug use and needle sharing, tattooing and unsafe sex practices. This makes prisons a breeding ground for the onward transmission of HIV due to the over crowdedness, combined with the atmosphere of violence and fear. The release from such tensions are typically found in these high-risk behaviors, especially drug use and unsafe sex, the two most common transmissions of HIV. Although many correctional institutions have some form of HIV testing in place, their policies and procedures widely vary. Mandatory testing specifically in prisons is a mandated test performed with or without consent during the admission process (Gagnon, 2013).

Angels in America ambitiously covers themes varying from politics and justice, love and abandonment, to homosexuality and religion. There are undoubtedly too many issues to thoroughly analyze each and every one, but disease and destruction stand out: specifically the representation of AIDS and its affects on the individual acceptance and defining of sexuality, as well as, society’s perspectives. Angels in America is an accurate, honest portrayal of the slow deterioration of the human body, the soul’s acceptance of mortality, and the reality of AIDS in a society that is not quite ready to be mentally open to tolerance. Kushner’s Angels in America is a realistic portrayal of the rise and conquer of the AIDS epidemic in the United States: the heft of social stigma aligns with the historical perspective of the unknown during the mid-1980s.

When you are asked if AIDS is still a crisis in America “it does depend on who you are”, As stated by Sarah Schulman in the article “Is There Still an AIDS Crisis in the U.S? It Depends on Who You Are”. “If you are the type of person that is able to afford all of the treatments and are able to live a lifestyle of tolerating a lot of awful side effects”. If you are the type of person that can not afford all the of treatments, then you are in a crisis. The perception of AIDS as a “gay disease” limited the efforts to combats the disease. It limited the efforts because people did not want to do anything or engage with anything that had to do with the issue. And as stated in our text books, by 2000 AIDS had claimed almost 300,000 American lives.

To address the communication problem, we must understand that there have been many alternative names that human-beings have given to HIV/AIDS and the amount of information and knowledge of the sexually transmitted disease has gone into overload since the huge epidemic, primarily during the twentieth century. This overload of information has caused many to disregard the issues and as an ending result caused many to focus on the issue and factors associated with HIV/AIDS as much as many once did in the past. Although HIV/AIDS no longer dominate the headlines, we must wonder are health professionals and AID advocates still giving out all the clear signs because it is apparent that HIV/AIDS are still a danger to society.

Just as clearly, experience shows that the right approaches, applied quickly enough with courage and resolve, can and do result in lower HIV infection rates and less suffering for those affected by the epidemic. An ever-growing AIDS epidemic is not inevitable; yet, unless action against the epidemic is scaled up drastically, the damage already done will seem minor compared with what lies ahead. This may sound dramatic, but it is hard to play down the effects of a disease that stands to kill more than half of the young adults in the countries where it has its firmest hold—most of them before they finish the work of caring for their children or providing for their elderly parents. Already, 18.8 million people around the world have died of AIDS, 3.8 million of them children. Nearly twice that many—34.3 million—are now living with HIV, the virus [9].

The first cases of AIDS that were reported in the United States began in the early 1980s. Today, more than 1.1 million people are living with HIV. In response to this HIV epidemic, at least 35 states have implemented HIV-specific criminal laws that penalize HIV-positive people for exposing others to the virus. These laws impose criminal penalties to HIV positive people that knowingly and potentially expose others to the virus. The Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, also known as the CARE Act, provides states with funds for AIDS treatment and care. In 1990, the CARE Act required every state to certify that its “criminal laws were adequate to prosecute any HIV-infected individual who knowingly exposed another person to HIV.” Criminal laws regarding potential HIV exposure vary largely from state to state. Some federal legislation addresses the criminal penalties for intentional exposure such as through blood donation. CDC and Department of Justice researches found that, “ by 2011, a total of 67 laws explicitly focused on persons living with HIV had been enacted in 33 states… In 24 states, laws require persons who are aware that they have HIV disclose their status to sexual partners and 14 states require disclosure to needle-sharing partners.” The criminal laws vary as to what behaviors are criminalized or result in additional penalties. The criminal statutes regarding intentional exposure to AIDS for Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama ,Georgia, and

Huge strides in the United States in controlling the rate of transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has been made resulting in a significant decrease of its incidence since the epidemic advent. During the epidemic’s height in the 1980s of the United States, the CDC estimated its incidence at about 150,000 new infections per year. This figure plateaued and dropped significantly during the 1990s due to introduction of highly effective antiviral treatments and due to a overall public cultural shift with promotion of HIV education, HIV testing, and condom use, especially among the LGBT community which was affected disproportionately by HIV infection. However, during the 2000s, a small, growing trend of incidence rates was seen,