The Stigma Associated With The Hepatitis C Virus ( Hcv )

Present day tendencies can also be evaluated by analysing a study of people who inject drugs in Sydney, Australia. The research showed that the majority of surveyed participants conducted their usage in close friendship groups. A small percentage of the participants had contracted injecting relating diseases such as hepatitis c. Those with the disease stated they were drug dependent and have consequently been excluded from social circles and now regularly inject in shooting galleries. ( Paquette, Bryant, De Whit, 2011: 267-273)

Grundy G, Beeching N . (2004). Understanding social stigma ii women with hepatitis C. Nursing Standard. 19 (4), 35-39.

For better or worse, many societies of the modern world tolerate certain methods of self-intoxication. Despite the possibility of negative consequences, all the cultures of the world the consumption of substances like alcohol and tobacco are sanctioned under particular circumstances. All societies face the reality that significant proportions of mankind seek to the same time expressly criminalizing others. This irony is made more bizarre by the evidence that a myriad of rich cultural timelines can supply to demonstrate that there is reasonable historical precedence in existence to show the use of alternative forms of drugs being cultivated and utilized.(McKenna)

Illegal drugs not only harm the health of those who misuse them, they also hurt their families, children and friends. The crime and antisocial behaviour associated with drugs cause misery to the victims, and puts enormous pressure on the economy’ (NHS breaking the link, 2009, pg 6).

Injecting drug users (IDUs) are frequently interviewed regarding drug use, risk behaviors and criminality. Users are far less frequently asked about their attitudes towards drug related issues and this generally relates to treatment provision and health issues, such as blood borne viral treatment, naloxone distribution, and needle and syringe programs. Little research exists on the attitudes of IDUs towards the legal status of illicit substances, yet clearly the legal status of a substance is of relevance to users, given that IDUs have high rates of arrest and imprisonment for possession, dealing and acquisitive crime. Study Method. They recruited people in September of 2011- August of 2012. They paid each participant $30. Recruited by word of mouth, advertisements, and through needle and syringe programs. Eligibility criteria were: 18 years old, satisfactory understanding of English and weekly injecting drug use over the preceding 12 months. 313 people were screened and participants were assured of both confidentiality and anonymity, and the study had ethical approval from the University of New South Wales and all relevant area health services. Study Findings. The sample consisted of 300 regular IDUs. The mean age was 37.1 years and 69.7% were male. The sample had completed a mean of 9.8 years of schooling. 34% had completed a trade/technical course and 2% a university degree. The majority were unemployed (83.0%), with 5.0% in fulltime employment and 12.0% in

Needles have a ‘double-sided meaning’. Needles are associated with sex; for example, penetration of needle. Injecting is pleasurable for users and averts non-drug users (Manderson 1995).

Due to the growing number of drug-related deaths and the failure of prohibition of drug use, activists believed that it was up to them to establish alternate measures of safety for illegal drug use (MacDonald, 2011). Safe injection sites were established to provide people who inject drugs with a clean injection environment, sterile injections, and with clean drug preparation tools such as cookers and water (Semaan et al, 2011). Safe injection sites also allow access for drug addicts to use the available health care and have medical supervision while taking the illegal substance (Lavoie, 2015). According to Semaan et al, the overall aim of safe injection sites is to “reduce public injection and the risk of infection with HIV, hepatitis C virus, injection-related bacterial infections, and drug overdose morality” (2011).

The early days of the AIDS epidemic challenged the cartesian nature of biomedical culture. With its emphasis on empiricism, the superior biomedical mind could normally make sense of the inferior patient’s bodily concerns. In the early 80s, though, the scientific method seemed to be failing with AIDS, with no clear biological etiologic agent being identified, and rumors circulated. As the biomedical mind struggled to define and categorize AIDS, the moralistic nature of medical authority revealed itself. Instead of pathology residing in the biology of a patient, it appeared to transcend the patient’s biology and reveal deviant sexual behavior. Instead of being able to treat or study the disease, the diseased bodies were quarantined. Even when it was understood that AIDS had a viral cause, biomedicine’s quarantining practices became subtler, but still perpetuated the social stigma of AIDS patients. In this essay, I examine the nature of AIDS stigma through the lens of two biomedical professionals’ memories of the first decade of the epidemic. One such professional is Dr. M. Robert Hill, M.D. He is a retired internist of 68 years, who used to work at Missouri Baptist Medical Center in Town and Country, Missouri, and treated several AIDS patients before antiretroviral therapy was discovered. The other ethnographic source is Dr. Daniel Hanson, a current Immunology lecturer at Washington University in St. Louis, who was completing his second postdoctoral fellowship in immunology at

There was a great push for a non-judgmental approach that would ‘reduce physical, social and psychological risks to individuals who use drugs and to society as a whole’ (McCann & Temenos, 2015, p. 217). Never the less, this was a highly contested set of policy formulation across all levels of governance.

As a species, humans have been getting high since the prehistoric age. Drugs have been with us for a long time. Whether drug use is for the greater good or worse has been a subject of debate for social and scientific communities ever since the disciplines came into existence. While drugs have advanced us a species, with modern medicines such as penicillin and the vaccine for polio, drugs, have also hindered us as well with issues such as drug wars and drug addictions. In the documentary Swansea Love Story, directed by Leo Leigh and Andy Capper, the film takes a somewhat qualitative approach to portray what happened to the community of Swansea, Wales, as heroin use continues to rise along with the existent alcoholism throughout the community. The film follows a young couple who are a part of the drug problem. The couple themselves and almost everyone shown in the video used some type of drug. While heroin use does play a massive part the deterioration of Swansea, there were also structural and cultural forces at work.

Moreover, these platforms sometimes stereotype the people who take drugs. Susan Boyd, the author, is recognized for composing the article "Pleasure and Pain" that creates a representation of addiction, trafficking

Parker and colleague’s counter argument on Shiner and Newburns’ attitudinal approach highlights that the anti-drug behaviour presented by early teens towards drug user ‘mellows with age and life experience’ (Parker et al., 2002, pg.948). Shiner and Newburn (1997) partially agree the reasoning behind the normalisation theory, of which is stimulates as a sympathetic attitude towards the understanding of drug use among young people. However, it is seen from their research that Parker’s study does not critic the social acceptance of drug use in the UK, which therefore does not give a true quantitative approach on drug

Hepatitis C is a prevalent health care problem. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2016), approximately 2.7-3.9 million of the adult population in the United States is infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). Some groups of people are at risk for Hepatitis C infection, including current injection drug users, people who received the blood transfusion before 1992, organ recipients from a donor who tested positive for hepatitis C virus, hemodialysis patients, and children born to a hepatitis C mother (CDC, 2016). Hepatitis C causes embarrassment and isolation from the society. Self-esteem and understanding of the

This leads to an increase in criminal activity such as neglect of familial duties, robberies to fund their dependency, and violence to defend their habits. The ‘drugee’ becomes a nuisance to society. Some become homeless and exhibit poor health habits such as malnutrition and tooth decay. Other negative effects include the transference of diseases because of needle sharing. Though drug use is a personal choice, the effects on the rest of society are undeniable. The best intentions are formulated on a personal level, but this is overcastted by its negative effects. This argument, however, is a bit one-sided because the reason for using and dependency varies between users.

In other words it can be said that the drug hysterias that sweep the US can be safely ignored if focus is instead on the ethical concerns of social marginalisation that cause the addictions and abuse such as poverty and racism (Room, 2005).