I did a research paper on AIDS/HIV to find more information about the topic and how a family copes with a love one with the virus. In my paper I will address the AIDS virus and the cause and effect of the disease. Then I will discuss how it affects the world. In conclusion add that if this disease isn’t prevented in the future what will happen to our society.
AIDS is short term for: Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. It is a very serious condition in which most of the body’s defenses are broken down and can cause serious illnesses. People with AIDS develop many different kinds of diseases, which the body would usually fight off quite easily. HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus), which the first stages of AIDS, can be passed on though the sexual fluids of sexual intercourse and blood of infected people. If infected blood or sexual fluid gets into the blood system, then you will become infected. If a man with HIV has vaginal intercourse without a condom, infected fluid could pass into the woman¹s blood stream through a tiny cut or sore inside her body. If a couple has anal intercourse the risk of infection is far greater.
HIV can also be passed on by the sharing of equipment used to inject drugs. Blood can remain on needles and syringes but if you share, a person infected with HIV needle, the virus can be injected directly into the blood system. AIDS is not just something that other people need to worry about like, gays, drug users, and people who get laid every night. These ideas are mistaken. All people need to take the threat of HIV seriously. The most effective way of fighting this deadly virus is to be cautions and educated about the disease and avoid activities that may put you at risk.
During the past decade, more than 400,000 individuals in the United States have been diagnosed with AIDS. Since then United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the number of deaths from AIDS in the U.S. has dropped by a record 47 percent. Officials attributed the reduction to an extremely effective combination drug treatment that allows people infected with HIV to live longer and healthier lives. Unfortunately, no such decline occurred in the number of new HIV infections in the United States. The infection rate remained at about 40,000 new cases a year.
Although the U.S. has a great deal of AIDS cases, it doesn¹t even come close to the numbers of cases that are in Africa. Of the 30 million people worldwide with AIDS, 21 million live in Africa. More than 16 percent of South Africa’s 40 million people are infected with the HIV virus. The infection level among South Africans between the ages of 20 to 30 years of age already exceeds 20 percent. Everyday new infections are being reported at a rate of 1,500 — two-thirds of them range around the ages of 15 to 20 year-olds. Health experts say this means that the age group once thought to be the most receptive to AIDS awareness messages already is heavily infected. Although HIV is running rampant in South Africa, many people do not understand or believe how deadly it is until it is too late.
In the past years, the government of South Africa has made AIDS prevention a high-profile priority. Some people believe only the prostitutes get AIDS. Some men glorify the virtues of fat women in the mistaken belief that only thin women can transmit AIDS. Some women believe that AIDS can be gotten rid of by giving it back to the source of the infection. HIV has infected more than 16 percent of South Africans and may create as many as 2 million orphans by 2010. Polygamy, cultural morals, and a lack of education about the fatal disease make it particularly hard to control.
The AIDS virus not only breaks down the immune system of the body but it can also break up families. For example medical costs, which include the cost of drugs and traditional medical treatment, funeral expenses of family members are burden on family budget. Funeral costs appear to be even higher than expenses in some settings. Since AIDS/HIV is a sexually transmitted disease, very often more than one family member is affected and dies from it. As a result, the entire assets and savings of many families, which are generally meager before the onset of the disease, may be completely spent, leaving the surviving family members without means of support. Studies prove that more households were found to be headed by AIDS widows than by AIDS widowers. Widows with dependent children are more likely to be entrenched in poverty as result of the inputs credit and support services. AIDS/HIV compounds many families situations further, as assistance from the extended family and the community, try to keep these families alive as a main safety net. Households may receive more to help sick ones with the AIDS/HIV virus depending on the family resources to produce food and income. Sometimes households may fall into downward spiral of increasing dependency ratios, poorer nutrition and health, increasing expenditure of resources like time and money on health problems, more food shortages, decreasing household viability, and increasing reliance on support from extended families and the wider community. The effects on rural households, and the likely impact of the disease on Americans health and the nutrition of their family complex to impact of the disease.
There are many different ways to preventing the sexual transmission of HAID/HIV between men their partners. Theses include abstinence, mutual fidelity, sex that does not involve vaginal or anal penetrations and condom use. However, most prevention messages are simplistic and not tailored to complex, and often hidden, realities of men’s relationship with women or other men. National AIDS campaigns have promoted abstinence outside marriage and fidelity within it with some success. However, abstinence for young men is difficult and a menu of risk reduction options therefore needs to be offered. The consistent use of male female condoms in vaginal or anal sex also protects against HIV and STIs. Condoms however are under-use for a variety of reasons. In casual or commercial sex, men’s condom use is more common then in marriage, but still often inconsistent. In a study in Zimbabwe an average of 7 times a month, but only used condoms in about half of those encounters. Difficulty in finding or paying for male condoms may be part of the explanation. Embarrassment, lack of experience or the wrong size of condom can lead to young men failing in their first attempt to use one and becoming more reluctant or maintaining erection, as can happen with older men or these whop have taken alcohol or other substances, contribute as well. Resistance to condom use, inside or outside long-term relationships, may also be rooted in men’s attitudes about sex. IN many cultures, it is believed that men’s need for sex is uncontrollable. Research finds that some men believe they cannot turn down any opportunity to have sex, even if they do not have a condom with them. Loss of sensation, or the belief that sensation will be lost, is another problem. In a study in 14 countries, the most common reason men reported for not using condoms was reduced sexual pleasure.
Applying a small amount of a suitable lubricant to the inside of the condom can restore much of the sensation; however, such lubricants are generally unavailable in most communities. Studies in many countries have confirmed that the female condom is an alternative which some men and women find more comfortable than the male version. Like the male condom, the female version can also be used for anal intercourse. Female condoms are, however, much more expensive and difficult to acquire, and because they remain visible during intercourse they still require male consent. Despite these difficulties, may targeted condom promotion campaigns for men have shown success. A campaign among migrant mine workers in South Africa led to an increase in condom use both with sex workers and with the men’s wives from 18% to 26% over the course of two years. In Thailand the government carried out a campaign promoting “100% condom use” in brothels. As result, condom use increased in, most urban sex- wok settings. At the same time, the Thai government embarked on an ambitious effort to change male attitudes towards women; the campaign to increase respect for women and diminish brothel visits started bearing fruit in a surprisingly short time. In Co^toe d’lvorie and other through social marketing have proven remarkably successful in encouraging the uptake and use of condoms on a regular basis.
A risk-free and condom-free alternative to intercourse is sex without penetration-a practice that some call “outer course”. However, both men are usually brought up to think that only penetration “courts” and that other unsatisfying for themselves or their partners. When condoms are not used, the prevalence of unsafe sex before and outside of marriage plus the lack of HIV testing means that millions of couples around the world do not know whether they are practicing safe sex or not. Except when the goal is contraception, introducing condom use into a regular relationship can be difficult. One problem is difficulty of acknowledging premarital or casual sex and discussing the possibility of infection. For couples that wish to have children, the challenge is compounded by the fact that condoms interfere with procreation. A great deal of AID/HIV transmission occurs as a result.
In protecting the household against someone with AIDS a person should call a doctor or nurse to find how important it is to be very cautions behind that person. For example things like diarrhea can cause several different germs. Disposable gloves should be warn and hands should be cleaned after. After my research I conducted a small experiment to see what people though about the AIDS virus and its affect on the society. During this observation I asked one person 4 questions to learn more about AIDS.
When asking question about AIDS I got good answers that helped me farther along on my research. I first asked what kind of effects does AIDS have on our society? He replied that AIDS has a major affect on the world today there is so much to learn about this disease. Then I asked do you feel that parents and schools should address students on the means of having saver sex? He then stated that yes he think so because so many young people are having unprotected sex. He also thought that they should be required to learn more about different sexual diseases. Then I asked how important it was to him and what he thought. He implied that disease means a great deal to him and is well taught to his teenagers at home. Then to around it up I ask do he feel that more effort should be put into a cure. I responded and said hell yes he feels that more effort should be put into it hell many of the kids have a goal in life and some are born like that and really don’t have an option.
In closing, it is clear that AIDS will persist. Millions more are likely to become infected with HIV, and many, if not all, are likely to die of the disease unless effective treatments or a cure is found. Until this happens, the most effective way of fighting this deadly virus is education about its spread, and preventive ways to shorten the epidemic. This concludes AIDS/HIV A Cure