Vulnerable Communities
People who are apart of the same-sex communities have an increased rate of getting HIV/AIDS, and especially African-Americans who are same-sex have an incredibly high chance of getting HIV/AIDS. According the HIV.gov, more than 1.1 million people in the United States are currently living with HIV today, and 1 in 7 of them don’t know about their conditions. It has been estimated that around 38,500 Americans became infected for the first time with HIV in 2015. Gay, bisexual, and other people who have sexual encounters with men have the the highest risk group, representing an estimated 26,200 of these new HIV infections.(hiv.gov) According to the same article, HIV diagnoses are not evenly distributed throughout different states and regions throughout the United States.
People in the southern region of the United States totaled more than half of new HIV diagnoses in 2016, while making up just 38% of the nation’s population.(hiv.gov) The state with the highest state population of HIV/AIDS was Florida and Oklahoma, and there are a few reasons behind that. One of the main reasons, is the fact of the party culture playing into effect, and that because of all of the drinking and partying that there is a lot more unprotected sex being had, where the knowledge to use a condom is not as stressed. Another factor, is that there are a decent amount of people living below the poverty line in those states, and depending on which economic class you are apart of, and what ethnicity you are, played a significant factor in the HIV diagnoses. The CDC released a report, that the estimated number of yearly HIV infections throughout the United States has actually decreased by 8% between the years 2010 and 2015 (from 41,800 to 38,500). (cdc.gov). According to the CDC between 2010-2015, the number of HIV infections dropped among people within the age groups of 13-24, 35–44, and 45–54 had all went down drastically. However, the rate for those in the 25–34 demographic, had actually went up (cdc.gov). The number of those who were infected by the disease had actually remained steady amongst individuals who were older than 55.
One thing that while doing research on HIV/AIDS that really stuck out to me, was that gay and bisexual men accounted for 67% (26,570) of all diagnoses and 83% of HIV diagnoses among males, that statistic according to the CDC. (cdc.gov). Black/African-American gay and bisexual men had the highest number of HIV diagnoses (10,223), followed by Hispanic/Latino (7,425) and white (7,390) gay and bisexual men (cdc.gov). I was surprised that the breakdown was so drastic in the racial divide. In the research I tried to figure out why, or the correlation between why it is so much higher in the African-American communities. I think that it is because of the cultural norms, and the fact that in the African-American community they are afraid to be looked at as taboo. In order to address the problem, and get the proper treatment for such a real and serious concern. I then decided based off of the prior statistic, and knowing that Africa was the region that was hit hardest by the AIDS/HIV epidemic, I wanted to learn how they combated the crisis and what countries were the ones on the forefront of the crisis.
Measures against HIV in Uganda
According to the pbr.org article, they talked about how the Ugandan government did the best job combating against the epidemic. The government in Uganda had a strong involvement in solving the crisis and bringing the topic into the public mind. The leadership from President Yoweri Museveni with other national figures, broke the avoidance on the topic, and that public awareness about the epidemic that is going on, led to them developing a systematic effective response to combat it. (pbr.org) They worked with scientists in order to figure out how to treat the condition, but as well as get in contact with those who are effected and get them the proper help. According to the same article, they talk about how it is estimated to have dropped from about 14 percent around 1990 to a mere 5.0 percent today. Another big factor to is having the people understand the importance of having safe-sex, and using protection while having sexual relations.
The Ugandan government really proved that if a bunch of people get involved, and political figures/celebrities get involved to drive it into public awareness, then the benefits start to become apparent. It proved further that its important to work with the people, and not shame them for their lifestyle choices, but appreciate that they are trying to get help, and not try to spread the disease. One potential reason that Africa as a whole did a poor job maintaining and curing the HIV/AIDS epidemic, was the fact that there was so much political unrest during the 1990s when the epidemic was at its worst. The World Health Organization reported that during 1999, nearly one out of every five Africans lived in countries that were going through wars or going through different civil unrest in the country. It became very apparent that if a country is going to be going through civil unrest or going through a war, that they were not necessarily going to be focusing on informing the people to practice safe sex, or how to possibly even spot the signs that you could already been infected with the HIV/AIDS virus.
Fighting HIV Worldwide
For those who aren’t aware of what HIV/AIDS is, according to hiv.gov, HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus. It is the virus that leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS, if an individual goes untreated. Unfortunately, and what makes it so difficult for doctors, is that despite other viruses being able to get stopped and removed from the human body, the human body can’t remove HIV completely, even with treatment. So in basic terms, once you get HIV, you have it for life. The government website devoted to HIV stated that there are different types of HIV, and each type has certain characteristics. One of the bigger signs that are spotted are flu-like symptoms. Nearly 40-90% have symptoms from anywhere between two and four weeks. Some symptoms are: fever, chills, rash, night sweats, muscle aches, and sore throat. The stage after the earlier HIV infection is a stage which is called the clinical latency stage. That is the stage that if it goes untreated it can develop into actual AIDS. There was a new plan that was introduced called the 90-90-90. According to unaids.org, the plan is by 2020, 90%, of all people living with HIV will know their HIV status. As part of their plan, by the year 2020, 90% of all people who are diagnosed with HIV will receive sustained therapy to combat the condition.
Also part of the plan by 2020, 90% of all people receiving therapy will have viral suppression. The overall hope is that by 2030, that it would be 95-95-95. According to World Health Organization, or WHO, they say that Sweden is the first country that is on pace to get to that goal. At the end of 2015, 90% of HIV cases in Sweden were diagnosed, 99.8% of people were linked to care and 95% of people taking anti-retroviral for a minimum of six months had viral loads below 50 copies/ml.(aidsmap.com.) There were a couple of reasons that Sweden has been so successful getting themselves in a good position and treating the HIV/AIDS crisis. According to the World Health Organization’s report, they produced legislation that forces, laboratories and clinicians to report new HIV cases; patients to keep follow-up appointments; linkage of patients to specialist treatment centers with multi-disciplinary teams; free access to ART and high level of adherence to national guidelines.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, they talk about how in 2010, the lifetime treatment cost of an HIV infection is estimated at $379,668. For most people, that price is astronomically high, especially for those of lower income which most people who are suffering through HIV/AIDS usually are. In 1995, the average life expectancy after being diagnosed with HIV was just 10 and ½ years. In 2005, the average life expectancy after being diagnosed with HIV, was 22.5 years. That statistic was definitely shocking to me because after reading that, because in just 10 years, especially at time where the technology wasn’t where it is today, that their was that much growth. This is also a time where scientific growth is starting to boom, but the price for the medicine to help treat HIV. Additionally, the opioid crisis has played a significant role currently in the United States HIV/hepatitis c issue. People are sharing needles with one another in order to get the drugs that people are craving which have been getting more people HIV. To make matters even worse, according to the CDC, 68% of the counties vulnerable to an HIV or HCF outbreak are among people who inject drugs drugs are found in the south.
Furthermore, 23% of new HIV diagnoses in the South are in suburban and rural areas. Another shocking statistic from the same article stated that, in the south, black women accounted for 71% of women living with diagnosed HIV. There are a few reasons why the south has higher infected people with HIV. They largely revolve around the idea of racism, the fact that homophobia, transphobia, and the lack of conformability of about talking about sexuality has also played a large factor into the problem in the south. It makes it tougher for people to want to get tested for HIV, to get treatment for HIV, or to get prevention measures. The Center for Disease Control has done a lot of different things to try to help people in the southern regions, and get them the support that they need. In 2015, the CDC had poured $201 million dollars in HIV prevention, which was a 22% increase compared to just five years before. The goal of the CDC Prevention programs was to increase the amount of people who were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, by making the testing a relatively simple process. Additionally, they wanted to make sure that they were treating the actual condition a lot earlier rather then waiting to try and get treatment. By treating the condition earlier, you can slow down the process by 96%.
Another one of their goals was to make condoms available for people who could potentially be at risk for HIV, or who already have contracted HIV. They want to increase the knowledge of pre-exposure prophylaxis, which is a daily HIV prevention pill taken by those who are suffering with HIV, or who could be at an increased risk for HIV. When PrEP is taken, the risk for HIV goes down by 90%. By doing all of this research and doing all of the readings, I started to realize that we are doing a decent job combating against a condition that has no real cure, and that it is on governmental figures and our schools to increase the knowledge about the condition and what you can do to stop the spread of it. If I was a public official, especially if I was in the south, I would do campaigns to address the severity of HIV/AIDS, and let people realize that you can help for it. I would also try to change the stigma around the condition. I would do community events, for members of the LGBTQ+ communities, which would bring the topic to the surface, and give them the support. Another factor, is having the mothers of the newborns know that they can get help before they give birth and give their baby HIV. Each week, 7,500 women between the the ages of 18-24 get HIV. It is imperative that women have more of a say in safer sex practices. In conclusion, HIV/AIDS epidemic is a serious topic that I learned a lot more about throughout the research that I read for this paper. It is something that is a serious concern that most people today are overlooking or think that it isn’t as severe.
Conclusion
People today are still getting infected, and people are still dying because they aren’t getting the necessary healthcare that they need in order to stop the spreading of the strain. There has definitely been strides to help protect people, such as the 90-90-90 plan that I am looking forward in the next few years seeing how it plays out, but I am also looking forward to people not have to worry about losing a mother, a brother, a sister, a father to HIV, and especially those individuals who are afraid because of the cost that they wouldn’t be able to afford the proper care.
