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Recommended: Prevention of hiv
Cancer and HIV/AIDS are both treatable but incurable illnesses yet somehow society has given them two very different connotations. It is not the man with lung cancer’s fault that he got cancer. He smoked for 40 years and he knew the risks but it is not his fault. If there is blame to be placed, place it on the unfinished pack of cigarettes in the bedside table. This man’s disease is a misfortunate accident. The woman in the room beside him, however, made herself sick. She knew the risks and she had sex anyways. That whore has slept with three men her entire life! The third is the one who did her in. He knew he was HIV positive but he was in denial. He did not want to admit to his girlfriend of 6 months, he was too embarrassed. Innocent until proven guilty, he thought, well now they are both marked by the beast. It is her fault that she did not know.
This was the attitude originally associated with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. There was no sympathy for the victims because they did not deserve it. Even children born with the disease were looked down upon; it was their parent’s faults and, therefore, it was their fault. Luckily, much of this speculation has changed throughout the years in America and other developed nations. On the other hand, there still remain countries of poverty in the dark of the reality of this illness. On continents such as Africa the countries are not only lacking resources, but education on how to deal with this pandemic, much of this due to lack of communication and understanding. Not only does this virus pose a direct threat to those infected but emotionally it takes a toll as well, especially when they are constantly victimized due to a sickness that is beyond their control. The fact of the matter is that “st...
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... Edgar, Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, and Vicki S. Freimuth. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992. 147-72. Print.
Oppong, Joseph R., and Ezekiel Kalipeni. "Chapter 3: Perceptions and Misperceptions of AIDS in Africa." HIV and AIDS in Africa: Beyond Epidemiology. Ed. Ezekiel Kalipeni, Susan Craddock, Joseph R. Oppong, and Jayati Ghosh. Malden: Blackwell, 2004. 47-57. Print.
Poku, Nana K. Aids In Africa: How the Poor Are Dying. Malden: Polity, 2005. Print.
Rankin, William W., Sean Brennan, Ellen Schell, Jones Laviwa, and Sally H. Rankin. "The Stigma of Being HIV-Positive in Africa." PLOS Medicine. PLOS, 19 July 2005. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Schoepf, Brooke G. "Chapter 1: AIDS, History, and Struggles over Meaning." HIV and AIDS in Africa: Beyond Epidemiology. Ed. Ezekiel Kalipeni, Susan Craddok, Joseph R. Oppong, and Jayati Ghosh. Malden: Blackwell, 2004. 15-28. Print.
3.Graham, Judith, ed. Current Biography Yearbook Vol. 1962, New York: The H.W Wilson Company, 1993
The first misconception claims that there is the notion that “evil” is only something committed by despots and tyrants, such as the atrocities studied in human history. Second, is the notion that the medical community is complicit in the decline of society by engaging in a “ridiculous pas de deux.” This meaning that eminently predictable problems attributable to bad choices made by individuals are conceptualized and treated as medical ailments, such as depression. The following point states that while few individuals specifically seek to do evil, virtually all of the evil in modern life (at least within non-tyrannical societies) is caused by the choices made by persons throughout their lives. Fourth, the idea that passing judgment on moral choices and irresponsible behaviors is “wrong.” As a final point, he expresses that the state blindly enables the conduct responsible for the decline of society by rewarding and incentivizing personal irresponsibility.
New York: Greenhaven, 2005. 162-68. The. Print. The. Solley, Bobbie A. & Co.
Stephanie Nolen was already known for her work as the Globe and Mail’s Africa correspondent, ranging from the effects of war on women and children, to Stephen Lewis’ fight to end AIDS in Africa, when she published 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa in 2007. 28 is Nolen’s attempt to reflect the 28 million Africans who had HIV in 2007. Nolen gathered the testimonies of 28 individuals including orphans, miners, grandmothers, soldiers, the clergy, and Nelson Mandela. In this book, Nolen seamlessly integrates personal stories of the victims with shocking statistics and engrossing quotes, effortlessly bring a ‘human face’ to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This is a great piece of work demanding both empathy and immediate action.
The HIV epidemic hits nowhere else in the world harder than Sub-Saharan Africa, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the entire world’s cases of HIV. In her book, “The Invisible Cure”, writer Helen Epstein explores the myriad of reasons as to why the HIV outbreak is so alarming as well as differentiated than any other area of the world. Epstein explores how cultural factors influence individual behaviors as well as generations that grow up under these cultural conditions, how political involvement (or lack thereof) can often misinform people, and how structural levels of privilege allows less opportunity for those in poverty to obtain the help that they may need.
What would you say if I asked you to tell me what you think is causing the death of so many people in the horn of Africa? AIDS? Starvation? War? Would it surprise you if I told you that it all boils down to the women of Africa? Kofi Annan attempts to do just this in his essay “In Africa, Aids Has a Woman's Face.” Annan uses his work to tell us that women make up the “economic foundation of rural Africa” and the greatest way for Africa to thrive is through the women of Africa's freedom, power, and knowledge.
Spink, Gemma. "AIDS." AVERTing HIV and AIDS. 23 Dec 2009. Web. 11 Jan 2010. .
As recently as 1990, there were some regions of the world that had remained relatively unscathed by AIDS. Today, however, there is not a single country around the world that has wholly escaped the AIDS epidemic. As the epidemic has matured, some of the developed nations which were hard hit by the epidemic in the 1980s, such as the United States, have reported a slowing in the rate of new infections and a stabilization among existing cases with lower mortality rates and an extension of post-diagnosis lifespan. However, despite the changing face of the global AIDS pandemic, one factor remains unchanged: no region of the world bears a higher AIDS-related burden than sub-Saharan Africa. This paper examines the demographic effects of AIDS in Africa, focusing on the hardest-hit countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
Gilbert, L. S. (2009). Society, Health and Disease in a Time of HIV/AIDS. South Africa: Pan Macmillan.
107. The 107-34. Print. The. McCuen-Metherell, Jo Ray, and Anthony C. Winkler.
African governments have given in to the whim’s of international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in social and health policies, and with this, has come a shift away from former emphasis on social justice and equitable market efficiency to public health services for all now being perceived as a major threat ...
Ed. Janelle Rohr. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1989. Call Number: HV4711.A581989. Cohen, Carl.
From the moment scientists identified HIV and AIDS, social responses of fear, denial, stigma and discrimination have accompanied the epidemic. Discrimination has spread rapidly, fuelling anxiety and prejudice against the groups most affected, as well as those living with HIV or AIDS. It goes without saying that HIV and AIDS are as much about social phenomena as they are about biological and medical concerns. Across the world the global epidemic of HIV/AIDS has shown itself capable of triggering responses of compassion, solidarity and support, bringing out the best in people, their families and communities. But the disease is also associated with stigma, repression and discrimination, as individuals affected (or believed to be affected) by HIV have been rejected by their families, their loved ones and their communities. This rejection holds as true in the rich countries of the north as it does in the poorer countries of the south.
The emergence of HIV/AIDS is viewed globally as one of the most serious health and developmental challenges our society faces today. Being a lentivirus, HIV slowly replicates over time, attacking and wearing down the human immune system subsequently leading to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) at which point the affected individual is exposed to life threatening illnesses and eventual death. Despite the fact that a few instances of this disease have been accounted for in all parts of the world, a high rate of the aforementioned living with HIV are situated in either low or medium wage procuring nations. The Sub-Saharan region Africa is recognized as the geographic region most afflicted by the pandemic. In previous years, people living with HIV or at risk of getting infected did not have enough access to prevention, care and treatment neither were they properly sensitized about the disease. These days, awareness and accessibility to all the mentioned (preventive methods, care etc.) has risen dramatically due to several global responses to the epidemic. An estimated half of newly infected people are among those under age 25(The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic). It hits hard as it has no visible symptoms and can go a long time without being diagnosed until one is tested or before it is too late to manage.
Janet Wash. “Women’s Property Rights Violations and HIV/AIDS in Africa.” Peace Review April-September: Page 190, 192, 193