Hiv Infection And Aids Prevention example essay topic

African Americans who live in low-income communities are more likely to engage in unprotected sexual activities than those who live in higher-income communities. ii Table of Contents Chapter Page /'s I. The Problem 1-2 II. Theoretical Framework 3-5 . Hypothesis 6 IV. Population and Design 7-8 V. Conclusion 9-10 VI. Bibliography 11-121 I. Problem Little to nothing was known about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) when it first erupted in the 1970's. When the epidemic finally reached noticeable proportions in the early 1980's, a disease that knows no gender, racial, or class boundaries has created a devastating impact on society.

This disease has afflicted society in virtually epidemic proportions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, there are an estimated 1 million Americans infected with AIDS and 40,000-80,000 new infections with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) each year. There are few people who do not know someone who has died of AIDS, and it is estimated that, early in the new millennium, some forty million people worldwide will be infected with HIV, and ten million of them will develop AIDS. Research and statistics reveals that individual behavior is the strongest determinant of HIV and AIDS risk. This high-risk behavior place them in danger and is passed on to others by means of exchanging sex for money or drugs, injection drug users (IDUs), incarcerated persons, unborn babies of infected mothers, and other persons who have numerous sex partners. Individuals in communities where Sexual Transmitted Diseases are prevalent are also at high risk rates of AIDS and HIV infection are substantially higher in blacks than among whites, especially among adolescents and young adults (Healthy People 2000).

Many factors contribute to why there are more African Americans infected with HIV, AIDS, and STDs than any other racial and ethnic group. 2 The purpose of this explanatory study is to find out why African Americans who live in low-income / African American communities are more likely to engage in unprotected sexual activities than those who live in higher-income communities, which could lead to sexual transmitted diseases. So, the issue at hand and the recommendation concerning preventive health and counseling prevent sexually transmitted diseases and human immunodeficiency virus begins with the efficacy of risk reduction (sexual behavior), prevention, intervention, and clinician counseling deliver in a variety of settings (clinician or non-clinician). Many studies has revealed that children are not receiving information about sexuality and sexual behavior from their parents, do not have the availability of physicians to counsel adolescents and adult patients on measures to prevent STDs (primarily HIV), especially if they are treated once for infections in lower-income communities. There are other factors and measures that have been issued by a number of organizations that explain why African Americans and where they live makes them more susceptible to HIV infection and AIDS. Sexually transmitted diseases as a whole affect millions of people in the United States and around the world each year, causing significant morbidity and mortality.

In this study, I will try to discover why this epidemic has run out of control, especially among African Americans, in the United States which has continued to rise, reaching more than 160,000 by the end of 1990 (CDC, 1994). And through December 2000, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has received reports of 774,467 AIDS cases, of those, 292,522 cases occurred among African Americans (CDC, 2000). 3 II. Theoretical Framework Several reports and statistics has revealed that the correlation between these variables: African Americans, low-income and poverty ridden communities are some of the main reasons HIV infections and AIDS rates tend to be higher among African Americans than white Americans. Reported rates of some others sexually transmitted diseases are as much as 30 times higher for African Americans than for whites. This disparity is due in part, to the fact that African Americana are more likely to seek care in public clinics that report STDs more completely than private providers.

Maybe! However, this reporting bias does not fully explain these differences I will be explaining such as other important factors like the distribution of poverty (based on income), access to quality health care, health seeking behaviors, the level of drug use, and sexual networks with high sexually transmitted disease prevalence. Some prominent organizations such as the American Medical Association (AMA), the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the AMA Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services (GAPS) recommend providing routine advice to all children and adolescent about responsible sexual behaviors that include abstinence, the use of condoms, and school based programs aimed at reducing sexual risk behaviors through awareness and education. 4 The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports encouraging abstinence among adolescents, but both organizations endorse educating sexually active teens about proper condom use and also increasing the availability of condoms at sites serving youth (AMA, 1994). Do these sites exist in lower-income communities?

Nonetheless, many are concerned that promoting condoms use in adolescents will lead to increased sexual activity. I agree, but the risk factors and the sexual behavior is reduced. Whether we provide and issue condoms and contraceptives at our public schools or not, our children must somehow understand how HIV infections and AIDS is spread throughout the population (Anspaugh, Hamrick & Rosato, 2000, p. 424-425). Moreover, the level of prevention education may vary widely across communities. In some areas such as high-income and upscale communities, community-based efforts may be widespread across social, educational, and religious organizations. However, in other communities, such as low-income and crime ridden communities, STDs prevention education may not exist and possibly will never be a high priority.

Even though some efforts I know are underway to increase AIDS prevention in both public and private sectors here in Columbus (billboards postings), but what about larger inner cities throughout the nation where more cases are noted (population density is no excuse). Yet, research has shown that some sectors (typically African Americans) are at very high risks and lack even basic information about STDs, HIV infection, and AIDS prevention. 5 So, the problem still arises, because the facts and figures that I keep revealing are not just theories, they point to prevention and not just the epidemiology of this dreadful disease that is affecting so many African Americans. The epidemiology of STDs such as HIV infection and AIDS are critical for several reasons. First, STDs, like many other diseases, are transmitted through practice of human behavior. Secondly, a wide range of social factors thus affect STDs, HIV infection, AIDS and how they are spread ed, they include migration, identifying relationship between lifestyles and diseases, and war and poverty (economics / income level).

Understanding epidemiology will help target those persons who are infected, where they live, and those who continued to spread these diseases to other uninfected persons. 6 . Hypothesis The goal of this explanatory research is to find out why is there so much disparity among race when we discussed HIV infection, the virus that causes AIDS. The main objective of this study is to determine what social factors, social numbers, and economic values have contributed to more African Americans been infected with HIV infection and AIDS (including all other STDs) than any other racial / ethnic group. The hypothesis of this study is: African Americans who live in low-income communities are more likely to engage in unprotected sexual activities than those who live in higher-income communities. The following statistics will indeed prove that past research and data analysis (indexes and scales) will help determine why more African Americans are reported with AIDS than any other racial / ethnic group.

By merely looking at some of the staggering figures and stats reported by the CDC, one population, and this study design conducted will help show why. Hopefully the percentages given and the correlations in the variables are empirically related and provide reliability and validity to measure my hypothesis. 7 IV. Population and Design The staggering data provided by the CDC involves some probability sampling use.

The basic logic of this probability sampling is not difficult to understand. Through December 2000, representing only an estimated 12% of the total United States population, African Americans make up almost 38% of all cases reported in this country. Of persons infected with HIV, it is estimated that almost 129,000 African Americans were living with AIDS at the end of 1999. Data on HIV and AIDS diagnoses in 25 states with integrated reporting systems show the increased impact of the epidemic on the African American community in the last few years. In these states, during the period from January 1996 through June 1999, African Americans represented a high proportion (50%) of all AIDS diagnosis, but an ever-greater proportion (57%) of all HIV diagnosis. And among young people (ages 13 to 24), 65% of HIV diagnoses were among African Americans (CDC 2000).

One sample used to further explain is adult / adolescent men. Among African Americans reported with AIDS, men who have sex with men represent the largest proportion (37%) of reported cases since the epidemic began. The second most common exposure category for African American men is injection drug use (34%), which is more prevalent in low-income communities. 8 Second sample, is the adult / adolescent women.

Among African American women reported with AIDS, injection drug use has accounted for 41% of all AIDS case reports since the epidemic began. And finally, one case study conducted by author Dr. Richard A. Crosby of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, further helps to support the hypothesis in this study. Crosby and his team surveyed 571 low-income African American Missouri residents (women). About one quarter of the respondents lived in rural counties, while the majority lived in urban or suburban areas. Rural women were twice as likely as urban or suburban to say that they did not have a preferred way to prevent HIV or sexually transmitted diseases (Rollins School of Public Health). With the last experimental group used and looking at other studies among high-risk populations gives an even clearer picture of why the epidemic continues to spread in communities of color, that being African American communities.

The data I presented and the following three interrelated issues play a roll. 1) The continued health disparities between economic classes (low-high income), 2) The challenges related to controlling substance abuse (injection drug use), and 3) The intersection of substance abuse with the epidemic of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. 9 V. Conclusions This study was conducted with the objective to determine why HIV / AIDS is more prevalent in African American communities than other communities. The data, analysis, and studies should have yielded explanatory insights and the understanding of the problem (hypothesis) I researched. The results of my research provide a clear picture of data presented based on the number of cases reported by clinics or other medical facilities. The study (longitudinal in some regards) is as accurate as the information and data revealed.

It would be a mistake, however, to assume that my research brought conclusion to my hypothesis. Researchers are almost never able to study all of the member of the population that interest us or is under study. The general pattern of research revealed in this study gives important and wide range of information to a social phenomenon that can be studied every ten years (trend study), periodically, or by age group over time (cohort study). It is very important that the selection of the study is central to the social economic, prevention and treatment of all STDs. There are diagnosis and treatment, behavioral intervention and vaccination that all have limitations both in efficacy and implementation. It should be noted that parents should be alert as well as the United States government that is not only a racial epidemic but socially as well, as we moved well into the next century.

10 This experiment along with other studies should help make awareness and education a priority when we speak HIV, AIDS and STDs. It is clear that the public sector alone cannot successfully combat HIV and AIDS in the African American community. We must as parents, teachers, and physicians play and even greater role in combating HIV / AIDS not only in our own community but in others as well. We must not forget that sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV infection and AIDS will continue to strive, and it's largely due because of ignorance and inaction. The effects of AIDS on the world are very far-reaching.

It affects every part of our nation and every age group. AIDS has caused the world to think about their lives AND HOW FRAGILE LIFE IS. They must be careful and use caution. Hopefully, all of the world will one day take the knowledge they know about AIDS and other STDs and apply it. 11

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The Practice of Social Research (9th ed. ). United States: Wadsworth / Thomson Learning. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV / AIDS Surveillance Report. Atlanta: Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, 1995;
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Publication no. DHHS (PHS) 95-1256 - 1). Research on Molecular Immunology of Sexually Transmitted Diseases. NIH GUIDE, Volume 21, Number 19, May 22, 1992.