Gke Task 2

In South Africa, AIDS is one of the top causes of death. South Africa has the biggest AIDS/HIV epidemic in the world because of violence against women, poverty, and lack of education. Given this, “Africans account for nearly 70% of those who live with HIV and are dying of AIDS” (Morgenstern, Dr. Michael).

For this reason the mere possibility of disclosure may impede development of the confidential relationship necessary for successful treatment. (Younggren & Harris, p. 590)

Ever since the first cases of what eventually came to be known as AIDS were diagnosed in the early 1980s, people with HIV/AIDS have been stigmatized. Over time, there have been many misconceptions about this disease. Even though there have been many discoveries, and treatments for HIV have improved over time, there are still many people who understand very little about this disease. This lack of understanding, along with fear, misinformation about how the disease is transmitted, and “moral” judgments made about the types of people who contract HIV, all have led to stigmatization of, and discrimination against, people who are living with HIV/AIDS. Understanding the stigmatization of people with HIV/AIDS is an important social justice issue because that stigmatization can result in people with HIV being insulted, rejected, gossiped about, excluded from family and social activities, fired, and even jailed. People with HIV are no different from people suffering from other chronic diseases. Instead of being alienated, they have a right to be treated with fairness, respect, and dignity.

Nearly three decades ago, there was an increase in deaths of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. Developing countries have experienced the greatest HIV/AIDS morbidity and mortality, with the highest prevalence rates recorded in young adults in sub-Saharan Africa. In South Africa over three million people are killed by this disease (Macfarlene3). After this epidemic spreaded in Africa and killed people it branched out to other countries in the world.

The AIDS epidemic began in the early to mid-1980’s and since it’s recognition in America it has become a very heated and debated topic among health professionals, the gay community, and most of all for the ones that are carrying the virus. The real debate is not over the virus itself but, rather about the infected individuals and whether or not they should be made morally obligated to tell their sexual partners if they are in fact infected. Both sides of the argument make very valid points. From one standpoint you have the gay community that believe in “safer sex ethic”, which keeps their partners in the dark about their overall health status and feel they are not morally obligated to tell their

People that have AIDS or HIV are more sensitive to sharing their health information than others because it could cost them their job. The people that contract these diseases are subject to scrutiny from the public. Since people automatically think that they are gay or lesbian but they are not the only ones that can get HIV or AIDS. When a person is revealed to have HIV or AIDS, he or she may be immediately discriminated against. HIV and AIDS require lifetime treatment that is very expensive to treat (HHS.gov, 2006). Unauthorized disclosure of a person’s positive HIV or AIDS status can lead to job loss; cancellation of insurance; evictions; and loss of friends and colleagues. The United States has developed a set of standards to keep a person’s HIV or AIDS status confidential as well as their other medical conditions. This is called the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. All information is kept private from anyone except that person a

i. The guidelines for this reaction essay can be arranged like that: The word limit should be around 500-700 words, and there should be at least 3 citations, which includes 3 different authors. In addition, the task should cover the opinions about the article and it has to be stated where the students agree/disagree on the article. Moreover, the organization of the task should include an introduction part, body parts (with majors and minors) and a conclusion part.

In this assignment I will discuss a business called Nikos. It is located in 17 Barkly Street, West Footscray, VIC 3020. The business has been operating for the past 9 years. It offers products of:

Persuading the customers: - advertisements attracts the customers to buy the products and services of an organisation.

Although confidentiality is considered to be of great importance in therapeutic relationship, one must not assume it to be independent. In particular, confidentiality ought to be compromised whenever it conflicts with a higher moral value, such as the duty to safeguard human life. Most often physicians do not know if to disclose the HIV status of their patients to known contacts or if failure to do so may give rise to liability if the known contact becomes HIV positive. This is one of the most controversial issues in reporting and partner notification

Public Health England released a report in 2014 on the data collected about the HIV epidemic in the United Kingdom. Men who have sex with men (MSM) are shown to be the most affected demographic group and are at the highest risk of becoming infected with HIV. In 2013, 40.4% of the 107,800 people living with HIV in the UK were MSM. The main way HIV is transmitted among MSM is through serodiscordant, unprotected intercourse, that is, one HIV-positive and one HIV-negative person having unprotected anal sex. In this case both partners are at risk. The risky partner in this context is considered to be the person whose status is unknown. It is exactly because of this ignorance and the lack of protection that HIV infection is very likely to occur. According to Public Health England, 7,200 MSM, which is 16% of the total number of MSM infected with HIV, were undiagnosed and unaware of being infected with HIV. Despite that since 1990 the proportion of MSM reporting attending sex health clinics and HIV tests has increased, there are nevertheless 2,600 newly infected MSM each year. There might be several social determinants of health that contribute to the disparity in the risk of HIV acquisition and late diagnosis of the infection, including fear of the stigma surrounding HIV, general misinformation about the infection and lack of perceived individual risk. (Public Health England, 2014; Sigma Research 2008)

Women use a variety of ways to try to account for their sexually transmitted diseases, both to themselves and to others. Nack divided these methods into 2 main categories, stigma nonacceptance, and stigma acceptance. Nack’s article used a study of 28 women, 19 of whom initially utilized techniques from the stigma nonacceptance category and 9 of whom appeared to immediately accept the diagnosis and shared the information with select family members or friends soon after receiving the news. This seems to show that for the majority of women in the study there was a process when moving from stigma nonacceptance to stigma acceptance.

Although ninety-five percent of people living with HIV/AIDS are in developing countries, the impact of this epidemic is global. In South Africa, where one in four adults are living with the disease, HIV/AIDS means almost certain death for those infected. In developed countries however, the introduction of antiretroviral drugs has meant HIV/AIDS is treated as a chronic condition rather than a killer disease. In developing countries like South Africa, the drugs that allow people to live with the disease elsewhere in the world, are simply too expensive for individuals and governments to afford at market price.

Correspondingly, What happens if HIV positive individuals decide not to disclose their status to their sexual partners? How do the victims feel and what laws do they think should be set in place to prevent the transmission of HIV? K.J. Horvath, R.M. Weinmeyer, and B.R.S. Rosser (2010) examined the overall patterns and outlooks towards criminalization of non-disclose of men with HIV who have sex with other men. In the study the participants who were from different states were asked to complete a 70-minute survey over the course of a 3 ½ months which entailed accessing attitudes and high risk behavior. The goal of this study was to describe the overall pattern and predictors of attitudes toward criminalizing unprotected sex without disclosure by persons living with HIV among a broad sample of men who have sex with men living in the USA. The study found 65% thought it should be illegal for an HIV-positive person to have unprotected sex without disclosure, 23% thought it should not be illegal, and 12% were unsure. However, the results did not show that the justification of HIV Laws would lead to a decrease in the spread of the virus. “Items used for the purpose of this study were taken from a larger online survey of online and offline sexual attitudes and behaviors, substance use, and laws relevant to the GLBT community.” (p.1222) Additionally, What happens when a person’s HIV status is disclosed with or without their consent? Can the intent of the disclosure determine the

HIV is a virus that is spread almost all over the world. Although in some places health care isn’t as developed and therefore it spreads more in those regions. Sub-Saharan Africa holds more than 70%, 25 million, of all HIV positive people in the world. Second highest is Eastern Europe together with Central Asia with 1.3 million. It is spread over most of the world, including Asia and the Pacific, the Caribbean, Central and South America, North Africa and the Middle East and Western and Central Europe (“The Regional Picture”).