Question:
This assessment requires you to create an APA-formatted review article on a global health topic.
This assessment is:
Your topic should be identified.
Give background information and statistics about the topic, including global areas most affected and health care issues most commonly associated with it.
Discuss the factors that have an impact on health and the delivery of health care in the areas around the world most affected by your topic.
These factors could include culture, tradition, politics, economics, or social attitudes.
Explain the impact of charitable organizations (Peace Corps and Project Hope, religious or non-religious missionaries, etc.) on health and the health care practices in the area that is specifically related to the topic.
Please describe the interventions that were used to address the health-care issues related to the topic.
Both conventional and unusual interventions are acceptable.
Explain how health care delivery and decisions at the local level affect health in the other areas.
This does not only include best practices but also includes poor practices and decisions.
Find evidence-based interventions that promote wellness and prevention in your area.
Answer:
Human Immunodeficiency Virus & Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS), is a spectrum of medical conditions that are caused by human immunodeficiency virus.
As the disease progresses, patients are more likely to develop a variety of infections such as tuberculosis or other opportunistic diseases.
These symptoms are called AIDS.
HIV spreads mainly by unprotected sexual contact, contaminated hypodermic injections, blood transfusion, and from mother to baby or breastfeeding.
The high mortality rate from HIV is a serious public health problem. This is due to the lack of effective treatment.
There is no cure or vaccine for the disease.
Antiviral treatment can slow down the progression of the disease (Liamputtong 2015).
According to reports, around 36.7 million people were living with HIV in 2015 and around 1.1 million died.
The majority of those who are affected are from sub-Saharan Africa.
This is because there are not enough health care resources available for them.
The region also has a low level of nutrition.
The majority of the population is not educated.
The majority of people are unaware of the preventive measures that can be taken to avoid the disease.
According to UNESCO’s Regional Overview on sub-Saharan Africa in 2000, 52% of sub-Saharan African children were enrolled in primary school, which is the lowest rate in any region.
The CDC, United States, was the first to recognize AIDS in 1981.
It is estimated that AIDS has caused around 39 million deaths between its discovery in 1981 and 2014.
Around 40,000 HIV-positive people in the United States were diagnosed in 2015.
In 2015, the most affected population was gay and bisexual men (avert.org 2016,).
At the moment, there are approximately 1.2 million HIV-infected people in America.
Although the epidemic is small, it can be significant in relation to the entire country’s population.
It is concentrated in the most affected areas.
AIDS-related illness has caused approximately 675,000 deaths in the US (cdc.gov 2016, 2016).
Liamputtong (2015) stated that HIV/AIDS has a significant impact on society as a source for discrimination as well as a disease.
The disease has a significant economic impact. There are also many religious controversies surrounding the disease.
Social workers and medical researchers have been drawn to the issue, who are working together to reduce the disease’s social and health impact.
Mondol and Shitan (2013) state that HIV/AIDS is a major obstacle to human civilization’s progress.
Global HIV prevalence is strongly correlated with many social factors such as the density of doctors, contraceptive prevalence, adolescents, and the proportion of certain religions.
Edwards and Collins (2014) found that black women are at greater risk for HIV infection from a global perspective. This is partly due to the social determinants in their cultures.
Social determinants can affect women’s vulnerability. These include major disadvantages due to their race, gender, geographical location, economic status, and ethnicity.
The barriers are often overlapping, which can lead to unique results that could have an impact on sexual and general behavior and decision-making attitude.
Social science research has shown that behavioral changes can weaken the efforts to prevent infection. This is due to complex social and cultural contexts.
Cognitive processes and rational factors can alter the decision-making patterns and decisions of individuals. This includes cultural beliefs, emotions, and peer pressure.
There are many barriers that prevent the delivery of adequate healthcare services for HIV/AIDS. This is a subject of heated debate.
Many health care organizations play a key role in HIV prevention and treatment.
These organisations face formidable challenges when it comes to the delivery of quality services.
While some organizations are able to meet the needs of patients, others struggle to communicate with the beliefs and values of the communities they serve.
Barriers to the delivery of services and prevention are caused by sociocultural, individual, organizational, and structural factors.
These challenges require immediate technical assistance (Benton 2015).
Morgan et. al. (2013) highlighted the importance of faith-based organisations or altruistic organizations in providing HIV prevention and mitigation services.
Altruism is a set of values, motivations and practices that focuses on the sexual behavior of an individual out of concern for others.
This includes protecting one’s partner from infection and caring for the family, friends, and community.
According to the authors, these organsiations use social theories to bring about changes in an individual’s behavior.
Although such altruistic organizations have been around for a long time, the general responses to these practices are highly controversial.
This mostly concerns the rejection and prevention of condom use that conflicts with national HIV/AIDS response responses.
Peace Corps is a global leader in HIV/AIDS prevention.
Peace Corps volunteers can be found in 140 countries. They have demonstrated creativity and ingenuity over the past five decades to address major health issues, including HIV/AIDS.
It has been a major contributor to the HIV response.
The volunteers work in 9,000 communities, and have helped 1.3 million HIV-infected people till 2011.
This organisation combines global efforts to create an AIDS-free generation.
They work in partnership with other countries to create a joint venture.
They manage and implement responses.
They collaborate with multilateral and bilateral partners to increase mobilisation.
To spread awareness and education, the organisation celebrates World AIDS Day.
The Peace Corps used funds from President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in 2011 to expand its HIV work in 47 countries.
These Peace Corps post in these countries make use of appropriate resources to enhance their HIV/AIDS programming.
Project HOPE (HIV/AIDS Outreach Prevention Education), another important organization, aims to improve lives of HIV-positive people and those at risk.
These services include preventive education, medical case management, and diagnostics (Abara, et al. 2015).
Organizations around the world have developed a variety of interventions to stop the rapid transmission of HIV.
These interventions can be used to protect individuals or communities, or as part of public health policies.
The prevention programs initially focused on sexual transmission prevention through behavioral changes.
With a wealth of evidence showing that it is necessary to take into account economic, political, and socio-cultural factors in order to prevent sexual transmission, interventional strategies now include a mix of biomedical, structural, and behavioral interventions.
These combinational prevention strategies encourage a holistic approach that addresses both the individual and community needs (Magidson, et al. 2017, 2017).
Cross and Whiteside (2016) claim that HIV/AIDS care in sub-Saharan Africa, a region where HIV/AIDS incidences are high, is different from other parts of the world.
Both Africa and countries like the USA have developed policies to improve quality of life and have responded to the crisis in an almost identical manner.
However, countries in Africa have been left behind by the advanced resources and development in other countries. This has led to a decline in their ability to prevent HIV.
HIV treatment would have been easier if the sub-Saharan countries had the same resources.
Watkins-Hayes (2014) presents the best evidence to prove that HIV is curable.
Priority intervention is to enable individuals to know their HIV status.
Client-initiated counseling and HIV testing can help. Partner and family counselling can also be helpful. Children and infant counselling, blood donor counselling, testing, and adequate laboratory services are all possible.
Another strategy would be to maximize the contribution of health sector personnel towards HIV prevention.
Promoting condom use, education about family planning and contraceptives would be key.
A further step in slowing the spread of HIV would be to provide nutritional support for those who are most vulnerable.
These can be achieved by regular assessments of nutrition and diet, and education about these issues.
Relevant interventions are only possible when sufficient research is done to determine the relationship between HIV status and socio-economic parameters.
The article concludes by pointing out that the global prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (AIDS) has impeded progress in human civilisation.
This disease is a serious concern and a pressing health problem worldwide.
It is evident that the disease is very common in the world. There are urgent needs to address it.
International organizations must support the reduction of HIV/AIDS’s impact by training and education and increase the number and quality of care workers in countries most affected.
Refer to
The implementation, challenges and lessons learned of a faith-based partnership for HIV/AIDS treatment in the southern United States.
Journal of religion, health, 54(1): 122-133.
HIV exceptionalism.
University of Minnesota Press.
Face to AIDS: South Africa’s socio-economic impact.
Investigating the impact of social determinants on HIV risk behavior and the possibility of applying structural interventions to prevent HIV among women.
Journal of health disparities research, and practice, 7 (SI2): 141.
AVERT.
Statistics Overview
Stigma, Discrimination, and Living with HIV/AIDS.
Task Shifting and Delivery Of Behavioral Medicine Interventions In Resource-Poor Global Settings: HIV/AIDS Treatment In Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Behavioral Medicine (pp.
Springer International Publishing.
An ecological analysis of global data reveals factors that affect the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
African health sciences, 13(2): 301-310.
Harmonizing faith-based and national HIV/AIDS prevention strategies?
Factors that influence the HIV/AIDS prevention strategy process in Tanzania and the response of faith-based NGOs to it.
Health planning and policy, czt018.
The sociology of HIV/AIDS and intersectionality: Past, present and future research directions.
Annual Review of Sociology 40, 431-457.