Social effects of high levels of HIV/AIDS infection
Question one
HIV/AIDS is a national pandemic that affects all people in the society. The disease has different social effects on population. One of the social effects of HIV/AIDS is that it causes stigmatization from members of the society. Societies perceive people suffering from the disease as immoral because they believe that many people contract the disease through sexual intercourse (Brock, 2008, p. 379). There are both long and short term effects that face people ailing from HIV/AIDS. One of the long-term effects of children suffering from the disease include seclusion from the other children, which may affect them psychologically in their entire lives. Short term effects include frequent illnesses and treatments that may cost huge sums of money. Long-term effects on women include society stigmatization, loneliness and psychological effects (David, Lindy & Ingrid, 2010, p. 15). Short term effects include low self-esteem and conflicts that may arise between the families. Long-term effects on women include stigmatization by the society and psychological effects. Short-term effects include reduced productivity at work, sicknesses such as tuberculosis among many others. The effects are likewise similar among the elderly people suffering from the disease.
Question two
The prognosis
Once an individual contracts this disease, the body reacts in different ways. Various factors contribute how an individual reacts to an infection. These factors include age, gender, mode of transmission and co-infections among many others. For example, when a person with the virus avoids sexual intercourse with people with the disease, he/she may live longer than those who engage in sexual intercourse. The rationale to explain this is that different people have different strains of the virus and when such virus enters the body, they weaken the white blood cells at a faster rate (Blumenreich, & Siegel, 2006, p. 81).
Question three
Social determinants associated with prognosis of HIV/AID infections
The rate of HIV/AIDS infections in most societies is due to a number of factors. They include the lack of viable employment, which makes people engage in bad behaviors, lack of quality education and awareness on the causes of HIV/AIDS, lack of accessibility to medical care, unpleasant neighborhood, and use of drugs, traditional and cultural beliefs among many others (Heymer, & Wilson, 2011, p. 281). The social determinants associated with worse prognosis are cultural beliefs and lack of awareness on the disease.
Question four
Relationship between Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS
Relationship of these two diseases is close and is referred to as co-epidemic (Heymer, & Wilson, 2011, p. 280). People suffering from HIV/AIDS are at risk of contracting TB. If TB is treated quickly, a patient can live longer. Rich people have an advantage because they can access to medicine quickly as opposed to poor people. This explains why the death rate is high in rural areas than in areas where people can afford medication.
References
Blumenreich, M. & Siegel, M. (2006). Innocent Victims, Fighter Cells, and White Uncles: A Discourse Analysis of Children’s Books about AIDS, Children’s Literature in Education, 37(1): 81-110.
Brock, R. (2008). An “onerous citizenship”: Globalization, cultural flows and the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Hari Kunzru’s Transmission. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 44(4):379-390.
David, P., Lindy, K., & Ingrid, B. (2010). Undergraduate nursing student’s attitudes towards caring for people with HIV/AIDS, In Nurse Education Today. 32(1):15-20.
Heymer, K. & Wilson, P. (2011). Treatment for prevention of HIV transmission in a localized epidemic: the case for South Australia, Sexual Health [Sex Health], 8(3): 280-94
