The Global Challenges of HIV-AIDS and the Living Environment

While there are countries that have succeeded in slowing the epidemic, it is on the rise in others. The most affected regions are sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. The disease is stifling progress at a personal, family, community and national levels. It also poses a threat to economic growth and political stability in severely ravaged countries (World Bank 2002). The global challenges of HIV/AIDS entails carrying out an exhaustive and up-to-date overview of the epidemic-covering the most vulnerable groups, health, demographic, social and economic effects of AIDS, prevention care and treatment, how to manage the various aspects of the disease and the challenges faced by various individuals in a bid to control the spread of HIV. A wide range of physical health problems are associated with individuals who have contracted the HIV/AIDS virus. This is because their immune system has weakened over time and as a result it is not capable of fighting infections within the body. There are also various ways through which the living environment both social and economical, affects the HIV/AIDS victims such as being ashamed of one’s status, isolation and stigmatization come about after one contracts the HIV/AIDS virus. Thus the people living around the infected persons isolate them out of ignorance; all these issues have negatively affected the fight against the virus and resulted in increase of infections. The need to raise awareness among them is critical to the well being of the affected persons as well as the communities that they reside in. Even though HIV/AIDS victims comprise of a high population, HIV/AIDS has affected the community in a bias way whereby women and children bear the brunt of the disease. Women across all social and economic divide are equally affected and prone to HIV/AIDS than the male counterparts. The female biological make-up is quite different from that of the male since their body’s reproductive organs are twice more likely to pass the HIV virus into the body system compared to the male reproductive organs. In addition, women aren’t known to take control of their sexually lives as this is viewed as a man’s role and therefore use of condoms and other protective devices is usually left to the male. Children are also prone to HIV/AIDS during pregnancy whereby the virus is transmitted from a HIV positive mother to the unborn child (Glass 2009).

Over the years, there has been a global challenge in handling the HIV/AIDS pandemic both socially and economically (Johanson 2007). Governments and other interested stakeholders have invested a lot in trying to control the spread of the virus. The reason for this is that, the virus has affected a large number of people in the society who directly or indirectly play a major part in building of the national economy. On the individual level, the HIV virus affects the human body making the body prone to opportunistic diseases; therefore once a person gets full blown AIDS, they are unable to contribute to the society and indirectly to the economy as they now become dependants. Traditionally, at this stage of AIDS, a lot of stigma is usually witnessed towards the victim due to ignorance and social theories and ideologies concerning HIV/AIDS. Nevertheless, the society has greatly changed its perception towards to issue due to awareness and information that has been disseminated about the condition. The global response to HIV/AIDS has been above average over the years although in the recent past it has gone up a notch. The World Health Organization has taken the lead responsibility in helping countries develop HIV/AIDS programs since 1986. In addition to this, individual governments have taken up initiatives to control the spread of the virus and even set up programs, policies and legislations to take care of both the infected and affected.

References

Glass. J. (2009). HIV/AIDS. New York, NY: ABC-CLIO, 2009

Johanson. P. (2007). HIV and AIDS Coping in a Changing World. New York, NY:The Rosen Publishing Group.

World Bank. (2002). Education and HIV/AIDS: a window of hope. Washington DC: World Bank Publications

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