The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome - Term Paper Example

Medical Treatments: Just One Tool in the Fight Against AIDS Introduction The acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was initially identified among male homosexuals in the United States in 1981. After extensive research, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes AIDS has been identified tow years hence, in 1983. Although the landmark case was recognized in the early 1980s, data indicates that in sub-Saharan Africa HIV has already started to spread in the region in the late 1970s (A History of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic with Emphasis on Africa, 2003). Ten years later, the epidemic has progressed towards the south. At that time, an estimated 5 million South Africans were living with HIV/AIDS. By the end of 2008 this figure has increased by more than three times. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, an estimated more than 22 million adults and children were living with HIV/AIDS. Of this number, an estimated 1.4 million have died from AIDS in that year alone. Over the years, the lives claimed by AIDS has left over 14 million orphaned children. With the rise in the number of people infected with and killed by AIDS came the increase in funding to respond to the AIDS epidemic, especially in low-income regions like the sub-Saharan Africa. In 2008 alone, global spending on the treatment of HIV/AIDS totaled US$ 13.7 billion – a considerable increase from the US$300 million annual spending in the 1990s (The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Fact Sheet, 2009). Most of these funds were used to give access to medical treatment to people infected with AIDS from poor countries, especially to provide antiretroviral therapy. Support in the fight against AIDS come from all sectors ranging from national governments to the socio-civic organizations and even individual donor. As of the end of 2006, the World Bank alone had spent more than US$879 million to fund 75 projects mostly dedicated to providing medical treatments to alleviate the effects of HIV and AIDS. Even with so much medical funding and attention committed in the fight towards the eradication of HIV/AIDS the epidemic continues to spread and claims the lives of so many victims. Granting that the current spending of almost US$14 billion is not nearly enough to cover the required US$19.8 billion to provide medical treatment to majority of the AIDS victims needing medical attention, still a certain amount of progress towards its treatment is expected (The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Fact Sheet, 2009). With no definitive cure discovered and no obvious signs of slowing down in the spread of the virus, it becomes more imperative that non-medical programs in response to HIV/AIDS have to be strengthened. Contributors to the Epidemic In order to assess whether medical treatments alone can help eradicate AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, it is important to gain an understanding of the contributors to the spread of the epidemic. Several studies have been conducted to determine how HIV/AIDS has become so prevalent in South Africa and the researches have shown several factors that increase the risk of infection, thereby promoting the spread of AIDS. Denial of AIDS victims that they have been infected, sexual intercourse with more than one partner, labor and migration and substance abuse are among the major factors in the spread of HIV/AIDS (Inungu & Karl, 2006) which will not be treated through medical means. Other factors to which the epidemic is attributed focus on non-sexual cultural practices that promote the transmission of the HIV virus (Hrdy, 1987). Other contributors to the epidemic are the effects of environmental factors and malnutrition that weakens immune response (Stillwaggon, 2006). Finally, one more factor that has an effect on the spread of AIDS is the lack of human resources to administer health care to the AIDS patients (Yoon & Donohoe, 2004). Public discussions about AIDS and its effects are not common in sub-Saharan Africa. Spurred by the denial of African governments to acknowledge the extent of the AIDS epidemic (Lanegran, 1993), the public has shied away from any discussions about the disease. It is not uncommon in certain African communities to regard AIDS as a punishment for those who have been exercising loose sexual practices (Chesney & Smith, 1999). Those who were infected do not freely admit it and instead, attribute their symptoms to other diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis or other less shameful ailments. Their denial prevents the immediate detection of the virus and consequently, treatment of the disease. This also increases the risk of transmitting the disease to others. Engaging in sexual intercourse with different partners is prevalent in Africa. Promiscuity has been a way of life in a lot of African communities where women feel good about being able to trade sex for material possessions (Vandeperre, et al, 1985). There are polygamous sexual relationships that are deeper rooted than obtaining gifts and favors. Many widowed women go into sexual relationships with other partners to ensure male support for her continued existence and that of her children. There are many cases of sexual relationships anchored on false beliefs like the idea that having intercourse with female virgins will rid the men of AIDS (deBruyn, 1992). Widow inheritance is also a common practice in sub-Saharan African regions where the brother or adult sons inherits the wife, who is viewed as one of the deceased’s properties. Women who are victims of this cultural practice often do not have any option as their refusal to be inherited by their husband’s brother or son would mean that she will be treated as an outcast of the family and would be left to fend for herself and her young children. . This increases the risk of transmission because if a man had died because of AIDS and had transmitted the disease to his wife, the brother who will inherit the wife will now become infected. At the same time, if it was the younger brother who was infected, the wife he had inherited will now be infected (Oedraogo, A., 1994). The spread of AIDS has also been attributed to labor migration and population shifts. Movements in large portions of populations in the sub-Saharan regions have been suspected of promoting ‘sexual mixing’ which is a source of AIDS transmissions (Murdoch, 1959). Research has also shown that the spread of AIDS in the late 1970s is at the same time when urbanization and shifts in population in South Africa was most concentrated (Carswell, et al, 1986). Transmission of AIDS through the use of infected needles related to intravenous drug use has also emerged in recent researches. Cases of AIDS infection in certain regions where intravenous drug abuse is prevalent have been found to include significant percentages of intravenous drug users among those who have been newly infected with AIDS (Civil Society leader gives victims a voice, 2002). Previous studies have argued against AIDS transmission with the use of infected needles, but more recent studies may have found certain correlations between AIDS and the use of injected needles in certain parts of Africa (Mann, et al, 1986). Possibly more common the other ways of transmitting the HIV virus is through cultural practices the increases the risk of transmission. A lot of the cultural practices in Africa involve the shedding of blood for medical purposes or exchanging small amounts of blood to establish kinship with one another. These practices bring with it the risk of transmitting not just blood, but the HIV virus if the blood is from an infected source. Other cultural practices involve the use of shared instruments which could aid the transmission of AIDS. Some of these are scarification which involves the administration of cuts to the skin either for beautification or ritual purposes; and group circumcision and genital tattooing which involves the repetitive use of knives and needles in large groups. Studies have found that deficiencies in certain vitamins and nutrients weaken the body’s immune system. Shortage in protein and energy lessen the body’s natural barriers against infections (Woodward, 1998), while insufficiency in certain micronutrients like iron, zinc, and vitamin A increases the risk of being transmitted with parasitic diseases (Chandra, 1997) such as HIV/AIDS. It has been reported that sub-Saharan Africa suffers from prevalent deficiencies in zinc (Caulfield and Black, 2004) and vitamin A (Rice et al., 2004). It has also been reported that an estimate of up to 60% of males and females in sub-Saharan Africa have iron deficiencies (Stoltzfus et al., 2004). HIV is disease that is more susceptible to be acquired by those who have weak immune systems. Researches have also shown that HIV has certain characteristics that make malnourished individuals more prone to it. One of the significant hindrances in combating AIDS is due to the lack of health care personnel. There are not enough health care professionals to take care of the people who are supposed to get treatment. The existing meager health force are constantly being threatened of reducing still due to burnout from a staggering amount of work and the risk of being infected themselves from constant contact with carriers of the virus. The reality is that a part of the cause of the losing battle against AIDS is the problem on the lack of adequate human resources. The Fight Against AIDS The factors previously identified have contributed to the rise of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, and yet their effect cannot be prevented or alleviated purely by medical means. No medical treatment encourages people who are infected with AIDS to come forward and speak about their illness so that they can be given the proper care and treatment. Medicines will not be able to control people from being promiscuous or engaging in cultural practices that increase their exposure to AIDS. Other means of fighting AIDS has to be employed. One of the most immediate responses to AIDS and which should be sustained all throughout the campaign in eradicating the disease is education (Inungu & Karl, 2006). This is a necessity in sub-Saharan Africa more than any other AIDS infected regions where 19 of the countries with the lowest human development index are located. Almost half of the adult population are found to be illiterate in these regions (BREDA 2006 ).Education about AIDS and AIDS awareness campaign are one of the few means available to address certain contributors to the spread of AIDS such as the lack of public discussions that would help people be aware of the dangers of AIDS. Proper and extensive education would also be most helpful in addressing the dangers of cultural practices that promote higher risk of AIDS infection. Promoting the use of condoms is also a means of addressing the spread of AIDS. Studies have established a decline in incidence of AIDS with the use of condoms (South African National HIV Prevalence, Incidence, Behaviour and Communication Survey, 2008: A Turning Tide Among Teenagers?’). Efforts should also be geared more towards the eradication of hunger in areas where AIDS is prevalent as it had been apparent how hunger and lack of certain vitamins and nutrients contribute significantly to the spread of HIV as well. Finally, there must be more thrust towards retaining a healthy work force in areas where the AIDS epidemic is most prevalent, such as sub-Saharan Africa. Some of the donations for AIDS relief should by allocated towards building better facilities, pay structures and benefits of healthcare professionals who are taking care of people with AIDS. This allocation should also be used to effectively train people to be able to provide continuous supply of healthcare staff who could manage the HIV prevention programs. Without a robust team of healthcare professionals, the medical treatments and prevention programs could be seriously derailed. Adequate supply of people who would care for the AIDS patients is important as evidenced by the decline in HIV incidents in Senegal and Uganda where the health force was given focus (Schwartlander, et al, 2006). Conclusion A lot of the focus towards fighting AIDS had been through medical treatments. Billions of dollars in funding from all sources have been used to give the victims access to medicines and the treatment of the various complications incident to AIDS. However, the fact remains that the number of AIDS infections has grown tremendously over the years. The enumerated factors which have been found to have contributed in the rise of AIDS infections in sub-Saharan Africa cannot be addressed by medical treatments. Medicines cannot address the deeply rooted cultural practices that increase the risk of AIDS transmission, nor can medical treatments alone eradicate hunger that could booster the immune systems of people living with AIDS everyday. No medical means could likewise provide better benefits and protection to healthcare professionals so that there is ample supply of doctors and nurses to care for the AIDS victims. Other means would have to be employed in order the address the various issues promoting the spread of the epidemic. This is not to say that medical-related means are not important in the fight against AIDS. It is also undeniable that millions of people have already been infected and there is no way to address these but to continue with medical treatments, in the hopes of someday finding a definitive cure for AIDS. This shows that in order for the world to have hope in ever eradicating AIDS from humanity, the fight against it both medical and non-medical means have to be employed. 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