HIV/AIDS as a Public Health Problem
Introduction
HIV/AIDS is a pandemic that has over the years presented itself as a global health issue. The rate at which the pandemic is claiming the lives of people across the globe is an issue that public health has been trying to resolve. Unfortunately, the pandemic cannot be treated although researchers have been working around the clock to try and find a cure to the life-threatening plague. Efforts to find a cure have so far been fruitless with researchers and medical experts only succeeding in coming up with medications that can curb the devastating effects of the killer disease. HIV/AIDS is not only a public health concern, but its effects can also be felt almost across all the sectors of human life including both social and economic sectors. The pandemic has created both social and economic turmoil especially in third world countries where measures to curb the effects of the disease have not been effectively put in place. One of the most worrying trends associated with the pandemic is the fact that it is infectious hence it can be easily spread which explains why it is one of the leading cause of deaths in the world. This paper seeks to analyze how HIV/AIDS is a public health concern and how it affects the life of the infected people and their families as well as the society at large.
The first cases of HIV infection were reported in the year 1981 and since then new HIV infections have been on the rise across the world. A more worrying trend is the fact that over the years, an increase in the number of people living with HIV has been witnessed despite the measures by public health institutions to try and control the spread of the disease. Although researchers have been able to succeed in coming up with medication that can prolong the life expectancy of infected individuals, it has not been able to develop a cure for the disease. The medication that has been developed to curb the effects of the pandemic are known as Antiretroviral drugs (ARV). Since the HIV virus weakens the infected person’s immune system, it allows the body of the person to be susceptible to other opportunistic diseases such as TB which due to the weakened immune system of the infected person, can lead to the death of the person. After the HIV virus has destroyed the person’s immune system, the person can then be said to have Aids.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) HIV/AIDS is not only a public health problem as it affects the overall well-being of individuals as well as the development of countries. As of 2008, statistics indicated that the young people contributed to 40 percent of new HIV infections, this is a worrying trend that is still dominant even up to now (Gile, 2010). HIV/AIDS has claimed a huge population of our energetic youth who would play a big role in the economic prosperity of our nations especially in the third world countries. The pandemic has seen a reduction in the availability of workforce which has rendered the affected countries economically unstable. AIDS-related deaths have also claimed the lives of productive parents and guardians rendering many children as orphans. It has subjected so many families to poverty making them unable to fend for their survival since HIV/AIDS has robbed them of their breadwinners. Other than affecting the livelihood of a large population of people across the world, HIV/AIDS has far-reaching economic prosperity of a country. It has already costed many of the third world countries a fall in the annual per capita growth. This can be attributed to the huge sums of money invested by the countries in efforts to ensure they are able to control and prevent the spread of the killer disease into its population. In most cases, the developing countries are the ones whose GDPs are affected, HIV/AID has continued to reverse the gains made by these countries in terms of economic development since most of its income is channeled to try and combat HIV/AIDS (Nunnenkamp & Öhler, 2010).
Public health and social services have also been tremendously affected by HIV/AIDS. The pandemic has created inequality in the public health sector as most of the resources have been channeled towards ensuring HIV/AIDS patients get the required medications such as the antiretroviral drugs. Patients suffering from other life-threatening diseases such as cancer diabetes and tuberculosis have been neglected as attention has been shifted towards combating HIV/AIDS (Chemtob & Merrick, 2012). Diseases such as cancer and diabetes have continued to claim more lives as resources that could have used to research and establish medications and cure for these conditions have been channeled towards fighting against HIV/AIDS. On the other hand, the social sector has not been spared of the devastating effects of the pandemic as most of the orphans and widows left as a result of AIDS-related deaths contribute to the large populations in social institutions such as children homes. The pressure to provide for the huge populations in these social institutions has forced some of the institutions to shut down, this is due to lack of sufficient funding to provide for the needs of the growing populations in these social institutions (Skerritt, 2011,). Social institutions especially in developing countries where funding is a great challenge are the most affected since the rates of AIDS-related deaths in these countries are high.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, it is without doubt that the HIV/AIDS pandemic has proven to be one of the greatest public health concerns. However, the effects of the killer disease have not only been felt on in public health but also by the economic sector especially in the third world countries. The pandemic even affects those who are not infected by the disease-causing virus such as patients of other life-threatening diseases who have suffered the effects of HIV/AIDS as well. Patients suffering from disease such as cancer have been dying as a result of the limited resources allocated to research and medication to curb the diseases. Opportunistic diseases such as tuberculosis that take advantage of the weakened immune system caused by the HIV/AIDS epidemic even worsen the situation. In, research has indicated that the opportunistic diseases are usually the cause of the AIDS-related deaths and that it’s not actually the HIV virus causing the deaths. As devastating as it may sound, it is indeed true that despite the efforts to try and establish a cure to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, opportunistic diseases will continue to claim more lives if nothing is done to try and restore the immune systems of patients whose bodies have been infected with the HIV virus. Efforts should therefore be initiated by medical researchers to try and establish medications to restore the immune systems of HIV/AIDS patients. Developed countries should help developing countries as well as other affected countries to finance research and medication to help fight against HIV/AIDS.
References
Chemtob, D., & Merrick, J. (2012). AIDs and tuberculosis: Public health aspects. Hauppauge] New York: Nova Biomedical.
Gile, P. P. (2010). HIV/AIDS and development: Impact of Aids orphans on development, the case of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Saarbrücken: LAP LAMBERT Academic Publishing.
Nunnenkamp, P., & Öhler, H. (2010). Throwing foreign aid at HIV/AIDS in developing countries: Missing the target? Kiel: Kiel Inst. for the World Economy.
Skerritt, A. J. (2011). Ashamed to die: Silence, denial, and the AIDS epidemic in the South. Chicago, IL: Lawrence Hill Books.