Last night I got my acceptance letter into the UCF Nursing Program. I am pretty excited that I got in, it really makes my life easier (in the sense that I don't have to try to find an alternative degree or school). Now that I am working on assignments for this class it makes me wonder how often I will run into HIV/AIDS in my nursing career. I am also interested to see if those patients will be treated differently by the hospital staff. I remember one of the women on the panel saying how a dermatologist refused to touch her. I hope that the hospital will be the one place where HIV/AIDS patients can go and know that the staff is knowledgeable enough to not discriminate. According to AVERT.org, "people with HIV can experience stigma and discrimination such as being refused medicines or access to facilities, receiving HIV testing without consent, and a lack of confidentiality. Such responses are often fueled by ignorance of HIV transmission routes amongst doctors, midwives, nurses and hospital staff." (AVERT, 2011) So, it sounds like there is still some progress to be made, and hopefully I will be able to educate my fellow staff so that those stigmas can be eliminated. Then, maybe the hospital will become a place where HIV/AIDS patients will know that they will receive help and not discrimination. I imagine it most be humiliating and hurtful to have hospital staff treat you different or be afraid of you.
Initially, I was interested in finding HIV/AIDS data on Afghanistan; however, interestingly enough, UNAIDS did not have any available information. That is shocking and disheartening. It must be pretty nasty over there if organizations that are completely neutral and just want to help are not allowed access. So, I decided to look at one of the United State's neighboring countries, Mexico. Currently, there are 220,000 people that have HIV, with an HIV prevalence rate of 0.3% (UNAIDS, 2009). According to UNAIDS there are no children that have HIV, and of the 220,000 adults, there are 59,000 women that have HIV (2009). It is estimated that there have been 6,400 - 12,000 deaths caused by HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, 2009). This is another country where there are more men than women with HIV. The trend in Africa was for the majority of infected individuals to be women, however in China and Mexico it has been the opposite. It makes me think that women have very few rights in Africa and must be treated poorly.
This weeks QOTW made me wonder about the craziest documented cases of HIV transmission, so I did a little research. The craziest documented case of HIV infection that I could find was during acupuncture (Drug3k.com, 2011). HIV had been transmitted through human bites as well but that makes sense because of the blood that would be involved (Drug3k.com, 2011). It makes it seem highly unlikely that anybody would be able to get HIV from being scratched by a dog that had previously scratched someone that is HIV positive.
One very interesting thing that I did find during my research was a wacko that is trying to spread HIV rumors. She wrote a book and according to web site that advertises it, the author reveals that, "the AIDS [HIV] virus survives outside the body for days. That blood on intact skin can transmit AIDS. That AIDS has been transmitted through contact sports. That the water supply is in danger. There are potential dangers in the food supply. The government could control the AIDS epidemic immediately and why they refuse to do so." (Day, 2011) It is pretty unfortunate that there are still people out there trying to get everyone to panic about HIV. It seems like the physician is just trying to stir up trouble for the CDC, and revive all the negative stigmas toward people that are HIV positive. I just hope that most people will be intelligent enough to trust hundreds of researchers and physicians rather than just believe the opinion of one. A large majority of what she is claiming is pretty absurd, almost to the point of being humorous. The way that she claims that the "food and water supply is in danger" makes it sound like she is trying to sell some new end of the world theory. Unfortunately, I am sure that there are people that will go along with her, just like there were people that believed that the world was going to end in the year 2000.
This week I have decided to look at China. They are still considered a developing country despite their recent economic boom. I have to say that HIV/AIDS is not as bad as I would have imagined in a country with the highest population in the world. There are 740,000 people living with HIV/AIDS, and a prevalence rate of 0.1% among adults age 15-49 (UNAIDS, 2009). Of the 730,000 adults infected (age 15-49) only 230,000 are women (UNAIDS, 2009). This is one of the few developing countries that I have looked at where there are more infected men than women. Overall, there have been 26,000 deaths caused by HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, 2009). I was very interested to look at the statistics for China because of their massive population, but interestingly enough, they have a tiny prevalence rate and a small infected population. I suppose this indicates that society and culture have a lot to do with the prevalence of HIV/AIDS.
I have also included a video wherein an author claims that 90% of the cases of HIV are a result of unclean transfusions. The author also claims that the communist regime has oppressed a lot of the AIDS activists. This makes me wonder about the accuracy of the data I got from UNAIDS.
Personally, I had an awesome Spring Break. I went to Crested Butte, Colorado and went snowboarding for six days. It was a great time in a quaint little city. In general, Colorado was a breathtaking state, between the mountains and mounds of snow everywhere. It is a place that I would definitely like to visit again, for a much longer period of time. I was thinking about how much I enjoyed my Spring Break and it got me to thinking about some of the stereotypes that go along with Spring Break. I am from Daytona Beach so I know that it tends to get pretty crazy over the break. I looked up the top ten states with the highest HIV diagnosed population, and not surprisingly Florida was number three (). I just hope that all of the people that came to Florida for their vacation were wise enough to take the necessary precautions to avoid contracting this disease. Between the high prevalence rate in Florida and all the people that brought it with them on vacation I'm sure the disease has an easy time getting around. I feel like this illustration depicts the importance of HIV education. If young adults are not aware of HIV and ways to prevent contraction, the disease can get a hold of them very easily, especially on vacation. It is really to lose touch with reality when you are on vacation leaving all of your responsibilities behind temporarily, but HIV is one thing where you can never let your guard down. It is very important that that fact is taught to all individuals. It almost would not be a bad idea to have a quick warning videos on airlines before you get off at a popular tourist hot spot.
References:
Korry Goodheart. (2010). The 10 States with the Highest AIDS/HIV Rate. Retrieved March 16, 2011, from http://www.risingstarstv.net/profiles/blogs/the-10-states-with-the-highest
Did You Know?
This week for my "Did You Know" section I have decided to look at the United Republic of Tanzania. There are 1,400,000 people living with HIV, of that number 730,000 are women and 160,000 are children (UNAIDS, 2009). There have been 86,000 HIV/AIDS related deaths, and there are 1,300,000 children that have been orphaned by the disease (UNAIDS, 2009). Overall, there is a 5.6% HIV prevalence rate among adults age 15-49. There are only 199,400 people that are receiving antiretroviral medication, that is not even 15% of the HIV positive population (UNAIDS, 2009). These statistics are devastating, but I cannot even began to grasp the depravity of the situation. I am here in the United States in a cozy little library and all that I see are numbers. I do not see the millions of people that are HIV positive or have lost loved ones to this disease. I don't really know how to describe it, I guess I just feel guilty because I have it so good and it sounds so awful for them. I feel like I am just recording data and not really telling the heart wrenching stories of these individuals.
I think that these children can tell it better than I can because they are actually experiencing it firsthand.
I just left the Women's Infected Panel, and I have to say that it was very interesting. Three of the women there had contracted HIV from monogamous relationships and the other from a needle stick. It reinforced the idea that HIV/AIDS is not limited to any one gender or orientation. It truly is a disease that does not differentiate between people that it infects. One aspect that stuck with me was that one of the woman said that the stigma associated with HIV has not diminished one bit. She claimed that it is as powerful and prevalent as it has always been. It is very sad that the stigma is still so powerful when there is so much knowledge about the disease. It was to be expected that humans would result to discrimination when HIV was an unknown killer, but now that we know how it is transmitted I think that the stigma should not be as bad. This idea was reinforced by one other woman describing how her dermatologist refused to touch her at all. I thought that it was very sad that some medical professionals were ignorant enough to treat their patients like that. I feel that out of anyone they should be the most aware of how transmission occurs and that it would be perfectly safe to touch her skin. The last thing that was very shocking was the cost of the medication. The women said that it was anywhere from $1,500 to $2.500 per month! That is like having to pay the mortgage on a second house.
Despite the conditions described above, it was very encouraging because the women were very positive. They said that there family had been extremely supportive of them, and had helped them get through a lot of it. They were very optimistic about the whole ordeal, and were still enjoying their life, taking it a day at a time. Also, it appeared that the antiretroviral drugs were very helpful. I think they were a living testament of how important it is that everyone receive the drugs. I am excited to see the differences between the Men and Women's Infected Panel.
"Did You Know" This week I have decided to shift my focus from Sub-Saharan Africa to Asia, specifically India. There are approximately 2,400,000 people that are HIV positive, with a prevalence rate of 0.3% among adults age 15-49 (UNAIDS, 2009). There are 2,300,000 adults 15 and up living with HIV, and out of that number 880,000 of them are women (UNAIDS, 2009). Of the 2,300,000 people that are HIV positive only 123,000 people are receiving ARV drugs (UNAIDS, 2009). Overall, there have been 170,000 people that have died from HIV (UNAIDS, 2009). These statistics reveal that the situation in India is bad, to say the least. UNAIDS did not even have an estimate of how many children have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS, which to me is a very bad sign. It seems that in the media Africa gets a lot of the attention, but I feel like India could definitely use the assistance of the developed world.
I thought that this was a very powerful video depicting what HIV/AIDS looks like in the life of one person in India.
