Health Disparities in HIV/AIDS
Human immunodeficiency Virus also known as HIV is a sexually transmitted disease. It attacks your body's immune system. The virus destroys CD4 cells, which help your body fight diseases. HIV damages your immune system and it leads to acquired immune deficiency syndrome also known as AIDS. AIDS is the final stage in HIV, and it’s a disease where severe loss of the body's cellular immunity occurs. The disease lowers the resistance to infection and malignancy. Anyone can get HIV/AIDS. Men, women, and children, of all different races and descents can get infected with the virus. People who are gay or straight can also be infected with HIV/AIDS. There is currently no cure for HIV/AIDS. HIV treatments may reduce
Like woman being under the influence keeps you from focusing and you have risky behaviors like having unprotected sex. Being under the influence also causes you to be careless and share injection drug paraphernalia. African American men have a high percentage in the percentage of men in the prisons and jail systems therefore contracting the disease from poor living conditions and getting jailhouse tattoos with dirty needles. Many African American men also contract the disease from having unprotected sex with the same sex and passing it on to their female sex partners. Men who have sex with other men make up 53% of new HIV infections each year. That’s more than half.
All of this is what I learned in the health disparities conference this morning. I feel like there’s more that could be done to help lower the risks of HIV/AIDS in the African American community. This disease is a much bigger and broader subject than the facts I have listed. Questions are being asked everyday followed by even more questions. People living in poverty need to get educated on the disease. More resources of health care options need to be put in place throughout the communities as well as in the education systems. Trying to make a difference should take place early, it’ll help stop the wide spread of the virus and it’ll help with earlier detection and of course that will help extend the lives of people living with the disease. All of these things will help people will be aware and