AIDS and other Pandemics Pandemics have existed for centuries and their effects on society have changed the way people coexist, together as communities and with a disease. Every century is wracked with a new widespread pandemic that changes the structure of society and that allows people to gain and pass on knowledge for cases in the future. The major diseases that impacted the world centuries ago can shed light how society has progressed, not only in terms of technology and science but also culturally in the way diseases are handled. The similarities and differences that can be drawn between various pandemics can provide a window into the past which can establish a guide for the present and future. Instances of the plague, called the Black
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Opposition in South Africa, where HIV and AIDS were a significant problem, came from the then president Thabo Mbeki who conveyed many controversial views towards AIDS and its treatments. As Aberth notes, Mbeki expressed doubts over a life-extending drug, abbreviated AZT, and stated that there needed to be “an African solution to an African problem.” Though opposition came mainly from Mbeki and not the majority of the population or scientists, his words still hindered the progress that of treating AIDS within the country. Being president, many of his policies did not focus on health and if they did, they were often used to promote ineffective measures. The hesitance to accepting Western medicine had also been a problem nearly a century before in British India. The introduction of new techniques and foreign procedures can help or hinder a societies reaction to a fast-spreading pandemic, but it is often the way in which Western medicine had been introduced the has creates the most tension. When plague came to India in 1896, response from the ruling British government was to establish the Indian Plague Commission, which was not receive well. Issues of family separation, little respect for traditions, and the mandatory house searchers were disfavored and as Aberth states, “the government’s determination to introduce western science and medicine to its Indian …show more content…
AIDS had had a significant impact on the population in many African countries and has had a major cultural impact on the continent. According to Aberth, children who will experience the death of one or both parents will reach 40 million by 2010. The loss of so many people can only result in major cultural changes as economies struggle, political structure begins to buckle, and people ways in which people live change drastically. Important history and traditions are lost. Such substantial overall cultural changes to communities and individuals caused by the AIDS pandemic are similar to that of when smallpox arrived in the Americas and killed much of the native population. Although exact numbers of indigenous populations at the time vary, Aberth highlights that no matter where census records are extracted, native populations assumed before and after the arrival of Europeans see radical decline . With so much of the native population gone, the culture among them also dwindled and as Aberth states this “led to widespread demoralization and loss of faith in native institutions, customs, and religious beliefs.” Both AIDS and the smallpox pandemic in the Americas drastically changed the cultures they encountered. Though the native populations struggled for centuries in the Americas to reclaim
Opposition in South Africa, where HIV and AIDS were a significant problem, came from the then president Thabo Mbeki who conveyed many controversial views towards AIDS and its treatments. As Aberth notes, Mbeki expressed doubts over a life-extending drug, abbreviated AZT, and stated that there needed to be “an African solution to an African problem.” Though opposition came mainly from Mbeki and not the majority of the population or scientists, his words still hindered the progress that of treating AIDS within the country. Being president, many of his policies did not focus on health and if they did, they were often used to promote ineffective measures. The hesitance to accepting Western medicine had also been a problem nearly a century before in British India. The introduction of new techniques and foreign procedures can help or hinder a societies reaction to a fast-spreading pandemic, but it is often the way in which Western medicine had been introduced the has creates the most tension. When plague came to India in 1896, response from the ruling British government was to establish the Indian Plague Commission, which was not receive well. Issues of family separation, little respect for traditions, and the mandatory house searchers were disfavored and as Aberth states, “the government’s determination to introduce western science and medicine to its Indian …show more content…
AIDS had had a significant impact on the population in many African countries and has had a major cultural impact on the continent. According to Aberth, children who will experience the death of one or both parents will reach 40 million by 2010. The loss of so many people can only result in major cultural changes as economies struggle, political structure begins to buckle, and people ways in which people live change drastically. Important history and traditions are lost. Such substantial overall cultural changes to communities and individuals caused by the AIDS pandemic are similar to that of when smallpox arrived in the Americas and killed much of the native population. Although exact numbers of indigenous populations at the time vary, Aberth highlights that no matter where census records are extracted, native populations assumed before and after the arrival of Europeans see radical decline . With so much of the native population gone, the culture among them also dwindled and as Aberth states this “led to widespread demoralization and loss of faith in native institutions, customs, and religious beliefs.” Both AIDS and the smallpox pandemic in the Americas drastically changed the cultures they encountered. Though the native populations struggled for centuries in the Americas to reclaim