By this point, depending on the severity of the patient’s HCV, patients usually take a combination of medications such as Sovaldi, Olysio, Incivek, Victreli, and Viekira Pak to manage their HCV, but never completely treat it (Mayo Clinic). In addition however, many of these patients were also infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). During the 1900s, HIV was one of the most significant viral infections in patients, and HCV was underestimated in significance. Once HIV was controlled through highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART), some of these patients were found to be co infected with HCV, increasing the awareness of HCV. Today, 3.2 million people in the United States have HCV.…
While noting that these programs have not always worked as well as planned. The problem with PEPFAR or the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the problem with it is that it included a prostitution pledge, in that any organization that wanted funding had to denounce sex workers. Moreover, one-third of funds would go to abstinence only programs, which many people are critical of. Another problem is that PEPFAR is that they want to purchase name brand AIDS medication, which is too expensive and out of reach for people in low income countries. In addition, UNICEF is another institution that works to give health care to children around the world.…
The Manual (2015) lists the four most common sources of HIV transmission: Sexual contact with an infected person (most common), injection of contaminated blood (i.e., needle sharing), transmission via child-bearing, and blood transfusions. HIV is a common topic of debate regarding public health. There is no cure yet, but progress is being…
Vanquishing AIDS/HIV: Olga Golichenko’s Side AIDS/HIV is a treacherous disease that has killed millions of people world-wide for decades due to lack of proper treatment funding and no available cure for the disease itself. A proposed financial tax, known as the “Robin Hood Tax”, could help in funding treatment and a cure for the disease (DeMoro, pg.11). This financial tax can not only help in the “[eradication] [of] HIV/AIDS and other global epidemics” but also improve global healthcare for citizens everywhere (DeMoro, pg.11). Olga Golichenko is one of the million supporters of the tax. She justifies the tax proposal through her usage of examples, facts, statistics, and description to appeal to the audience’s logic and need.…
As pointed out in the movie, despite over 40,000 people dying of AIDS, there were no initiatives being taken by the federal government to addressing the epidemic. This was also heighted in the article written by Larry Kramer which we read in our class as he mentioned how CDC and NIH were deliberately not doing anything to learn about AIDS or help curb the epidemic. As a result, hospitals and doctors were unprepared and underequipped to help the patients. Many people were unbale to get hospital beds and had to be turned away or simply die in the hospital corridors. Even when the first drug AZT was invented to treat AIDS, its price was set up too high which made it unaffordable to the patients.…
The term clinically integrated dates back to the 1990s. Providers were first recognized by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for engaging in joint payer negotiations by working together to improve quality and efficiency. Thus the term clinically integrated was created because of the need to identify providers and organizations, which were often using joint ventures, with contractual agreements. This would also leave those ventures open to scrutiny for possible anti-competitive practices under antitrust law. The FTC has stated that clinical integration is acceptable as long as a group comes together with the goal of improving care and not simply to bargain for better rates.…
Viewing the documentary, “How to Survive a Plague,” was a nice learning experience of how far we have come to lessening the impact of AIDS transmission and treatment. I remember hearing much about the difficulties that came with tackling the AIDS epidemic; however, I did not know how prevalent it was in the U.S. because I mostly heard about how big it was in certain regions-mainly Africa. Learning about how the AIDS epidemic effected the people within New York was very shocking. It demonstrated the issues that we face within our healthcare system and with our government. Healthcare is such an important aspect of our society that it was disheartening to hear how when AIDS was first discovered, hospitals turned away AIDS patients and refused…
The AIDS epidemic was a languid, merciless, killer that claimed the lives of millions in its wake. Often times, the people’s desperate search for a cure was referred to as “The War Against AIDS.” This War eventually was won in the sense that HIV no longer had the powerful to sentence so many people to death. However, it was still a sentence, but this time it was a sentence to a forced life style change. This struggle of AIDS and HIV was depicted in the autobiography Body Counts by Sean Strub.…
We have come to the conclusion that AIDS should have mandatory testing. It would create a much safer environment and it could potentially stop the spreading of AIDS. Some people may think that mandatory testing is an invasion of privacy, but there are ways to work around that. Mandatory testing would also help people that had it not spread it and get medical treatment quickly. In our views the pros just outweighed the cons in every…
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is the virus responsible for causing AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). The virus leaves the human immune system weak and renders infected individuals vulnerable to other illnesses. HIV has been thought to have originated on the African continent and is becoming an increasing medical issue there. The documentary AIDS in Africa details the rise and impact of the rate of HIV infection and AIDS throughout the African continent. In the documentary, various medical professionals are interviewed for their perspective, and all express concern over the rising rates of infection and lack of resources for prevention in Africa.…
As shown by the AIDS epidemic, a potential medical option will often not become available without significant protest. There are no current,…
Twenty-five years ago, two women, brilliant and brave women, gave a landmark speech on the AIDS epidemic at the 1992 Democratic National Convention in New York City. Elizabeth Glaser, who was one of the two women speakers had contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion, passed it on to her children, and would shortly lose her life to it in 1994 (Lucas, S. & Medhurst, M., 2009). Elizabeth, who during her speech, referred to herself as the “strange spokesperson” for such a group – was a well-to-do white woman. After all, Americans during this time persisted in stigmatizing it as an affliction of non-whites, drug addicts, low socio-economic status peoples and/or gay men (Lucas, S. & Medhurst, M., 2009). Elizabeth started out just a mom, fighting for the life of her children and her own.…
RENT is a rock-opera musical written in the 1990s by Jonathan Larson. The show highlights young adults living with disease, poverty, and drug-use during the turn of the century in New York City. Many of the characters featured in RENT are struggling artists, vying for others to listen to their opinion. Many consider the musical to be a modernized version of Puccini’s La bohème, an opera written in the 1800s about struggling young bohemians. In La bohème, one of the characters ultimately dies from tuberculosis, while in RENT many of the characters deal with the implications of HIV/AIDS.…
'Acquired Immune Deficiency Virus (AIDS) is caused by a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that weakens the immune system , making the body susceptible to and unable to recover from opportunistic diseases that lead to death' (USAID, 2010, pp.173). It is one of the major challenges for Public Health and it is the world's leading infectious killer. According to the WHO, 35 million people are living with HIV worldwide. In middle and low income countries is the majority of infected people. In 2013, 2.1 million new infections occurred in low and middle income countries (WHO, 2013).…
"If you knew I was HIV positive would you still treat me as an equal, would you still be my friend, would you still touch me, would you still love me?” These are some of the thoughts that go through the minds of the millions of people worldwide who are currently living with HIV/AIDS. Despite the mass impact of the disease, many still remain ignorant to its definition, history, and effects, leading to the negative associations of those affected. I’m here to give you a brief enlightenment of HIV/AIDS in an effort to to lessen the misconceptions and stigma of HIV/ AIDS. First, we need to understand the basics.…