Essay Sample on HIV and AIDS in the US

Introduction

HIV/AIDS is a virus that attacks the immune system of an individual and renders them defenseless against disease-causing organisms. It does this through the destruction of the white blood cells and thus puts the individual at risk of contracting other infections. Aids is the final stage of HIV, however not every person with HIV develops AIDS (Edwards, 2006). The disease according to the UNAIDS is most contracted through sexual intercourse with someone who already has the virus leading to infection with HIV. However, still, other means through which the disease is contacted includes sharing of needles and sometimes through kissing. In the United States of America, despite the considerable advances in the treatment, prevention and testing approaches in the course of HIV epidemic, significant disparities continue to exist along the ethnic/racial lines, specifically among the women. In the year 2010, even though African American women comprised only thirteen percent of the female population in the US, sixty-four percent of the projected nine thousand five hundred new infections in women happened among the African Americans (Smith et al., 2007).

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Additionally, in the same year, the rate of new HIV infections among African American women was fifteen times that of white women. In Kenya, the Ministry Of Health reports that most infected women get the disease through sexual intercourse, however it shares that a large number of infants are as infected by the unsafe birth processes from their mothers. The World Health through the Sustainable Program for HIVAIDS reduction, sustainable Development Goal 3, target 3, targeted total reduction of the disease globally by 2030. This target is observed all over the world, and Kenya has not remained behind in enacting programs and policies that they have created to respond to the high rate of prevalence. The paper, therefore, compares HIV/AIDS among African American women in the United States and Kenya.

The HIV infections continue to increase among African American women both in the United States and in Kenya. The increase results from the expanding sexual networks and the rise in drug abuse among these populations. With the increasing rate of infection, infants are at higher risk, and as a result, there is a need for prevention mechanism to help in protecting the future generation. Although there is a solution to mother to child HIV transmission, there is still a lot of worries as some of the African American women may not get an opportunity to enjoy comprehensive medical services (Bingham et al., 2003). Additionally, due to a low level of income, some of African American women may not get an opportunity or may not be in a position to take care of their families and infants. Kenya being a third world country where there is a high rate of unemployment and low level of income, the problem may be even higher. Additionally, in the United States, despite the changes in the public attitude, the stigmatization of individuals living with HIV persist. The African American women are thus prone to stigmatization both in situations where it is enacted and perceived (Han et al., 2015). The above scenarios, therefore, explain why the HIV infections among the African American women in the US and women in Kenya is of more significant concern.

When it comes to the HIV prevention programs, the role played by the health educators is essential. They will always educate the victims on the importance of medication and medication adherence. In many cases, it is critical to the health educator to understand different aspects of the HIV because they usually work with specific groups of people such as the African American women who are prone to stigmatization and are largely underserved. While dealing with the HIV patients, health educators need to understand the needs of stigmatized and marginalized groups of people, in this case, the African American Woman and Kenyan women to impact change and increase access to the medical services and care. Understanding the above topic will, therefore, assist the health educators in maintaining adherence by accompanying the victims to their medical appointments and providing group facilitation through one to one support. In most cases, health educators link clients to medical care appointments, health care, psychosocial services and other medical services that are essential for clients in achieving good health outcomes.

Increased rate of HIV infection among African American women in the US and Women in Kenya is attributed to poverty which leads people to several adverse societal problems like prostitution, which causes a higher rate of infections. In Kenya, the National HIVAIDS strategic plan suggested that because of the above scenario, Kenya produced an estimated 40 percent of new infections in Eastern Africa. Nevertheless, because of this, the government through the Ministry Of Health and the strategic plan has produced a master plan for dealing with the infection through a plan. Some of the interventions include the reduction of mother to child transmission of HIV which was a plan meant to reduce the number of children who were infected with HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS education which involved the family life lessons and the inclusion of the strategy in the Kenyan school curriculum, Barriers to the prevention of HIV-AIDS which involved both legal, structural and social barriers (Vyavaharkar et al., 2011). The government through its ministries put several factors in place to eradicate this disease in the country.

In society, people have different mainstream attitudes towards people with HIV, specifically the African American and Kenyan women. There are always lots of discriminatory and negative attitudes among the people towards the victims of the above groups of people. Additionally, discrimination and negative attitudes towards the people living with HIV have been considered as one of the severe threat to the fundamental rights of African American Women in the US and the Kenyan women.

African American women comprised only thirteen percent of the female population in the US, sixty-four percent of the projected nine thousand five hundred new infections in women happened among the African Americans (Robinson et al., 2002). Additionally, the rate of new HIV infections among African American women was fifteen times that of white women. In Kenya, just like in the United States, the Ministry Of Health reports that most infected women get the disease through sexual intercourse, however it shares that a large number of infants are as infected by the unsafe birth processes from their mothers. In the United States of America, African American Women are more prone to stigmatization due to discrimination brought about by racism compared to Kenyan women. Although poverty, culture, and prostitution are the common causes of high rate of HIV/AIDS among the African American Women and Kenyan women, in Kenya, other factors may include, early marriage, which exposes the young girls to this infection at a tender age. Again, in Kenya, the migration of the people in search of jobs is a circumstance, which facilitates the transmission of the HIV/AIDS (Turan et al., 2011). Secondly, sex work is another structural matter that has contributed to the high rate of HIV transmission in Kenya. The above scenario is because women who pout and look for sex work tend to enhance the transfer of the disease faster and because of this the government of Kenya in the year 2009 the government attempted to reduce the number of prostitutes in the streets of Nairobi through the provision of jobs.

In the United States, AIDS United is one of the organizations that deal with the HIV/AIDS prevention programs among African American women. The organization often keep the above group of people informed on the crucial HIV/AIDS issues including ways of dealing with the stigmatization and discriminatory situations. The objective of the organization is to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS among African American Women (Scarinci et al., 2007). The organization also prides preventive programs to the African American women who are more prone to the HIV/ AIDS due to poverty and weak cultural factors. In Kenya, there is Aids Healthcare Foundation whose primary objective is to support a multi-prolonged prevention program among the Kenyan women (Thirumurthy et al., 2016). It often performs HIV counseling and testing in different communities. The organization also carry out education programs not only to the Kenyan women but also to the entire population on how to reduce cultural activities that lead to the spread of HIV/ AIDS.

The book, "African Americans and HIV/AIDS: Understanding and Addressing the Epidemic" by McCree, D. H., Jones, K. T., & O'Leary, A. (2010), is the best source of information for the people who want to read and understand issues surrounding HIV/ AIDS among the African American women in the United States and in Kenya. The book elaborates on the stigmatization and different ways of preventing HIV/AIDS among the African American Women. Additionally, from the website; "Why HIV Rates Are High in African American Communities; https://www.verywellhealth.com/why-hiv-rates-are-high-in-african-american-communities-4151837" provides the best information about the aspects of HIV/AIDS among African American women. The site touches on various issues from preventive programs, stigmatization to cultural activities that lead to the high rate of HIV among the African American Women. The documentary, "Destruction of Black Women" by Williams elaborates on various issues surrounding HIV/AIDS among the African America people; the interesting themes include HIV stigmatization, HIV rates among the African American women and preventive programs.

In the United States of American, some of the HIV prevention mechanisms among African American women involves the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis that prevents the transmission of the HIV during sexual intercourse, the above preventive procedure is also available among the Kenyan women to reduce the spread of the virus (Marrazzo et al., 2015). In both Kenya and the United States, there are the female condoms that may be used during sexual intercourse to prevent the transmission of the HIV. Additionally, the organization that deals with the HIV prevention programs embrace preventive educational approaches, a process that is well adapted, can reduce the rate of HIV transmission among women. In the United States of America, African American Women are more prone to stigmatization due to discrimination brought about by racism compared to Kenyan women. Although poverty, culture, and prostitution are the common causes of high rate of HIV/AIDS among the African American Women and Kenyan women, in Kenya, other factors may include, early marriage, which exposes the young girls to this infection at a tender age. Kenya, just like in the United States, the Ministry Of Health reports that most infected women get the disease through sexual intercourse, however it shares that a large number of infants are as infected by the unsafe birth processes from their mothers.

Biomedical intervention is one of the educational approaches that has been developed to reduce the transmission of HIV/AIDS among African American women. The biomedical interventions apply the use of both the clinical and medical approaches to reduce the transmission of HIV among African American women, both in Kenya and in the United States. Some of the biomedical interventions include sex and reproductive services, HIV testing and counseling and use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent mother to child transmission.

Structural and cultural factors are considered to be hampering the desire by the nation to eliminate the presence of HIV/AIDS. The country is situ...