Paper Example on HIV/AIDS Epidemic: Impact on American Indians

Introduction

HIV and AIDS is a major pandemic across the globe, that has no cure. The article is a concern based on epidemiological reports on the HIV pandemic, which proved to be rampant among the American Indians, the indigenous citizens of the nation. According to the article, the most affected population among them are the people considered to be outcasts due to their religious stands and even social lifestyles that do not conform to the expectations of the society. They are gay, bisexuals, and men claimed to be of spirit. The article includes a study on the risk-behaviors associated with the spread of the disease, the prevention measures, used in the community of the American Indians, the efforts by both the local and the national medical personnel to offer treatment and education efforts to the groups. The article examines the model used in the assessments and its effectiveness in the attainment of the final result.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

The article, greatly, resonates with my field of interest, which is the study of the effects of diseases especially viruses on the social lives of a people, the stigma surrounding it, and even the possibilities of a solution in the future. I have an interest in understanding, how the people held to be different in society regarding their lifestyles are being treated. The bisexuals and the gays are victimized in modern society and are viewed as irresponsible and arrogant. The report is interesting because it gives an estimate of the total number of American Indians in America. They are estimated to have been at least 15% of the total population in the year 2009, with Oklahoma, accounting for 7% of them. Oklahoma Department of Health (OSDH), reported that a majority had HIV infections, and were the most vulnerable(Burks.etal,2011). They formed a majority of the people infected with the disease in the entire united states of America.

The assessment involving the researchers, interviewing the members from, the groups considered as, most affected, indicated that there are fears of stigma, as they are most likely to be questioned for being gay. They are scared of the stigma, especially during the offering of counseling and even risks of condemnation by society, which views them as ungodly. The fear has stopped them from seeking help in treatments, hence ends up spreading the disease, while they risk death. The results indicated that there was an underutilization of protective measures put in place by both the local and the national government, health directives. Another interesting fact that I find relevant to my field of interest in the article is the measures that have been taken by the health care department to combat the spread of HIV and even stigmatization.The first method includes the increase in Programmes that are sensitive to culture. The culture of the Indian Americans has greatly contributed to their personality and their poor response to the HIV disease. There are outreach workers, distributing condoms, and engagi9ng them in educations on sexual safety, a topic that is deemed as immoral in society. The study in the article signals the Ahlaya, a cultural program, including the support of the cultural healing, use of spirits, and even forms of magic, to sustain themselves(Burks.etal,2011). Although, the spread increases, there are probabilities that the Ahlaya can be used as the distribution agent of the information regarding HIV, because most people in the community of the American Indians, mistrusts the modern health care systems especially after the ill-treatment they received from the government, after the forced resettlement in reserves.

Weaknesses and Strengths of the Article

There are however several weaknesses regarding this study, for example, the findings might have been greatly biased, in an event, where the recruitment of the volunteers for the study may not have been properly selected. There are mentions of other people from cross-cultural ethnicity, other than the people focused on by the study. This has the potential to affect my research as an anthropologist focusing on one community at a time and a special group of people. There is a section of the unfocused topics that later emerge and had failed to be mentioned in the thesis. These include the mention of neglect of the society, by the health care personnel and stigma during the distribution of testing kits. The strengths of the article are, however, many as compared to the weaknesses. The fact that it uses facts and statistics systematically, enables a person to follow up on the research and the study. The article has its body divided well under major sub-topics, making it easy for an individual to easily understand the content being presented by the authors.

Reference

Burks, D. J., Robbins, R., & Durtschi, J. P. (2011). American Indian gay, bisexual and two-spirit men: a rapid assessment of HIV/AIDS risk factors, barriers to prevention, and culturally-sensitive intervention. Culture, health & sexuality, 13(03), 283-298. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691058.2010.525666