Research Paper on Wicked Problem

Introduction

A wicked problem is cultural or social matters that are challenging and difficult to describe and at the same time, difficult to solve. Often, they are social and cultural concerns that yearn for answers but answers that are never easy to come by. They include hunger, chronic diseases, financial crisis, and poverty among others. Wicked problems have particular characteristics that differentiate them from ordinary life problems. They include; having more than one explanation, solutions are often neither good nor bad, and they lack definitive formula and are unique among other strange outlooks.

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Unique Aspect

Since the outbreak of HIV Aids, Saskatchewan has experienced its share of the epidemic with strange outcomes and characteristics that fit the description of a wicked problem. The disease unique characteristics are evident in its high rate of circulation and gene changes in its victims. According to Rittel and Melvin (1973), the strains of HIV in the victims have adapted to the variants of the genes that are responsible for controlling the immune system. All over the world, this is a strange occurrence that has not been noted in HIV victims since at no one time has HIV strain adapted to the immune system of an HIV positive individual.

Numerous Explanations and Symptoms of Other Problems

Besides developing the capability to invading and causing massive damage and replication in the immune system, research shows that the behavior of the virus can be explained in numerous ways and with all the explanations pointing to a unique feature. For example, research explains that the adaptation of the virus to an individual's immune system is dependent on the presence of particular genes in the individual. At the same time research explains that the phenomenon that has remained exceptional is as a result of the high rate of immunological damage with people falling ill of the virus succumb faster than those from other regions such as the United States and Canada. Rittel and Melvin (1973) argue that indications also suggest that the genes responsible for HIV are well adapted in Indigenous people and also found in indigenous individuals further compounding the HIV situation in Saskatchewan. At the same time, the problem is considered as a symptom of another health challenge that of the ease of the HIV virus to lower its adaptive nature thus causing more damage to the human immune system among the people of Saskatchewan.

No Right to Be Wrong

Numerous research initiatives have led to various explanations for the adaptation of HIV mutation among the people of Saskatchewan. Rittel and Melvin (1973) point out that with each research and resulting outcome, all explanations, experiments, and initiatives have neither been wrong or right and have been accepted as a form of genetic diversity compounding the health situation. Several scientific and health organizations have put forth convincing explanations of the situation with no right or wrong outcome revealed. They include the Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN), HIV Prevention and Control Report for 2006 (Saskatchewan Ministry of Health Population Health Branch), The Epidemiology of HIV in Canada, and Reports from the National Center for Truth and Reconciliation (Rittel and Melvin 1973). For example, scientists explain that historical and archaeological records show that European interaction in addition to colonialism brought forth a reduced number of the Indigenous people in size through societal disruption, enslavement, and warfare. Due to this, the Indigenous people reduced in number, a scenario that led to reduced genetic diversity. All these organizations and bodies have given forth convincing explanations, experiments, hypothesis, and explanations to the HIV gene adaptation among the people of Saskatchewan. All the explanations and hypothesis have neither been wrong or right without any evidence of opposition or contradiction.

Bibliography

"Why Has HIV in Saskatchewan Become More Harmful for Some People?" CATIE. August 14, 2018. Accessed March 29, 2019. https://www.catie.ca/en/catienews/2018-08-14/why-has-hiv-saskatchewan-become-more-harmful-some-people.

Rittel, Horst WJ, and Melvin M. Webber. "Dilemmas in a general theory of planning." Policy sciences 4, no. 2 (1973): 155-169.