Preventing AIDS

aid Essay Today many an(prenominal) nation around the world are septic with a serious disease called assist. Unfortunately, the disease has led to many deaths worldwide and yet it still re main(prenominal)s untreatable. more Public Health Departwork forcets are now fetching the lead in publicizing education about AIDS. Public awareness and legal community programs are practicable solutions to the spread of AIDS. The issue of this paper is on AIDS Prevention Programs that target wo custody. One outlook is that ginmill programs that target women will reduce the number of infections around the world.People opposed to this believe that prevention programs should aim to a great extent towards males. The disease is obviously an important tender issue which impacts people worldwide. Certain associations and studies believe that women are to a greater extent(prenominal) at danger then men for contracting human immunodeficiency computer virus/AIDS. They believe prevention program s should be concentrate provided on women. AIDS cases for women are increasing each year and women are one of the double-quick growing populations being infected. At the end of 2002, UNAIDS, a Joint unify Nations Progamme on HIV/AIDS, inform that 38. 6 million adults are infected with HIV or AIDS worldwide.Roughly 50% or 19. 2 million are women. Globally speaking, most women infected with HIV or AIDS are from create countries. The fastest spread of AIDS among women is in sub-Saharan Africa. In 1999, for the first time more women than men were infected with HIV. Out of 22. 3 million people infected in sub Saharan Africa 12. 2 million, or 55%, are female. Of the 1. 1 million youth infected in south Asia, 62% are female. According to research by the CDC, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the amount of AIDS cases in women have more than tripled in the united States.Since 1985, 7% of women were affected to 25% in 1999. With the number of AIDS cases in women increasing, or ganizations are relying on prevention programs aimed towards women to be the effective solution to prevent the spread of the computer virus amongst men and women. In contrary to the opposing viewpoint, reports by UNAIDS felt that men should be the main localize in the prevention programs. In 2000, UNAIDS commenced a World AIDS Campaign which pushed for men to become more involved in preventing the spread of the AIDS outbreak. We must stop seeing men as ome lovable of problem and begin seeing them as part of the solution, according to Dr Peter Piot, the head director of UNAIDS. works with men to change their behavior and attitudes has tremendous potential to slow down the epidemic. It will also repair the lives of men themselves, not to mention those of their families. There are several reasons why men should remain the main target to the prevention of the epidemic. The snap is mainly on changing intimate behaviors amongst men. Men grow up with certain beliefs and attitudes on h ow they should behave when sleep togethering with intercourse. Dr.Elvira Belingon, Department of Health STD/AIDS Coordinator in Cordillera explained that worldwide studies establish that men are at a greater danger of spreading the disease because they are apt(predicate) to have more un nurseed intercourse and versed partners than women do. Too often, it is seen as unmanly to worry about avoiding drug-related ventures, or to bother with condoms, said Dr Piot. UNAIDS feel these pagan beliefs and expectations allow men to become vulunerable to AIDS which endangers their own wellness or the health of their partners and family. This vulnerability has already affected gay and bi sexual urgeual men in the United States.Sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis have rose for the second year in a row. The government feels that gays and bisexuals are more susceptible to these sexually transmitted diseases and with the help of these prevention programs they can shine that number. In order to help ascendance the AIDS epidemic, organizations feel prevention programs should cogitate more on mens behavior. I believe that prevention programs should be aimed towards women because of the steady append of infections year to year. Women are more susceptible to HIV infection for several reasons.Biologically, females are estimated to be octet times more likely of receiving and HIV transmission from a male compared to female-to-male transmission. In 1997, the CDC reported that 38% of women received HIV through heterosexual intercourse opposed to 7% of men. Women are more at risk because the surface area in a females genital tract is greater exposed than in males. During intercourse larger amounts of semen fluids are released than in vaginal fluids. This puts women at risk because semen contains a higher amount of HIV. Also, women often have sexually transmitted infections that are leave untreated, which increases exposure to HIV.Women who have STDs, sexually trans mitted diseases, especially those that cause ulcerations make it easier for HIV to enter the body. venereal sores and immune reactions related with STDs face a greater risk of HIV infection. Treatment of STDs can be an efficient HIV prevention tactic if prevention programs educate women on this exposure. Other biological factors deal with young women among the ages of 13 to 19. Girls in Charge coordinator, Judah-Abijah Dorrington, explained that 49% of all the AIDS cases reported in the United States since 1997 were among these young women.This age group is infected because they have not fully completed their biological development. Many of the women obtained HIV in their teens because of having an underdeveloped cervix and low vaginal mucus production. In the report by AIDS Weekly, young women are found to have three to five times higher HIV infections than among boys. Young women really are being viewed as the population with the largest number of new infections, said Dr. Cynthi a Gomez, professor for the AIDS Prevention Center at the University of California at San Francisco. They dont realize theyre at risk, partly because weve wholly emphasized certain groups, rather than behaviors. Women are vulnerable to infection for their lack of power within sexual relationships and sexual violence. Womens lack of power makes it difficult for them to negotiate safer sex with partners. Women tend not to address condom use within relationships in fear of rejection or loss of economic support. When women are in committed relationships, they mainly focus on the intimacy in their relationship. They assume they are in a monogamous relationship with their partner.Unsafe sex becomes more important than protection against HIV. This dependence of men increases the risk of AIDS for women. A report from Secretary General of the United Nation, Kofi Annan concluded, The gender dynamics of the epidemic are far-reaching overdue to womens weaker ability to negotiate safe sex, a nd their generally lower social and economic status. Studies in Africa have unveil that many married women have been infected by their husband. The powerlessness of women to reject sex with their husband has been a major cause of transmission to women.Womens dependence on men makes women less able to protect themselves against AIDS. Typically, men make most decisions about when, where, and how to have sex. In developing countries, women usually maintain little control over their bodies and hold little decision-making power. Violence against women increases their helplessness to HIV and decreases their ability to defend themselves against infection. According to a study, physical and sexual abuse were disturbingly common throughout life among women at high risk for HIV infectionwomen who have been abused are more likely to use crack cocain and have multiple sex partners. This puts women are at greater risk for rape or sexual force. Also, some women are forced to enter into sex wor k or short-term partnerships to exchange sex for economic gain or survival including food, refuge, and security. In many cases, women are in danger merely because they are reliant on their husbands for survival and support. This hinders and restricts their decision making and negotiating control. Sex workers are at a high risk for infection, mainly when they do not have the ability to negotiate with customers who refuse to stomach a condom.In order to prevent the spread of AIDS I feel public health agencies inquire to raise public awareness by promoting prevention programs for women. If women are educated on the biological and social factors of AIDS, women may have more of a chance to change their behaviors before the possibility of becoming infected with HIV. Programs that specifically target women will have a positive impact on women in the long-run. As new AIDS cases are increasing quickly through heterosexual contact focus on the prevention programs will take on even greater i mportance.People that agree with the statement that AIDS prevention programs should target women believe that women are vulnerable to HIV infection biologically and socially. To decrease infections of the AIDS virus women change their standard of living especially for women in developing countries through these prevention programs. Those that disagree focus HIV prevention efforts on heterosexual male sexual behavior. By changing male cultural and socialization patterns interventions can be effective. A widespread HIV prevention policy uses many essentials to protect as many people at risk for HIV as possible.