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The AIDS Epidemic in the US and the World

Page history last edited by Robert W. Maloy 6 days, 20 hours ago

 

external image World_Aids_Day_Ribbon.png
Support the fight against HIV by participating in World AIDS Day, which takes place on December 1st of each year.


 

Focus Question:

What were the social and economic effects of HIV/AIDS in Asian and African countries and the United States?

 

 

Statistics about AIDS cases and deaths in the United States

 

Connecting AP World History Standard

AP World History 6.1 Science and the Environment

 

 

Topics on this page

 

Medical Facts and Background

 
Social Effects

 
Economic Impacts

 

AIDS Epidemic in the U.S.

 

AIDS Advocacy Groups

  • The Blood Sisters

 

AIDS in Africa

 

Anthony Fauci, AIDS Researcher

 

Current Global HIV and AIDS Statistics Fact Sheet

 

external image 200px-Hebrew_timeline_rus.svg.png A Timeline of AIDS from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services

 

CROSS-LINKS:

The Plague of Justinian

 

Bubonic Plague and Its Social and Economic Effects

 

The 1918 Influenza Pandemic

 

 

Background

Stylized rendering of a cross-section of HIV.

 

Stylized rendering of a cross-section of HIV

 

  • HIV/AIDS typically has had the greatest impact on the most productive age groups in the society--15 to 40 years.

 

  • A study in three countries, Burkina Faso, Rwanda and Uganda, has calculated that AIDS will not only reverse progress in poverty reduction, but will also increase the percentage of people living in extreme poverty.

 

  • Perpetually, the expectation of coping with the troubles in the household lies with women. Upon a family member becoming ill, the role of women as care-givers, income-earners and housekeepers becomes more prominent. This often means that they have to step into roles outside their homes as well. When mothers are infected, great hardships are placed on the family.


Learn about the basics of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in the United States and check out some Fast Facts on the U.S. statistics.

 

Click here to watch a short video from National Geographic that explains how the HIV/AIDS virus works

What's the Difference? FAQ about HIV & AIDS

 

 

external image 200px-Hebrew_timeline_rus.svg.png Here's an explanatory timeline of HIV/AIDS throughout the recent history of the US, and here is one on Moments to Remember - including legislation, hate crimes, and popular culture concerning HIV/AIDS.

AIDS quilt in front of the Washington Monument
AIDS quilt in front of the Washington Monument



This is a disease which does affect 'Black America' disproportionately. Listen to or read this NPR Podcast, AIDS In Black America: A Public Health Crisis or this piece from the New York Times titled America's Hidden HIV Epidemic.

 

A list concerning The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Women and Girls.

 

Women Get AIDS Too

"Women Get AIDS Too" by AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, 1986 - 1997, from ACT UP Oral History Project

 

Here is a few posters and art pieces from the AIDs crisis in the 1980s.

 


Here is an article for Debunking Common Myths About HIV. It discusses HIV safety, misconceptions, and its relation to homophobia. For more on Homophobia and HIV check out this article.

 

 


December 1 is World AIDS Day 

external image Map-of-HIV-Prevalance-in-Africa.png
Map of HIV Prevalance in Africa

 

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers ongoing information about infectious diseases in the United States and around the world.

TIME Photo Gallery about the AIDS epidemic in Africa. This resource shows us the state of people in Africa that are afflicted with the disease. 

 

Medical Background

 

  • The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that infects cells of the human immune system, destroying or impairing their function. In the early stages of infection the person has no symptoms. However, as the infection progresses, the immune system becomes weaker and the person becomes more susceptible to opportunistic infections.

 

  • The most advanced stage of HIV infection is Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). It can take 10-15 years for an HIV-infected person to develop AIDS. Still, antiretroviral drugs can slow down the process even further.

 

  • HIV is transmitted through unprotected sexual intercourse (anal or vaginal), transfusion of contaminated blood, sharing of contaminated needles, and between a mother and her infant during pregnancy, childbirth and breast feeding.

 

 

 In Their Own Words. . . NIH Researchers Recall the Early Years of AIDS from the National Institute of Health.

 

 

 Heartbreaking Ted Talk, The Face of AIDS in Africa, from a photographer who tells the stories of those with HIV/AIDS through their pictures.

 


Basic description of HIV/AIDS taken from the World Health Organization
The AIDS epidemic in Asia and Africa has not only visibly ravaged communities of the two continents, but has had severe implications on the economic prosperity and the social structures of the societies.

Social Effects

 

  • Nearly two-thirds of all people living with HIV are found in sub-Saharan Africa, and in the Asia Pacific region, one in five people were living with HIV/AIDS in 2001.

 

  • HIV/AIDS is not just a public health issue, but problems that increasingly affect every aspect of life: family structure, education, labor force, health care sector, and even the economic growth of the entire country.

 

  • HIV/AIDS typically has had the greatest impact on the most productive age groups in the society--15 to 40 years.

 

  • A study in three countries, Burkina Faso, Rwanda and Uganda, has calculated that AIDS will not only reverse progress in poverty reduction, but will also increase the percentage of people living in extreme poverty.

 

  • Perpetually, the expectation of coping with the troubles in the household lies with women. Upon a family member becoming ill, the role of women as care-givers, income-earners and housekeepers becomes more prominent. This often means that they have to step into roles outside their homes as well. When mothers are infected, great hardships are placed on the structure of the family. Dependent children are affected immeasurably by the illness and death of parents or care providers resulting in inadequate access to food and nutrition, decline in educational attainment, inability to receive the nurturing/care necessary for healthy growth and maturation, and even orphanage. 

  • Scientific Study says that AIDS education in Uganda is "working."

 

  • Click here to read an article about how the AIDS epidemic affected the Gay community in the United States

 

From CBS, South Africa still haunted by the AIDS stigma.

Economic Impacts

 

  • The age groups most impacted (15-40) generally account for peak incomes in the household, so the loss of their income has had a tremendous impact on the household. Not only does illness from the virus prohibit those potential income earners from working, it often times leads to a reduction in household income because other members have to take care of sick family.

 

  • A study in South Africa found that already poor households coping with members who are sick from HIV or AIDS were reducing spending on necessities even further. The most likely expenses to be cut were clothing (21%), electricity (16%) and other services (9%). Falling incomes forced about 6% of households to reduce the amount they spent on food and almost half of households reported having insufficient food at times (click here for more information).

 

  • In the Potential Economic Impact of AIDS in the Asia and the Pacific, it notes that "the disease is reversing annual economic growth by one to two percentage points in the worst affected countries. Economic wealth in the form of gross national product could drop in some areas by as much as 40 percent by 2020.2 Translated to a country like Malaysia, Thailand or Indonesia this is a sum worth billions of dollars." Additionally, "it is thought that the yearly impact of AIDS on sub-Saharan Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) is a loss of 1%"--as time and the virus progresses, this will amount to the loss of billions of dollars.

 

Another Ted Talk, Flip Your Thinking on AIDS in Africa, from an economist who re-examines the AIDS stats in Africa and looks at it from an economic perspective.

 

1999 study on the economic effects of AIDS in Afric


 

AIDS Epidemic in the US

 

  • The Aids epidemic didn't arise until 1981, when CDC discovered strands of it in the U.S with 5 homosexual man in California. 

 

  • In 1983, the public considered AIDS as a gay disease, calling it the "Gay Plague" 
    • People blamed the Gay people for causing the disease to spread and many people discriminate against them. (this is similar to the case of the Corona virus in 2020, in which many people discriminate against Chinese people because the disease originated in China. People fear diseases and would blame a certain group of people because of it.)

 

Interactive Charts on HIV and AIDS with more current statistics (2019): https://ourworldindata.org/hiv-aids   

I think it is important for us to recognize the lasting effects of the epidemic and include that information on the wiki.

                                          

Information about National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day infographics: https://aidsvu.org/national-youth-hiv-aids-awareness-day-2023/  

  • National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day occurs on April 10th.

 

Timeline of HIV and AIDS: https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/history/hiv-and-aids-timeline/

                                          

Timeline of the AIDS epidemic that spreads of 40 years: https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2021/06/420686/40-years-aids-timeline-epidemic

 

 

 

    • Click on this video about how the Aids Crisis in the U.S changed the LGBT movement.  

 

    • Click on this video for information about the 1980s AIDS epidemic in San Francisco.

 

Click here to watch a short compilation of news broadcasts from the 1980s and 1990s regarding the AIDS epidemic in the United States.

 

 

  • Despite a shift in public opinion on the disease, members of the LGBT community still face discrimination because of it and are disproportionally affected by it.
    • Click on this link from the Human Rights Campaign that explains the current situation of HIV/AIDS in the US and the difficulties LGBT people face because of it. 

 

AIDS Advocacy Groups

 

 

 The Blood Sisters were a group of lesbian organizers who organized blood drives in the 1980s and 1990s after gay and bisexual men were banned from donating blood. 

 

 

For more in depth information on the effects AIDS has had on Africa, please visit the following websites:

 

http://www.globalissues.org/article/90/aids-in-africa


http://www.avert.org/aidsimpact.htm


http://www.prb.org/pdf06/HowHIVAIDSAffectsPopulations.pdf

 

Anthony Fauci, AIDS Researcher

 

Anthony Fauci, 2020

Biography

 

 

Fighting the AIDS epidemic

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