As of right now, I know that HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus which causes the immune system within humans to fail. If the HIV virus advances it can turn into AIDS. AIDS stands for Acquired Deficiency Syndrome which has no cure. I recall learning about this when i was in elementary school, believe it or not. My third through fifth grade teacher was very thorough about the topic of HIV and AIDS. If I remember correctly, HIV causes your "helper T-cells" to be broken down which causes your immune system to no longer work, making even the common cold lethal for those infected.
When thinking about the effect of HIV globally the first thing that comes to mind is the availability of knowledge worldwide. Those who are aware of the risks of contracting a virus such as HIV are usually more prone to practice much safer sex methods. I would like to learn more about the organizations that are trying to promote sexual education and how successful they are. I believe the amount of success will directly correlate to the number of those infected within the same area. The most surprising thing to me that I came to find within Monday's video is the fact that when women opt to use protection when having sex with their husband because he has HIV or AIDS she is looked down upon. You would think that her husband would understand due to the fact that it can be lethal. I guess that is just a major cultural difference i will never come to understand.
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I agree with what you said about the video and women trying to get their husband to wear a condom. It doesn't make sense at all. I guess that women have much more say in the U.S. than in other countries. What I also don't understand though, is the men there must have a little education of AIDS which would lead me to believe that they would want to use protection to decrease there risks of getting infected. I also want to learn about the organizations that are in place to promote sexual education. I think that this is an important thing to look at to further our understanding of what is going on in these other places like Africa.
ReplyDeleteI think that you knew more about the HIV/AIDs virus than I did which is helpful as we look futher into it in upcoming classes. You also did a great job of bringing up some points of interest in these other countries like a woman's role in society, condom use, and sexual education programs.
I thought it was funny that you quoted "helper T-Cells" which I did exactly on my blog too. I think that America has done a fantastic job of properly educate the citizens to help remove some of the stigma.
ReplyDeleteIn other countries like the video said, you said that women can't get their men to wear condoms. I think there are still people in the US who refuse to wear condoms because "they don't fit", or "I can't feel anything". I agree with you, I just can't understand their lack of understanding (or not willing to accept the truth) about the situation and dangers of HIV/STIS.
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ReplyDeleteI think that people in Africa are aware of AIDS and of how people get infected but the problem is the cultural barrier. Men tend to think highly of their gender/role they play for the family and if the wife opposes the men's way then they will eventually get beaten.
ReplyDeleteIn the video from Monday, there was a woman that mentioned that when she told her husband to use a condom, he replied that she was cheating on him that's why she wanted to use a condom. I don't remember well from a video we once saw in class but the government in South Africa is stating that HIV and AIDS is not the problem.
So I think that cultural barrier, infidelity, and ignorance is the cause of AIDS in Africa and men are usually the one with a higher percentage affected compared to woman.
In the last paragraph, i mean women. lol
ReplyDeletejohn