As we learned in class there is great disparities in health care around the world. Many people do not have access to affordable health care and some do not have access to health care treatments at all. This causes people with lack of access to be more likely to contract a disease since they do not have the chance to prevent it.
A major contributor to this problem is classism. Classism in the case of STI prevention basically means that those people residing in higher classes (i.e. the United States) have more access and can afford to seak out prevention methods whereas those people in less wealthy nations (i.e. Sub-Saharan African nations) are more prone to spreading STI's simply because they do not have the access to simple prevention methods such as condoms or dental dams.
As a citizen of the United States it is hard to wrap my mind around the fact that some people do not know that condom use can help prevent STI's from spreading. For as long as I can remember, that has been what I was taught. However, different cultures were not taught the same thing and therefore it is harder for them to grasp that concept. Also, condoms have always been quite accessible for me throughout my life. I can name at least four different places right now that I could go and get some if I needed to. In rural places such as Sub-Saharan Africa, condoms are not all over the place like they are here. In the United States it is easy to get wrapped up in the idea that people in poorer countries have access to STI prevention methods and just choose not the use them, but in reality their culture and accessibility is extremely different than ours.
Even though the same diseases infect people in the United States, it is at a much lower frequency due to our education and accessibility. A goal in alleviating the burden of STI's should be to make prevention methods more known and acceptable, while also making them highly accessible to all people around the globe.
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I think that you made a really valid point in that many people simply don't have access to healthcare either due to demographics or economic factors. People will have sex whether or not they have protection. However, if protection methods are made available and people understand the benefits, then the spread of STIs should theoretically decrease in rate and magnitude.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that our country is very different than others in the way we view safer sex and seek it. I believe that any convenience store in the United States most likely has condoms for purchase. How unbelievably convenient is that? I can't even begin to relate to those who would have to travel afar to seek any type of protection method or worse still, if they actually couldn't afford it. People in all countries need to be educated on why safer sex is so important and how failing to practice it, even just one time, can have devastating consequences- sometimes for life.
In your statement about making prevention methods not only more known and accessible but also more acceptable is a very powerful means of attaining STI alleviation. People have to feel comfortable with using protection through their culture,their self, and with their partner. Making STI protection "okay" to be open about will have a major impact on the success of STI prevention.