The "Hunter" Theory, The OPV Theory, and The Conspiracy Theory all give various accounts as to how HIV originated and the cause of HIV. Both the "Hunter" theory and the OPV theory include the idea that HIV is a mutated form of SIV which is found in chimpanzees in Cameroon. However, the "Hunter" theory dates back further which explains earlier cases than the OPV theory does. Also, the "Hunter" theory accounts for there being various strands of HIV while OPV doesn't. The Conspiracy theory seems completely bogus to me and from reading that brief paragraph on it, it does not appear to have any factual information backing it so I'm kind of confused as to why it is even considered a legitimate theory. If the conspiracy theory were true then why are there different strands of HIV in the world today, and how is it linked to the chimpanzee disease SIV?
Clearly I do not think that the conspiracy theory is very plausible at all. However, both the OPV and the "Hunter" theory seem quite plausible. I understand that the OPV theory does not account for earlier cases of HIV, but I'm curious as to how certain researchers are that there were earlier cases of HIV. It seems that with our limited knowledge of HIV that both explanations are plausible.
I do think it is important for people to continue researching the beginnings of HIV. In order for us to fully understand its mutations and developments within the human species, we have to know where it started. Also, discovering more information on the origins of this disease could help lead to better treatment, preventions methods, or maybe even a cure.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
What about white priviledge?
The article in white privilege was very thought provoking. It discussed the concept that racism is not merely the act of certain people being held back, but also the act of white people have certain advantages that aren't ever noticed. Many of the advantages that McIntosh speaks of are things that happen in everyday life that people do not notice. She goes on to lay out many instances where white people have privileges over colored people. Some of these examples include; shopping without being followed or harassed, living in a neighborhood where white race is dominant and not being judged by your neighbors, and being able to find food at the grocery store which fit ones cultural traditions. All of these things are privileges whether white people like to acknowledge them or not. McIntosh goes on the discuss that white people will have to end up giving up some of there privileges in order for different races to not be oppressed any more.
I for one I have never paid much attention to the fact that I am around white people most of the day, most of my neighbors are white, and the people I work worth are all white. These types of things make everyday life for me more comfortable. I do agree with McIntosh in the fact that these things are privileges that the "typical" white person can take for granted. However, when you factor in all of the various "isms" its easy to see that there really isn't a typical white person that enjoys every single one of her privileges. For example, since I am young I still get watched when I go into stores and often I cannot return things without a receipt even though older people could have. Another example is that even though I am white I am a female and therefore cannot always go places by myself and still feel secure. I guess to sum up my feeling on her report, I agree that there are white privileges, but that along with those privileges other things come into play that knock a person down again. I don't believe that there is ever going to be a way for each and every single person in the world to be completely equal.
I also have a problem with her saying that white people need to give up some of their privileges in order for others to gain equality. I guess this falls along the lines of affirmative action which I'm not a big fan of either. I feel like there has got to be another way for people to be more equal without taking away the rights of the privileged.
Although I do not completely agree with her article I can see how white privilege plays into the treatment and spread of HIV/AIDS. In the United States, white people in general have more access to health care and education and therefore are more able to seek the treatment and prevention necessary for preventing the spread of this disease. I think that ensuring access and education to all people in the United States would definitely help control the HIV/AIDS epidemic here. This issues of white privilege could also be brought to attention world wide so that more people can become educated and have access to the proper protection tools.
I for one I have never paid much attention to the fact that I am around white people most of the day, most of my neighbors are white, and the people I work worth are all white. These types of things make everyday life for me more comfortable. I do agree with McIntosh in the fact that these things are privileges that the "typical" white person can take for granted. However, when you factor in all of the various "isms" its easy to see that there really isn't a typical white person that enjoys every single one of her privileges. For example, since I am young I still get watched when I go into stores and often I cannot return things without a receipt even though older people could have. Another example is that even though I am white I am a female and therefore cannot always go places by myself and still feel secure. I guess to sum up my feeling on her report, I agree that there are white privileges, but that along with those privileges other things come into play that knock a person down again. I don't believe that there is ever going to be a way for each and every single person in the world to be completely equal.
I also have a problem with her saying that white people need to give up some of their privileges in order for others to gain equality. I guess this falls along the lines of affirmative action which I'm not a big fan of either. I feel like there has got to be another way for people to be more equal without taking away the rights of the privileged.
Although I do not completely agree with her article I can see how white privilege plays into the treatment and spread of HIV/AIDS. In the United States, white people in general have more access to health care and education and therefore are more able to seek the treatment and prevention necessary for preventing the spread of this disease. I think that ensuring access and education to all people in the United States would definitely help control the HIV/AIDS epidemic here. This issues of white privilege could also be brought to attention world wide so that more people can become educated and have access to the proper protection tools.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
AIDS As I Know It
I must be completely honest, I do not know very much about AIDS other than it is a devastating epidemic that needs to be stopped. I also know that the prevention of AIDS can be prevented with current safer sex practices and by not sharing needles. These seem to be the main issues in how AIDS is transferred between people. Which in turn has lead to the stigma that only homosexual people and drug users can contract AIDS when in fact any sexual orientation is at ask of contacting AIDS.
The video on Wednesday discussed that in the 1980's a large problem with the transferal of AIDS was because of the blood banks. I had never conceived of this before. I currently donate blood on a regular basis and am aware of the questions they ask prior to donating. I was not aware that there was such a huge debate over those questions in the 80's. I also was unaware that in the beginning AIDS was closely associated with Haiti. I have never heard any stigma surrounding AIDS and Haiti.
For the most part I have gotten my information from health classes. Of course I have watched movies such as RENT which don't display much factual information but rather a look into an AIDS patients life.
As a global topic, I am hoping to learn more about how AIDS is affecting people around the world. I know that Sub-Saharan Africa has a huge problem with it, but I more interested in learning how big of a problem it is in other democracies and also how other government are handling the issue. I know that for a while several government leaders refused to acknowledge that AIDS even existed and I am curious to see how that has changed if at all.
The video on Wednesday discussed that in the 1980's a large problem with the transferal of AIDS was because of the blood banks. I had never conceived of this before. I currently donate blood on a regular basis and am aware of the questions they ask prior to donating. I was not aware that there was such a huge debate over those questions in the 80's. I also was unaware that in the beginning AIDS was closely associated with Haiti. I have never heard any stigma surrounding AIDS and Haiti.
For the most part I have gotten my information from health classes. Of course I have watched movies such as RENT which don't display much factual information but rather a look into an AIDS patients life.
As a global topic, I am hoping to learn more about how AIDS is affecting people around the world. I know that Sub-Saharan Africa has a huge problem with it, but I more interested in learning how big of a problem it is in other democracies and also how other government are handling the issue. I know that for a while several government leaders refused to acknowledge that AIDS even existed and I am curious to see how that has changed if at all.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
North/South Divide
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.
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.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
HPV Advertisement, Now there's a way to stop it!
This is an advertisement for the HPV vaccination. The ad shows various moments that occur throughout peoples lives that they will want to be around for, indicating that if you don't get the vaccination you could end up not surviving long enough to live a full life which is an example of a fear message. By showing that cervical cancer, which is caused by HPV, could cause you to miss out on the important things in life, it makes a person believe that they need the HPV vaccine to survive.
This ad also gives off false information. There are many different strands of HPV that cause cervical cancer and the HPV vaccine only protects against a few strands. Therefore the vaccine does not stop cervical cancer from happening all together as the ad suggests.
It is successful at aiming towards it advertising market. Young women in there late teens and early twenties are the only people subject to the vaccine. The pictures used in the ad show women growing up and special moments that will happen in their life, especially the wedding picture. All women have a dream or goal of what their life will turn out like and the pictures used in this ad demonstrate some of those goals.
In general I think advertisement has a huge affect on the public opinion of STI's. I for one had never heard about HPV until the "ONE LESS" commercials came out. I think that advertisement also can change peoples view about how STI's can affect everyone not just so called "promiscuous" people. Advertisements can be very educational if they are actually providing factual information.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Clinton's Tuskegee Apology
The Tuskegee Study began several decades ago and continued for far to long. I was the longest non-therapeutic study in history. The United States wanted to research the effects syphilis had on African-Americans compared to whites. The used 300 people in the small town of Tuskegee that tested positive for syphilis and pretended to treat them for decades. However, the treatment the government was providing was to treatment at all but simply anguishing tests that these victims had to endure.
The result of the Tuskegee study was that there of course was no difference between how syphilis progressed in between African American and whites. However, it did cause a majority of the African-American population to become distrustful of the government and its medical research. Many families were harmed in this study and it is one of the most unethical research programs in history.
President Clinton made an apology in 1997 for the way the American government acted, but no apology could ever completely amend all of the lives lost due to this study. Yet Clinton tried to do his best to repair the damage done and rebuild trust for the African-American population. He made numerous promises to right all of the wrongs done so many years ago.
However, even though Clinton made an honest attempt to restore the trust and honesty in governmental research, there is still a ways to go. Many people are still apprehensive about participating in research studies, especially minorities. Minorities are taken advantage of all of the time simply because they do not posses the same resources as the whites do. I believe that having President Obama in office will help ease some of this strain, but only for the African-American population. The Hispanic population seems to be an ever growing minority group in America and they are taken advantage of all the time.
America has come quite a ways in terms of ethics since the Tuskegee study, but there is still a lot for room for improvement where minority groups lie. I look forward to seeing how President Obama will handle different situations involving minorities.
The result of the Tuskegee study was that there of course was no difference between how syphilis progressed in between African American and whites. However, it did cause a majority of the African-American population to become distrustful of the government and its medical research. Many families were harmed in this study and it is one of the most unethical research programs in history.
President Clinton made an apology in 1997 for the way the American government acted, but no apology could ever completely amend all of the lives lost due to this study. Yet Clinton tried to do his best to repair the damage done and rebuild trust for the African-American population. He made numerous promises to right all of the wrongs done so many years ago.
However, even though Clinton made an honest attempt to restore the trust and honesty in governmental research, there is still a ways to go. Many people are still apprehensive about participating in research studies, especially minorities. Minorities are taken advantage of all of the time simply because they do not posses the same resources as the whites do. I believe that having President Obama in office will help ease some of this strain, but only for the African-American population. The Hispanic population seems to be an ever growing minority group in America and they are taken advantage of all the time.
America has come quite a ways in terms of ethics since the Tuskegee study, but there is still a lot for room for improvement where minority groups lie. I look forward to seeing how President Obama will handle different situations involving minorities.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Public Health and Bioterrorism
The podcast discussed various points throughout history where smallpox was used as a weapon and harmed many people. Until the 1970's, when a vaccine was created, smallpox was actively used as a weapon.
Public health and bioterrorism relate a great deal. There are numerous illnesses out there that can be used as for bioterrorism such as TB, Measles, and Anthrax. It is the goal of public health organizations to prevent this from happening so that it won't destroy specific populations. I believe that currently people should be worried about the use of smallpox and other infectious diseases as weapons simply because we do not have cures for many of them. We do have a vaccine for smallpox, yet there is no manufacturer that makes the needle necessary for the vaccine. Therefore smallpox could eventually be used as a tool for bioterrorism.
I think that since we do have a vaccine for smallpox, that has left us vulnerable to other more severe diseases that we cannot easily access vaccinations for. I know that smallpox is a terrible disease that is easily spread, but we at least know how to eradicate it. This leaves us open to other extreme diseases in which we have no vaccination for. Other successes of public health that have left us vulnerable include diarrhea and influenza. People are still dieing all over the world from these two infections, but in America that number is limited. Because of this, Americans are now living longer which makes us more vulnerable to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Even though some public health successes leave people vulnerable to other diseases, people working in that field still need to try and conquer all of the infectious diseases out there. Without public health people would definitely not have the quality of life they enjoy today.
Public health and bioterrorism relate a great deal. There are numerous illnesses out there that can be used as for bioterrorism such as TB, Measles, and Anthrax. It is the goal of public health organizations to prevent this from happening so that it won't destroy specific populations. I believe that currently people should be worried about the use of smallpox and other infectious diseases as weapons simply because we do not have cures for many of them. We do have a vaccine for smallpox, yet there is no manufacturer that makes the needle necessary for the vaccine. Therefore smallpox could eventually be used as a tool for bioterrorism.
I think that since we do have a vaccine for smallpox, that has left us vulnerable to other more severe diseases that we cannot easily access vaccinations for. I know that smallpox is a terrible disease that is easily spread, but we at least know how to eradicate it. This leaves us open to other extreme diseases in which we have no vaccination for. Other successes of public health that have left us vulnerable include diarrhea and influenza. People are still dieing all over the world from these two infections, but in America that number is limited. Because of this, Americans are now living longer which makes us more vulnerable to chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Even though some public health successes leave people vulnerable to other diseases, people working in that field still need to try and conquer all of the infectious diseases out there. Without public health people would definitely not have the quality of life they enjoy today.
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