HIV Crisis In Atlanta | Kemonte Gaskin Research

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HIV Crisis in Atlanta 1 HIV in Atlanta 2 Kemonte Gaskin Research Paper Phase I: Introduction and Literature Review BUSA 2185 – Business Research October 5, 2018 Abstract HIV has been and continues to be the black plague of sexually transmitted diseases (STD). There was a time between 2010 and 2015 where the number of infected victims become lower and lower each year (Editors, 2018). However, within recent years, the state of Georgia has seen an incline in their diagnosed numbers since 2016. When calculated those affected by HIV, there is a lot to consider—like the person’s sexual orientation, or if the person does drugs, their ethnicity and much more. Even with numbers reaching and all the information that has been and continues to be provided on the facts about HIV, people still manage to contract the disease and it only gets worse, especially among those young adults in metropolitan areas.

Introduction Atlanta is said to have rates of HIV mirroring a third world country (Dr.P.Gould, 2016). It is noted that nearly half of Atlanta’s population is infected with the virus (Dr.P.Gould, 2016). To prevent the numbers from increasing, the Center for Disease Control, Emory and other prominent medical services in Atlanta have influenced and implemented routine HIV testing. Even small clinics in Atlanta test people for free because it is such an issue they want to make sure those who are not infected take every precaution there is to staying protected. It had been recorded that Grady, another significant hospital in Atlanta, has diagnosed an average of two out of three people every day with HIV since 2013 (Dr.P.Gould, 2016).

With that, it is obvious to see that the virus is still an issue. This analysis will cover the remaining issue of HIV infection rates in the Atlanta, current prevention action and its immediate population. The analysis will use data and statistics given by the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) website, hospital sites and scholarly articles written on the subject matter. By the end of this essay, the reader should be well informed on what HIV is, the most affected population, treatment, and prevention methods. The main focus of this research is how much money is being spent yearly on HIV medication and prevention plans by medical officials.

Atlanta as stated, has the highest HIV rate in the entire United States so it is projected that they spend more money, on average, towards HIV medication and prevention plans. Literature Review HIV is human immunodeficiency virus, it is a virus that could lead to the development of the more serious virus, AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) ( Tien, & Grunfeld, 2004). HIV is a virus that breaks down the immune system, blocking and infected it from all its needed nutrients (Editors, 2018). If HIV is left untreated for too long, it can begin to attack and lessen the number of ‘T’ cells which are needed to fight viruses and infection directly. Without them the HIV takes over the body leaving the immune system weak and vulnerable to any bacteria that can cause harm.

If someone is affected by HIV, no one would be able to tell by looking at them. The only to know someone is infected with the virus is to get tested, by way of blood sample or saliva swab (blood samples tend to be more accurate). There are many misconceptions about the way someone can retrieve the virus. However, it is to be noted that one can only contract the virus through bodily fluids, sex, sharing of needles with blood or being breastfed by someone infected (Brenchley, Price, Schacker, Asher, Silvestri, Rao, & Blazar, 2006). There is a medicine, Prep, those with HIV take to calm their symptoms and protect others they come in contact with from getting it.

But, before discussing the treatments and contractions of the virus, it is imperative to look at the history of HIV. The history of HIV can be traced back to Central Africa in the 1950’s Sharp, & Hahn, 2011). The United States was the first of developed countries to be affected by the diseases and their numbers raise each year. It is important to realize that America is a very developed country, however, they have the highest number of HIV infected populations than any other infected country Sharp, & Hahn, 2011). It is said that before it reached America it was shared to Haiti, Haiti was a popular vacation spot for homosexual Americans and when they came back from their vacations, they brought the virus back with them (Sharp, & Hahn, 2011).

The 1980’s was a time period of many health turmoil’s in America—the crack epidemic, crack babies, and of course HIV. The virus became widely spread in gay communities like New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles (Francis, & Mialon, 2010). It spread so rapidly because of a few reasons—blood donors were giving blood not knowing they had the virus, drug users were sharing needles again not knowing they had the virus and of course through sexual intercourse. This is also how the virus spread to Europe, genetic tests show that the virus arrived there from America, not Africa. When the virus became wide spread, it became political.

Europe took matter into their own hands by distributing clean drug needles to stop the sharing of needles and the virus. Though it was promoting drug use and not necessarily stopping it, it was putting a stop to a bigger issue at hand. By the 1990’s, the United Kingdom were giving out 25 million syringes a year (Dougan, Evans, & Elford, 2007). Different from Europe, America was a little too focused on ending the usage and distribution of drugs due to the “war on drugsâ€. In inner cities where majority drug usage was, America was trying to decrease the use by arresting and loading police watch in the neighborhoods.

Not paying attention to the virus quickly spreading around. For years America refused to give any federal funds for needle exchanges or to research any methods that did work. As a result of this, America had 37 more times the drug users than the United Kingdom. The rates of deaths were drastically higher in America than in Europe because Europeans took preventative care and as soon as the found a patient who tested positive for the virus, health care officials rushed them to the nearest curing or treatment center. Whereas, in America if someone tests positive they are pretty much left to fend for themselves or spend hundreds on the medication needed.

An HIV treatment for one year in America as of 2010 is $379,000 (Editors, HIV Cost-effectiveness, 2018). So it is definitely no wonder why many have not been cured or kept on treatment. Treatment requires that the patient is participating 90 percent of the time within a year in order to remain effective—a lot can happen in a year like moving or losing a job. Any mishap that can possibly disrupt treatment can be detrimental to progress in the patient. HIV effects one third of America’s population, and it used to be disease that affected homosexual people but now the disease has migrated to affect those who cannot afford the proper healthcare for it—African Americans.

This 47 percentile of victims are concentrated in the South, Atlanta, Georgia to be exact ( Adimora, Schoenbach, & Doherty, 2006). Because of this, black men are now more likely to die with this disease present than white gay males when it was first brought here. Ever since treatment options and plans were created, more diseases have emerged in America. The high number of HIV affected African Americans in Atlanta has been called an epidemic ( Kalichman, Cherry, Amaral, White, Kalichman, Pope, & Macy, 2010). Doctors and professionals from the Centers of Disease Control say that the virus seems to hit those blacks that have limited access to healthcare.

At one point, the federal dollars given to the city were restricted from being spent on programs to helps educate those areas of people who would likely be affected. Some medical facilities complained about the lack of federal support to help their target population when they first become diagnosed. That was until Fulton County chairman demanding new leadership as far as fund and resource allocation so that the citizens of Atlanta could have proper access to not only tests but treatment as well. With that new implementation, the city soon implemented mobile testing trucks to take to ‘hot spot’ areas where people would contract the disease greater than any other area. It was noted that the southeast region was more exposed to the virus.

Rescinding back to the population targets, the virus is mainly found in homosexual African Americans. It is no secret that Atlanta is known as the gay capital of America. So it only makes sense to link the skyrocketing number of new diagnoses to this population in Atlanta. Gay black men in America’s risk of contracting HIV is one out of two whereas a white gay man is one out of eleven. This is because they generally have access to things black males do not, especially Prep, which stands for pre-exposure prophylaxis, and it is for people who are HIV negative to protect themselves against those who are.

The monthly cost for Prep without insurance is $1,300. It is literally the average cost of rent in Atlanta for a home. Lower rates of health access, education and income have all been found to play a role in the HIV rate amongst black gay males. Despite these systematic and historical components, it is still not enough to persuade everyone to stay protected. Many people put the blame for the epidemic on African American men for being homosexual.

HIV can have some pros and cons when it come to their interaction with businesses. Medical businesses, pharmacies and companies who make the medicine for HIV can bring in about a billion dollars alone if everyone had the financial means to purchase the medicine needed. That is just from the medicine alone, there are currently 1.1 million Americans with HIV, if all of them receive just one year of treatment the medical businesses could make over $400 billion. In just ONE year. However, without access to the resources needed to manage the virus, there is a portion of revenue that is missed out on.

On the other hand, HIV can negatively affects businesses by losing employees to the disease. If employees contract the disease and they catch a cold, chances are they will need to be out of work or possibly hospitalized for the simple fact of being, the disease destroys your ‘T’cells which fight off other viruses. Also, places of employment will need to push the agenda of testing to their employees so that they will know what precaution to take and where. The issue that has been addressed with that though is that job will tell people to get tested but not where. Even though HIV has been an issue for a while, it still seems to be a taboo thing to bring up when it should be brought up all the time especially in the southeast region.

Lately, natives of Atlanta have noticed the efforts being made by medical officials and hospital to promote the idea of testing ( Kalichman, Cherry, Amaral, White, Kalichman, Pope, & Macy, 2010). But, the discussion of treatment is so out of question because of the population’s lack of ability to afford it. It is suggested that medical companies lower the prices of treatment be it that the treatment is not just one bottle of pills, it is various bottles that require refilling and purchasing every single month. Granted insurance garnishes the price by a landslide, but many do not even have health insurance as well. In addition to not having proper insurance, the lack of proper food nourishment is an issue as well.

In plenty of studies, those going without treatment are also going without proper food to live a healthier life. “Food insufficiency was associated with multiple indicators of poor health, including higher HIV viral loads, lower CD4 cell counts, and poorer treatment adherence ( Kalichman, Cherry, Amaral, White, Kalichman, Pope, & Macy, 2010).” Food insufficiency contributes to HIV not being managed or treated well. If one is to analyze all of these factors, it is as if government assistance does not want to help those African Americans in poverty suffering from this deadly disease. They had to fight to get the proper testing but they still do not have the proper food to keep the rest of their bodies alright while living with the virus.

References

• Adimora, A. A., Schoenbach, V. J., & Doherty, I. A. (2006). HIV and African Americans in the southern United States: sexual networks and social context. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 33(7), S39-S45.
• Brenchley, J. M., Price, D. A., Schacker, T. W., Asher, T. E., Silvestri, G., Rao, S., & Blazar, B. R. (2006). Microbial translocation is a cause of systemic immune activation in chronic HIV infection. Nature Medicine, 12(12), 1365.
• Dougan, S., Evans, B. G., & Elford, J. (2007). Sexually transmitted infections in Western Europe among HIV-positive men who have sex with men. Sexually Transmitted Diseases, 34(10).
• Editors. (2018). HIV Cost-effectiveness. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
• Gould, P. (2016, May 11). Atlanta HIV rates are “like that of a third world country”. BlackDoctor.org.
• Kalichman, S. C., Cherry, C., Amaral, C., White, D., Kalichman, M. O., Pope, H., & Macy, R. (2010). Health and treatment implications of food insufficiency among people living with HIV/AIDS, Atlanta, Georgia. Journal of Urban Health, 87(4).
• Sharpe, P. M., & Hahn, B. H. (2011). Origins of HIV and the AIDS pandemic. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, 1(1), a006841.
• Tiens, P. C., & Grunfeld, C. (2004). What is HIV-associated lipodystrophy? Defining fat distribution changes in HIV infection. Current opinion in infectious diseases, 17(1), 27-32.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2018). HIV in the United States: At A Glance. CDC.