Human Immunodeficiency Virus (hiv) - Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (aids)

African Americans who live in low-income communities are more likely to engage in unprotected sexual activities than those who live in higher-income communities.

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Table of Contents

Chapter Page/s

I. The Problem 1-2

II. Theoretical Framework 3-5

III. Hypothesis 6

IV. Population and Design 7-8

V. Conclusion 9-10

VI. Bibliography 11-12

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I. Problem

Little to nothing was known about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) when it first erupted in the 1970s. When the epidemic finally reached noticeable proportions in the early 1980s, a disease that knows no gender, racial, or class boundaries has created a devastating impact on society. This disease has afflicted society in virtually epidemic proportions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, there are an estimated 1 million Americans infected with AIDS and 40,000-80,000 new infections with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) each year.

There are few people who do not know someone who has died of AIDS, and it is estimated that, early in the new millennium, some forty million people worldwide will be infected with HIV, and ten million of them will develop AIDS. Research and statistics reveals that individual behavior is the strongest determinant of HIV and AIDS risk. This high-risk behavior place them in danger and is passed on to others by means of exchanging sex for money or drugs, injection drug users (IDUs), incarcerated persons, unborn babies of infected mothers, and other persons who have numerous sex partners.

Individuals in communities where Sexual Transmitted Diseases are prevalent are also at high risk rates of AIDS and HIV infection are substantially higher in blacks than among whites, especially among adolescents and young adults (Healthy People 2000). Many factors contribute to why there are more African Americans infected with HIV, AIDS, and STDs than any other racial and ethnic group.

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The purpose of this explanatory study is to find out why African Americans who live in low-income / African American communities are more likely to engage in unprotected sexual activities than those who live in higher-income communities, which could lead to sexual transmitted diseases. So, the issue at hand and the recommendation concerning preventive health and counseling prevent sexually transmitted diseases and human immunodeficiency virus begins with the efficacy of risk reduction (sexual behavior), prevention, intervention, and clinician counseling deliver in a variety of settings (clinician or non-clinician).

Many studies has revealed that children are not receiving information about sexuality and sexual behavior from their parents, do not have the availability of physicians to counsel adolescents and adult patients on measures to prevent STDs (primarily HIV), especially if they are treated once for infections in lower-income communities. There are other factors and measures that have been issued by a number of organizations that explain why African Americans and where they live makes them more susceptible to HIV infection and AIDS.

Sexually transmitted diseases as a whole affect millions of people in the United States and around the world each year, causing significant morbidity and mortality.

In this study, I will try to discover why this epidemic has run out of control, especially among African Americans, in the United States which has continued to rise, reaching more than 160,000 by the end of 1990 (CDC, 1994). And through December 2000, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has received reports of 774,467 AIDS cases, of those, 292,522 cases occurred among African Americans (CDC, 2000).

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II. Theoretical Framework

Several reports and statistics has revealed that the correlation between these variables: African Americans, low-income and poverty ridden communities are some of the main reasons HIV infections and AIDS rates tend to be higher among African Americans than white Americans. Reported rates of some others sexually transmitted diseases are as much as 30 times higher for African Americans than for whites. This disparity is due in part, to the fact that African Americana are more likely to seek care in public clinics that report STDs more completely than private providers. Maybe!

However, this reporting bias does not fully explain these differences I will be explaining such as other important factors like the distribution of poverty (based on income), access to quality health care, health seeking behaviors, the level of drug use, and sexual networks with high sexually transmitted disease prevalence.

Some prominent organizations such as the American Medical Association (AMA), the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the AMA Guidelines for Adolescent Preventive Services (GAPS) recommend providing routine advice to all children and adolescent about responsible sexual behaviors that include abstinence, the use of condoms, and school based programs aimed at reducing sexual risk behaviors through awareness and education.

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The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG) and American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) supports encouraging abstinence among adolescents, but both organizations endorse educating sexually active teens about proper condom use and also increasing the availability of condoms at sites serving youth (AMA, 1994). Do these sites exist in lower-income communities?

Nonetheless, many are concerned that promoting condoms use in adolescents will lead to increased sexual activity. I agree, but the risk factors and the sexual behavior is reduced. Whether we provide and issue condoms and contraceptives at our public schools or not, our children must somehow understand how HIV infections and AIDS is spread throughout the population (Anspaugh, Hamrick & Rosato, 2000, p.424-425).

Moreover, the level of prevention education may vary widely across communities. In some areas such as high-income

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