HIV

Social Determinants: HIV

         

The global trends and adverse health impact of HIV remains a major public health challenge and an urgent one of our time.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2882967/. Many of these conditions arise because of the circumstances in which people grow, live, work, socialize, and form relationships, and because of the systems put in place to deal with illness, all of which are, in turn, shaped by political, social, and economic forces. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2882967/. The simple way of looking at HIV is looking at the individual’s high-risk sexual behavior or drug-injecting practices although, it is a much bigger picture than that. 

            

 

HIV is a complex virus considering how many factors have an affect such as discrimination towards certain races, and social class can lead to a higher prevalence of HIV. HIV disproportionately affects various populations in the United States. Additionally showing the inequality of HIV infected individual’s shows how health determinants correlate such as the highest average annual HIV diagnosis was among Blacks/ African Americans 44.4 which is eight times the rate for whites 5.4 and twice the rate for Hispanics 20.5 http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/. 

           

I believe that these types of statistics for HIV is closely correlated with the social determinants of health. Poverty, education, and income play an important role in being diagnosed with HIV. The highest average rates of HIV diagnoses for males 50.1 and females 19.9 were among those who lived in census tracts where 20% or more of the residents lived below the federal poverty level, the average rate of HIV diagnosis increased as the percentage of residents living below the federal poverty level increased http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/.

            

This portrays an important picture of this infection your level of income class, and education or race affects your risk of HIV. These types of disparities should not be at such a high gap we should not be able to state the risk of a preventable infection on your social determinants of health. For African American males and females and Hispanic males and females in all age groups, the largest percentages of those with diagnosed HIV infection lived in census tracts where 8% or more of the residents had less than a high school education http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/ . Population health outcomes are significantly influenced by complex overlapping of social structures and economic systems such as the social determinants of health.

            

Stated by the Whitehall Study one’s position in a social hierarchy can influence health outcomes. The amount of income an individual possesses affects their access to healthcare, education, and distribution of wealth and well-being. An upstream approach way of looking at HIV determinants are also through policies such as providing access to health care, encouraging HIV testing, and syringe services programs greatly can affect HIV transmission. Cultural and societal norms, such as stigma, discrimination, women’s status in society, homophobia, and resilience of the gay community contribute greatly to HIV affecting populations http://www.who.int/hiv/en/. In 2007 statistics shown that 76% of whites had insurance through the private sector by employer or individually, and African American’s at 52%. The access to healthcare as a determinant shows here because Whites having a higher percentage are more likely to have access to testing, treatment, and most likely less discrimination. Social determinants portray a huge problem to many factors in showing the spread, and transmission of HIV.

 Works Cited

Dean, H., & Fenton, K. (2010). Addressing Social Determinants of Health in the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Tuberculosis. Retrieved June 5, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2882967/

(2013, March 18). Retrieved June 5, 2015, from http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/library/reports/surveillance/pastIssues.html

Global action to change the trajectory of HIV, viral hepatitis and STIs. (n.d.). Retrieved June 5, 2015, from http://www.who.int/hiv/en/