Investigators and scientists in the 1982 Kaposi’s Sarcoma (KS) case study never knew how instrumental their study would be to the rest of the world regarding AIDS and HIV. This first reported case of AIDS resulted in a thorough understanding of the AIDS organism, Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, including symptoms and patient history. This extensive study lead to the discovery that AIDS was caused by sexual contact, in which 9 of the homosexual participants had sexual contact with others with KS and/or PCP. Unfortunately, this realization created the social stigma that many homosexual people face regarding their sexuality and choice of sexual partners (Hinks, 2020). This social stigma still exists almost 40 years later and is worsened by the racism and homophobia that still occurs in places in the United States such as the deep South. Black gay men have some of the greatest difficulty getting tested, even though they make up a large amount of people with HIV.
In 2017, more than half of the new HIV diagnoses in the U.S. were in Southern states (Shapiro, 2019). About half of people with HIV do not know they have HIV, there are about 40,000 new HIV infections per year, about 23% of people with HIV knew they had it but did not care about getting aid, and over 50% of people with HIV are in care and are virally suppressed. Although current efforts from U.S. government agencies have intensified in the past decade, HIV The first HIV prevention strategy was not created until 2010, almost 30 years after the 1982 case study. The social stigma was too strong to work on a disease that condemned the men and women who had it because of their preferences, especially diagnosing those in the Southern states (CDC, 2020). The South represents a major challenge to current efforts to tame the disease. In the South, poverty is rampant and effects which individuals can afford treatment or testing. Many black gays are not told about the resources that are available to them and health care in the South is difficult to find or is expensive (Shapiro, 2019).
Currently, new funding, government treatment and medical coverage plans, and HIV-specific goals have given new breath to the fight against HIV. Focus will shift to geographical regions where HIV is prevalent, treatment will be more evenly-spread throughout the country, and stigma-reduction efforts have been made (HIV, 2020). States like California have created or amended previous laws to reduce criminal sentences for people who received HIV through illegal acts such as solicitation (Yang & Underhill, 2018). With increased efforts from the U.S. government, condoms and awareness remain as the best ways to limit the spread of the disease. People who are educated on the disease, have access to contraceptives, and have health care and insurance have been shown to have a decreased risk of HIV (Mondal & Shitan, 2013). In order to successfully eliminate HIV, awareness needs to be made and the stigma reduced. Our country needs to work together, without judgement, to end this disease or any other disease. States that hold grudges or are stuck in homophobia and racism need to change. People need to get tested, treated, and use prevention methods to reduce the risk of contracting HIV. Together, we can end this 40-year war.
References:
CDC. Ending the HIV Epidemic. 2019.
Hinks, Eileen. Case Study. PowerPoint. 2020.
HIV. What is ‘Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America’?. 2020.
Mondal MN, Shitan M. Factors affecting the HIV/AIDS epidemic: an ecological analysis of global data. Afr Health Sci. 13(2):301–310. 2013.
Shapiro, Ari. Ending HIV In Mississippi Means Cutting Through Racism, Poverty And Homophobia. NPR. 2019.
Yang, Y.T. & Underhill, Kristen. Rethinking Criminalization of HIV Exposure — Lessons from California’s New Legislation. The New England Journal of Medicine. 378 (13): 1174- 1175. 2018.