Human Immunodeficiency Virus, which when abbreviated is known as HIV was and still is a very deadly disease that goes after the human immune system. Eventually is can turn to AIDs and that is the deadly part that does not have a cure just yet in the world. There are medicines to make you survive with HIV and they help you live a healthy life even with the disease. For the origins of HIV it came from a chimpanzee in Central Africa and has spread from that. It is believed it came from apes to humans in the 1800’s. There are some societal and cultural factors that enhance HIV, some of those are sexual preferences like being gay and straight that play a factor. Gay men at one point were the highest percentage of people in the United States. Then also not having safe sex played a factor that enhances HIV. That is a risk behavior, which is like the other risky behaviors like sharing needles throughout the drug community, which has been a big contribution to the spread of HIV. Finally another factor with the enhancement is the location of people. Where you live can enhance if you are more likely to get HIV. Sub-Saharan Africa is more prone to getting the disease. Overall effects and impacts of the HIV pandemic on global society is that it has affected a lot of people globally. There are 36.7 million people around the world that have HIV, while only 19.5 million are being treated.
For the United States there are many different factors that contributed to the epidemic of HIV, the first being that it was very negative to have. If you had it you would lose friends and family because it was thought to be a deadly disease that traveled through the air. Then it was thought to be a disease only contracted by homosexuals (which a lot of gay men did get the disease) but that is false. The negative context associated with the idea of HIV was very sad and made a big separation between those that had it and those that didn’t early on. From the political side didn’t help either because they didn’t talk about the facts of it. They knew it wasn’t an airborne contagious disease but did not tell that to the public so it kept a secret. But over the years knowledge and awareness has grown on the topic. People now know it isn’t spread by just touch and air and that those infected are not deadly to be around. These actual facts have expanded across the states so that people now know what is going on and because of that it as limited its spreading throughout the country. Overall there are roughly 38,500 new cases in America every year. Then there are believed to be 1.1 million people in the U.S. who live with HIV. The numbers have gone down with the knowledge and medicine and safety precautions that the country has shown the people. Progress is in the right direction people are learning about HIV and AIDs and scientist are working hard to find medicine and cures for the problem. Today though, although still expensive, it is possible to live a life with HIV. Safe sex is promoted, not sharing needles throughout the drug community has been pushed and then doctors screen and test for HIV and are more aware of it. It isn’t as taboo as it once was, even though it doesn’t have a positive few people are as looked down on for it and still keep their normal lives because of it. Organizations like ART, PrEP, and PEP have pushed hard and have done a strong job with teaching and helping those with HIV with how they live.