|
|
Personal Perspectives
The AIDS crisis has been prevalent for so long in my existence that it is difficult to recapture the first moment I became aware of it. Going back to when I was much younger I vaguely remember instances when I was watching television and commercials would come on about the subject. One commercial in particular that I recall showed a woman speaking in very soft tones. She explained that she had contracted HIV, the infection that causes AIDS from a past boyfriend. This commercial left a lasting impression on me because the woman asks a very powerful question at the end. The general idea of the question was that most people think that they know their partners very well and if that is true: “Are they willing to risk their life on it?” Another instance that brought up the topic of AIDS was about six or seven years ago when I was in junior high school and I was home watching television. There was a special episode of Oprah that recapitulated the highlights of the entire show from previous seasons to the present. A scene from a past show came on that featured a homosexual man living in West Virginia with AIDS. The amount of hostility and condemnation that the audience members used against him was very disturbing. He spoke about a time when he entered a public pool and everyone jumped out because they knew he was infected with the disease. Because it was the early stages of the epidemic, people thought it could be transmitted through casual contact. Members of the audience would make ignorant statements about people with the disease, stating that God was punishing him for being a homosexual as it was something forbidden in the Bible. Others thought the individual should be locked up or confined somewhere off of the streets. This segment made up about a quarter of the hour long show. I wish I could have seen the original show in its entirety but the special was devoted to other significant past scenes. The major impressions that I took away from this was apprehension and concern for anyone living with AIDS and being treated in such a manner. Discrimination of any sort was always shocking to me because I don’t understand how people can profoundly hate. The show and the commercial alike propelled me to learn more about the disease and when I took health class later on in High School, I had the opportunity to examine the topic more. Becoming more informed on the factors that contribute to the outpouring of AIDS cases, it was made clear to me that education and socioeconomic standing play an important role in contributing to one’s awareness of the disease. Reminiscing about my health education in High School, there were many topics that were covered in regards to sexual education such as the major sexually transmitted infections and diseases. There were discussions on a wide variety of topics ranging from: how to transmit the disease to non-infected individuals, symptoms and signs of infection, and ways of treatment and prevention. The instructor provided many educational videos which served as visual representations of what we discussed and read for class. Every STD was equally devoted to except HIV: AIDS which was covered for a longer period of time. The discussion of HIV: AIDS focused in on matters that concerned race, background, economic, and geographical factors. A main topic of discussion was how the unequal distribution of resources among people of different racial and social status leads to the lack of medical testing and treatment among those individuals. Although my health class did not delve into the specific areas affected by HIV: AIDS; it was informative in terms of explaining ways to prevent getting infected and staying safe. Abstinence was highly promoted as well as contraceptives. The question was never proposed to my health instructor where members of the class could get tested but I imagine that he would refer us to the Mount Sinai Student Health Clinic located conveniently in our school on the first floor. Everyone knew of it because we were required to fill out forms regarding our health insurance and medical background before we enrolled in the school. The Clinic performed HIV testing as well as regular health checkups. If that was not enough there were many medical centers located about two blocks away from the school including the Cornell Medical Center, Sloan Kettering Hospital and Society Hospital. The New York Sate Department of Education does not mandate a curriculum for health education. It is left up to the school district to decide what it necessary to be taught. HIV: AIDS education is mandated by the state of New York, therefore schools are required to educate on the content of the subject matter. In researching the education department of New York State it was never very much specified what is to be taught about HIV: AIDS. The article provided a very broad general idea about the curriculum[1]. The impressions associated with the HIV: AIDS epidemic are those of disillusionment, cynicism and disbelief. As the disease continues to progress with time, it is hard to address the situation with any hope towards the future. Doing work on this deadly illness has formed biases to be made in terms of where the disease most affects citizens and the causes of it. My personal outlook on the disease when directly addressed about it was one of underestimation and complete contradiction. Living in the Harlem section of Manhattan, my guess was that 451 people in the zip code of 10039 were diagnosed with AIDS. I guessed 451 because I thought about 2000 people lived in that zip code and about 25% were infected. I subtracted about 49 people who probably already died from the disease. I chose that number because knowing that the community is predominantly African American that would be a significantly high percentage. I had already known that the disease affected more individuals of color. The actual number of cumulative AIDS cases was 810. Another initial guess was that the female population of the same zip code was 43%, which in point of fact was about 37%. I figured that less than half of female population had the disease because in order for them to have it males would also have it as heterosexual contact is the major mode of transmission of HIV: AIDS for females. Personal beliefs that contributed to the approximation of these numbers were that this area was not very diverse and so there would be fewer people of varied ethnicities to work with. Typically this area encompasses the majority of people being African American and other minorities such as Hispanics and Asians. Incorporating only few racial groups into a single zip code was thought to yield fewer results in terms of the AIDS cases. Also the inference was not very much an educated guess because since I lacked the total number of the population; it was challenging to calculate a rough percentage of infected females. When also addressed about which zip code in Manhattan was expected to have the most cumulative AIDS cases, I choose the Chelsea area, zip codes 10011 because historically it is believed to be the area with the most homosexuals and they were the first individuals to contract the disease. In factual evidence, it did turn out to be the Chelsea area with zip code of 10011 having the most cases of 3,646. (Refer to table 2) These were the prime factors that contributed to my knowledge of the disease in Manhattan. Following up on research later on, other elements that factored into my awareness were the media coverage and personal accounts of people who were affected with the disease. The media significantly dictates the knowledge of the citizens regarding the disease. [1] This information is provided by the New York State Education Department on Health frequently asked questions.
|