Social Effect of HIV & AIDS

HIV/AIDS is an epidemic that has already struck many parts of the world, and there are growing epidemics in places like Eastern Europe, China and India. Based on pre-existing social conditions and attitudes, each region is impacted differently by HIV, but there are always social ramifications for affected areas.

Prejudice

• HIV-positive persons are in many places the subject of prejudice and discrimination because of ignorance about routes of transmission and because of moral judgments about risk behaviors. In turn, populations among which HIV is first found (in America, for instance, gay men, intravenous drug users, sex workers and Haitian immigrants) face undue prejudice.

Communities

• Wherever the epidemic strikes, entire communities are at risk for experiencing the impact of HIV/AIDS. These may be small or isolated communities with little access to treatment, or communities of individuals who engage in a high-risk behavior. Whatever the case, community cohesion and the contributions of that community to larger society are negatively impacted.

Families

• Often, if one parent is HIV-positive, so will be his sex partner and some or all of their children. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) notes that most HIV-positive children contracted the virus from their mothers. Unfortunately, HIV-positive parents often do not live to raise their children, and the disease progresses more quickly in children than in adults.

Health Care

• The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) notes that HIV/AIDS has severely impacted health care systems, especially in the developing countries of Africa. Moreover, public health resources are on the decline, and individuals and families are more and more carrying the burden.

Economies

• The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) reports that, in the most severely affected countries, the workforce could decline by as much as 26 per cent by 2020. This threatens economic stability and food security in these countries.