Ethical Issues Surrounding HIV/AIDS

Ethical Issues Surrounding HIV/AIDS

Abstract

This research paper talks about the ethical issues surrounding HIV/AIDS. As we all know that HIV/AIDS has globally presented numerous health challenges to people and populations, most of these challenges include moral and ethical issues related to dignity and human life. The most affected groups of HIV/AIDS include people around the world who are subjected to discrimination, rejection, and stigma. This highlights that the most critical areas currently are to develop improved and more effective prevention methods, and to make HIV/AIDS's treatment accessible by everyone. On the other hand, extra care should be taken regarding the ethical and moral values in research and health care. The main ethical issues revolve around confidentiality and privacy, standard of care, discrimination and stigma, consultation issues, protection of affected groups of people, collaboration on the international level, and the socio-behavioral studies regarding HIV/AIDS. Moreover, current scope of the issue and future implications would also be included in this study.

Introduction

Almost every nation is affected by HIV/AIDS which equally affected the developments of countries, widened the gaps between developing and developed nations as well as rich and poor, and pushed the affected populations to the edge of society. A recent report by UN AIDS shows that there are approximately 39.4 million people globally living with the virus HIV that cause AIDS. Among the affected people, 90 percent are from developing countries and almost 64 percent are from Africa. Moreover, the most vulnerable groups include children, women, young adults, and sexual minorities. The social issues regarding HIV/AIDS principally include illiteracy, poverty, discrimination, rejection, and stigma. It is one of the worse diseases that challenge human dignity and social life, as well as, affect all levels of economic and social development. So, the need today is not only to spread more awareness regarding the treatment and cure of the disease, but also to take care of the social and ethical perspectives that arise because of HIV/ AIDS (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).

Discussion

Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or AIDS is a human immune system disease caused by the virus called HIV or human immunodeficiency virus. The illness directly affects human immune system which makes the affected people of AIDS more likely to get tumors and numerous infections that are not the case with people having working immune systems. This susceptibility increases getting worse with the continuation of the disease. Generally the disease and the virus that cause disease are referred together such as HIV/AIDS. This disease can be transferred in numerous ways including blood transfusion, oral, vaginal or anal sex and contaminated hypodermic needles. Moreover, HIV/AIDS can also be exchanged between a baby and mother during pregnancy, breastfeeding and childbirth. It is also considered being a pandemic disease, which means that this disease is not only currently present in numerous areas of the world, but is also spreading with higher rates (Collins, 2007).

Historical overview

The first suspected cases were observed in the U.S. in the early 1980s. The information reached the public through an article published in ...