AIDS Stigmatizations and Future Implications

Recommended APA 7th Edition Citation:

Grinev, L. (2023, February 16). AIDS stigmatizations and future implications. In Articles. WellnessToday180. https://wellnesstoday180.net/blog#articles

According to CNN OriginalSeries (2016), the 1980s became known as the AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) era. Initially, homosexual men contributed to the rise of Kaposi’s sarcoma (skin) cancer cases, which led medical personnel to investigate the phenomena (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016). Eventually, the increase of rare medical occurrences was traced back to originating in equatorial Africa and allegedly infiltrating the United States (U.S.) through Haitian refugees (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016). Since AIDS was not medically evaluated before blood transfusions, hemophiliac individuals also contracted AIDS, which was finally to be determined to be the aftereffect of acquiring HIV (human immunodeficiency virus; CNN OriginalSeries, 2016).

Anger and fear equally impacted the American people after the press release of the developing investigation of AIDS in the early 1980s (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016). On the one hand, anti-gay violence increased, even extending to restricting homosexuals from donating blood and closing gay bathhouses as they were deemed commercial sexual contraction sites (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016). Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan promoted the testing of aliens, immigrants, and foreign service members for AIDS before allowing national admittance (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016). On the other hand, homosexuals arose as the new political minority under activist leaders Burleigh Sutton and Cleve Jones to combat discrimination, injustices, and segregation (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016). Nevertheless, fear reached its height after American actor Rock Hudson contracted and died from AIDS as the American public realized that the virus was not limited to specific groups (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016).

Combatting fear and injustices arose from educational alternatives presented by the then-U.S. Surgeon General, allowing the first informative medical papers to be distributed to every household in the late 1980s (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016). The American cinema and entertainment industry joined the sex-safe bandwagon to encourage condom usage through advertisements and celebrity endorsements (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016). Still, confidentiality and job security were not available for those seeking HIV testing or who were HIV positive despite mitigating propaganda efforts (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016). Additionally, when the U.S. Federal Drug Administration (FDA) approved AZT for stagnant individual and internalized HIV production, the regimen cost $10,000/year to victims (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016). Victims started using at-home remedies from “gorilla clinics” as a result (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016).

Further protests arose from the Act Up coalition that requested policy changes on medical procedures, research, and trials as merely one FDA-approved pharmaceutical that was not a cure was insufficient to satisfy medical needs and compensate for climbing death rates (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016). One successful protest reached Dr. Fauci’s medical office in 1990, and Dr. Fauci transformed medical procedures (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016). As a result, the government allocated $4 billion over five years towards AIDS research in 1990, the largest federal grant ever mandated. However, HIV positivity rates increased 8-fold between the 1980s and 1990s (CNN OriginalSeries, 2016).

Social workers can learn from and rectify events from the AIDS era. Ellen and O’Regan (2010) contended that social workers could provide information to regional science efforts, such as supplying behavioral and geographic norms. Similar to hospitals recognizing an increase in a rare disease, social workers can make causality inferences between groups and phenomena (Ellen & O’Regan, 2010). As advocates for quality health and human services, social workers can assist in designing quality interventions (Ellen & O’Regan, 2010), which may accelerate desired outcomes and results compared to the AIDS era. Likewise, social workers can act as educational entities or direct individuals to appropriate amenities, public services, and resources (Ellen & O’Regan, 2010). After all, social workers can evaluate environmental and social implications as frontline workers to inform entities like the Research Data Center (RDC; Ellen & O’Regan, 2010).

References

CNN OriginalSeries. (2016, June 6). The fight against AIDS [Video]. In The Eighties: Episode 3. https://vimeo.com/327933895

Ellen, I. G., & O'Regan, K. (2010). Welcome to the neighborhood: How can regional science contribute to the study of neighborhoods? Journal of Regional Science, 50(1), 363-379. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9787.2009.00643.x