Consequences of HIV/AIDS epidemic to Society Essay -- Health, Diseases

Assignment question: 3. A) What are some of the possible consequences of HIV/AIDS epidemic to: 1. Society 2. The infected individual b) What are some of the Human Rights, confidentiality and criminal law implication of HIV/AIDS? Q1. HIV/AIDS has increasingly taken a toll on the society in a myriad of dimensions which are worth discussing in order to find the best solutions. Due to HIV/AIDS epidemic, the economies of various countries have been badly affected and societies have experienced major losses. There is a rapid increase in the number of HIV infected people with resultant financial burden and major psychological and emotional consequences. The rising HIV prevalence has adversely affected the quality of labour in that many skilled and experienced workers have succumbed to the disease. Due the loss of skilled workers to HIV/AIDS, the standard of labour quality has been badly affected resulting in low levels of production, development and low labour inputs (Nations, n.d). HIV/AIDS also threatens the quality and supply of future labour in that infected people are incapacitated from engaging in any productive work as their bodies are rendered extremely weak. People who stay out of work need to be supported by others and this creates a high dependence on the limited resources available. The socioeconomic consequences of HIV/AIDS to the society are enormous. For instance, many children whose parents are infected with HIV are often forced to stay out of school and look for work to support their ailing parents. Consequently, a huge and dangerous gap in education is created and the future of these children is marred with uncertainties. At the same time, the ability of the affected children to serve the society is compromised (... ...he infection through reckless male partners. Criminalization of HIV has triggered debate in which people argue that criminalising HIV infected people does not address the complexities involved in disclosure and instead increases HIV stigma (UNAIDS, International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights, 2006). In addition, imprisonment cannot help people come to terms with their status and develop better attitude. Instead, a better course would be to promote education and psychological counselling. Treating HIV transmission as murder offence increases stigma and discrimination because it is like saying HIV equals death, while we know with the availability of antiretrovirals, people can lead healthy lives even when they are HIV positive. No illness has been treated with the same hysteria as HIV and this is because of its associated stigmatization and promiscuity.