Find the Key biopsychosocial factors contributing to HIV. Support the following information. Please use APA style.

Description of the Issue.

HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus and it impacts people in the United States and countries around the world. HIV attacks and destroys the infection-fighting CD4 Cells of the immune system (CDC, 2019). The loss of CD4 cells makes it difficult for the body to fight off infections and certain cancers. Without treatment, HIV can gradually destroy the immune system and advance to AIDS (AIDS, 2019).  HIV is spread through contact with the blood, semen, pre-seminal fluid, rectal fluids, vaginal fluids, or breast milk of a person with HIV. Although there has been a decrease in numbers of HIV incidence, transmission of this disease ranges in age groups, male & female sex, race, ethnicity, and area of residence (HIV Survailance Report, 2018). 

In 2017, gay and bisexual men accounted for 66% of all HIV diagnoses in the United States and 6 dependent areas. In the same year, individuals who got HIV infection through heterosexual sex made up 24% of all HIV diagnoses. If we look at HIV diagnoses by race and ethnicity, we see that African Americans are most affected by HIV. In 2017, African Americans accounted for 43% of all new HIV diagnoses. Additionally, Hispanic/Latinos are also strongly affected. They accounted for 26% of all new HIV diagnoses(CDC, 2019). HIV does not discriminate and any race, gender and age are affected. Even children are being diagnosed with this disease.  In 2018 there were 37.9 million people living with HIV and out of those, 36.2 were adults and 1.7 million were children under the age of 15 (“The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic”, 2019). There is an equal divide between male and females that are affected by HIV. Women compose 50% of all adults living with HIV worldwide (“The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic”, 2019). This tells us that there is no discrimination with this disease and men are just as susceptible to get infected.

HIV disease continues to be a serious health issue for parts of the world. Worldwide, there were about 1.8 million new cases of HIV in 2017. About 36.9 million people were living with HIV around the world in 2017, and 21.7 million of them were receiving medicines to treat HIV, called antiretroviral therapy (ART). From 2017 to 2018, the number of HIV infected people has increased by 1 million. That is an alarming number for the span of one year. Additionally, an estimated 940,000 people died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2017 (CDC, 2019). However, the number of deaths has also decreased due to the advances made in treatment. In 2018, the number of deaths decreased by 170,000 and instead there were an estimated 770,000 deaths from AIDS due in part to antiretroviral therapy  (“The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic”, 2019). Although deaths have decreased, there are still many people who don’t know they have HIV. About one in five with HIV (21%) are unaware that they even have it (“The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic”, 2019). This can cause the spread of HIV, increasing the numbers of those affected. 

Reference

AIDSinfo. (2019). HIV/AIDS: The Basics Understanding HIV/AIDS. [online] Available at: https://aidsinfo.nih.gov/understanding-hiv-aids/fact-sheets/19/45/hiv-aids–the-basics.

HIV/AIDS: The Basics Understanding HIV/AIDS. (2019, July 3). Retrieved from https://aidsinfo.nih.gov/understanding-hiv-aids/fact-sheets/19/45/hiv-aids–the-basics

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Estimated HIV incidence and prevalence in the United States, 2010–2015. HIV Surveillance Supplemental Report 2018;23(No. 1). http://www.cdc.gov/ hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance.html. Published March 2018. 

The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic. (2019, September 9). Retrieved from https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/fact-sheet/the-global-hivaids-epidemic/

Global regions impacted: 

In 2018, approximately 37.9 million people were living with HIV globally. Of those 37.9 million people, 20.6 million were located in Eastern and Southern Africa, 5.9 million in Asia and the Pacific,  5 million in Western and Central Africa, 2.2 million in Western and Central Europe and North America, 1.9 million in Latin America, 1.7 million in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 340,000 in the Caribbean, and 240,000 in the Middle East and North Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa, has more than two-thirds of all people living with HIV globally, making it the hardest-hit region in the world, followed by Asia and the Pacific (“The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic”, 2019). Children, fifteen years old or younger, accounted for 1.7 million living with HIV. There were 160,000 new infections and 100,000 AIDS related deaths.

Key populations at risk of acquiring HIV is 22 times higher among men who have sex with men, 22 times higher among people who inject drugs, 21 times higher for sex workers, and 12 times higher for transgender people (UNAIDS, 2019). Globally, gay men accounted for 17% of new HIV infections with more than half in Western and Central Europe, and North America, 40% in Latin America, 30% in Asia and the Pacific, 22% in the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, 18% in the Middle East and North Africa, and 17% in Western and Central Africa. Out of the population of those infected with HIV, approximately 75% have knowledge of their HIV status. The other 25% still need access to HIV testing services (UNAIDS, 2019).Fortunately, the amount of new infections in this region has decreased by 28% since 2010 (“The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic”, 2019). Other regions that have had a decline in new infections are Western and Central Africa, and Asia and the Pacific.

References:

The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic. (2019, September 9). Retrieved from https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/fact-sheet/the-global-hivaids-epidemic/

UNAIDS data 2019. (2019, July 16). Retrieved from https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/documents/2019/2019-UNAIDS-data.