Children with HIV in the United States Research Paper

Children with HIV in the United States - Research Paper Example The advanced HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) infection in a human body makes the body susceptible to opportunistic infections which threaten life. That condition of a body diagnosed is the decease of AIDS which stands for Acquired Immune Deficiency syndrome. Looking back to the history of AIDS we can see that it entered to the United States in about 1969, through a virus infected immigrant from Haiti. In the early 1980s, doctors realized a new cancer found in men who had sex with men and it was called 'gay cancer' colloquially. Later on the medical community got evidences of the decease spreading among men, women and even in the new born babies. In 1982 the Centre for Decease Control and Prevention (CDC) renamed the decease as AIDS. As per the UNAIDS Statistics as of 2005, the total number of HIV affected people living in the US is 1,200,000. A dangerous fact being that nearly 21% of the affected people are unaware of their infection. The CDC estimates the total number of deaths of persons with AIDS in the United States of America ever since it began is more than 583,000 which includes 4891 children under the age 13. It is shocking to see that nearly 56300 Americans gets infected with HIV every year. African Americans make up nearly 50 % of the total HIV affected population in US also they make more than 50 % of new HIV infected population every year. A According to the latest available data from CDC, HIV infection is the seventh important reason for child death under 14 years of age, in the United States. . It is apparent that HIV and AIDS is not just a health related issue, it is a complex issue having social, economic, cultural and regional dimensions. The United States which is composed of states and other political subunits has different political, economic and welfare policies which reflects in the dealing of HIV and AIDS also. The communities which are smaller in the sub national jurisdictions are not uniform in their cultural and social behavior. So the spread, the impact and the responses to the impacts have different dimensions. When the statistics show that there are over 1 million infected people in US, the number is corresponding to that much or more lives in US suffering the blame, grief and depression due to the HIV. The effect of infection in an individual may not bring an immediate change in the society and the nati on as in his family, but an accumulation of many such cases slowly affect the society and the nation. It is a shocking fact the number of children who had lived HIV infected since 2007 from the start of this epidemic is nearly 3.8 million. As quoted by the website JAMA 'Approximately 14920 HIV-infected infants were born in the United States between 1978 and 1993. Approximately 6530 HIV-infected women gave birth in the United States in 1993; an estimated 1630 of their infants were HIV infected.' In 2007 the HIV affected children living in US is nearly 4000. According to CDC statistics as per 1998 top rates of children infected with HIV among the US cities were New York City, Miami, Florida, Newark and New Jersey. As per the statistics available with the website of UNICEF, 'In 2008, 730,000 childrenunder 15 years of age were estimated to be living with HIV and in need of treatment; 38per cent were receiving treatment'. 132 million children in the developing world have lost one or both parents. 25 million children will be