The history and global impact of HIV/AIDS
Communicable Disease - HIV The early history of HIV was a story of misunderstanding, governmental neglect, suffering and death. However, through the efforts of medical professionals and activists, global and national understanding, funding, research and patient support have grown considerably in the decades since HIV was first identified. Despite the developments, HIV remains a significant health issue, currently affecting approximately 33.3 million people living with HIV worldwide and 1.1+ million people living with HIV in the United States. Consequently, federal, state and local programs are focused on decreasing and ultimately eliminating HIV/AIDS through education, testing, increased access to high quality medical care and preventive measures. In this context, a nurse's role in education and prevention stems from his/her core value of becoming a knowledgeable, effective advocate for the highest attainable quality of patient care. Nurses can support this core value by becoming educated about HIV-related issues, making his/her voice heard and forming an alliance with individual patients to educate, treat and enhancing preventive behaviors in patients. Clearly, the medical community, including but not limited to nurses, perform vital functions for the reduction and ultimate elimination of HIV/AIDS. Finally, numerous community programs, organizations and support groups exist, for example in San Francisco, to enhance the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS and their families. As research shows, the history of HIV/AIDS has developed from a story of undertreated devastation to a concerted and aggressive effort to contain, treat, prevent and ultimately eliminate HIV/AIDS.
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Communicable Disease - HIV
Since its discovery as a wasting disease, "gay-related immune deficiency" and "slim" in the mid-1980's, HIV has posed a significant health problem for the United States and the World. Initially considered mysteriously devastating, HIV ultimately caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands, yet failed to attract sufficient funding and attention. Through the efforts of health professionals and activists, HIV was finally accorded the funding and attention it deserved. Today, HIV is addressed globally, federally and locally through multiple well-funded programs/groups and agencies.
History of HIV
According to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, blood analysis showed that the HIV virus existed in humans as early as the 1940's and that HIV-1 -- the most common viral strain -- was transmitted from chimpanzees to humans at some point in the early to mid-20th Century (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, n.d.). In the early 1980's medical professionals noticed that a "wasting disease" was spreading in Uganda and that numbers of gay men in California and New York had rare types of cancer and pneumonia (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, n.d.). In 1984, HIV was identified as the cause of "gay-related immune deficiency" and/or "slim" (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, n.d.). By 1985, cases were reported worldwide (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, n.d.). HIV / AIDS was devastating both medically and socially, as early patients were discriminated against in housing and employment, and died with inadequate treatment (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, n.d.).
As recognition of HIV's seriousness and widespread devastation deepened, treatment progressed. The first needle exchange program was introduced in Amsterdam and the first blood test for HIV was approved in 1985 (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, n.d.). In 1986, AZT was successfully tested as a treatment and remained the only treatment for AIDS through most of the 1990s (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, n.d.). In 1996, medical "cocktails" including protease inhibitors were prescribed to control HIV, significantly improving the lifespan and life quality of HIV / AIDS patients. Since that time, antiretroviral therapy has continually advanced and health care professionals focused on expanding access to the included medications and on universal access to prevention through the use of condoms, testing and treatment (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, n.d.).
Current Prevention Efforts
As stated above, professionals are currently focusing on universal access to prevention through the use of condoms, testing and treatment (AIDS Healthcare Foundation, n.d.). Prevention interventions in the form of testing and education are being used to identify, inform and change the behavior of people with HIV to reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to their sex/drug partners (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). Health care professionals have also found that improving access to high quality health care for populations traditionally highly affected by HIV, including nonwhite and gay/bisexual men, educating/encouraging HIV patients to stay in treatment, and providing preventive measures to the partners of HIV patients are all fundamental preventive strategies (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). Through education, testing, treatment access/continuation and preventive measures, the health care industry is directly confronting the significant crises posed by HIV / AIDS.
Future Goals for Prevention
The ultimate goal of health care professionals and agencies dealing with HIV is the prevention of HIV and related illness and death (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). To that end, the National HIV / AIDS Strategy has established 3 primary goals: lowering the number of people becoming infected with HIV; raising health care access and enhancing treatment outcomes for HIV patients; lowering health disparities related to HIV (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). Mirroring and aggressively enhancing measures currently used by health care professionals are believed to be the most effective goals/measures for prevention of HIV / AIDS.
Nurse's Role in Education and Prevention
The nurse's role in education about and prevention of HIV stems from his/her core value of becoming a knowledgeable, effective advocate for the highest attainable quality of patient care. This core value requires several key activities by nurses, presented here numerically but in equal order of importance. First, the nurse must become educated about HIV-related issues (Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 2012). Secondly, the nurse must make his/her voice heard. Nurses can make their voices nationally and regionally heard by: joining professional organizations that exert greater impact on the response to HIV / AIDS issues (Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 2012); contacting public officials (Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 2012); calling media attention to HIV / AIDS to the epidemic and in pressuring for a more aggressive governmental response (Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 2010, p. 4); taking a clear-cut stance on effective education and prevention (Association of Nurses in Aids Care, 2012). Nurses can make their voices locally and specifically heard by: participating in community programs, organizations and support groups dedicated to education, prevention and high quality treatment. In their professional lives, nurses can contributed to prevention by educating patients about the causes, prevention, treatment and day-to-day aspects of living with of HIV / AIDS. Some use a widespread approach, such as published materials like What nurses know…HIV and AIDS (Farnan & Enriquez, 2012); others directly address those issues with their individual patients, such as forming an alliance with the patient to enhance adherence to treatment (Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, 2010, p. 47).
Community Programs / Organizations / Support Groups
As HIV / AIDS awareness increased, the numbers of community programs, organizations and support groups also increased. Given San Francisco's large at-risk gay/bisexual male population, for example, there are several key programs, organization and support groups. There is, of course, the San
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