Sex and AIDS on How

Sex and AIDS on How Sociologist Helps Shape Public Policy and Law

The concept of containing the spread of AIDS epidemic has been the subject of concern for a number of fields like medicine, community health a, sociology and public administration. There is no clear cut policy that could encompass the needs as pointed out by each of these sectors. Legislation may be a solution, but not effective by its own. It has to be noted that the disease and its containment must begin at the community level. Aids is a much feared disease that has cause fear among people, and the public have been fed with myths that have been debunked today. Yet the stigma continues for many groups. (Treichler, 1999)

The concept of AIDS and its resultant homophobia is perhaps based on the fear of AIDS, which is a very potent disease caused by a virus. It is a dangerous infection that damages and kills people. There were a lot of confusion in the earlier era of the ways and means of transmitting the virus, which itself was the cause of problems for many groups of people, the drug addicts, hemophiliacs and others and even the Haitians were squarely blamed for this. Earlier opinions thus tended to stigmatize a large group of populations and science even now maintains that women as are not transmitters of HIV. Thus the heterosexual groups have been left out of this accusing game. (Treichler, 1999)

Thus having established that the community plays an important role, the sociologist must necessarily work with the community. Sociologists have tried to understand the epidemic in terms of varying community actions and social mores and have gone into the social issues that range from birth control m reproductive technology, abortion and many more issues that are the centre of public policy. These social issues are based on the type of the society into which they are sought to be analyzed and legislated for. Thus the ideology for a campaign depends largely on the social environment in which the object is sought to be changed. The fact to be understood is that like other phenomena the sexual attitudes also is a part of the society and behavior that is sought to be modified ought to then stem from the society cannot be disputed. Thus public opinion and attitude is the concern of the Sociologists in framing regulations and campaign against the spread of the disease. (Andersen; Taylor, 2005)

While public opinion may vary based on the information they are fed, the scientific study of the results of interventions in the community have gone on at various establishments. For many decades the public scientists have studied the effectiveness of interventions in reducing the risks of contacting AIDS by making the desire changes in the individual's behavior. A combination of counseling, risk education, media campaign, and the special cognitive behavior pattern change induced by the counseling and campaign models seem to have the desired effect. (Trickett; Pequegnat, 2005)

One such example is the model developed by the Hispanic Health Council called the Hartford model, seeks to control the epidemic by monitoring on a continuous basis, and for long-term, the effect and adherence of the intervention delivered, which would in the long run provide a community collective action, Secondly the research of the community process and intervention effectiveness, and the creation of a better model for the community. Sociologist activism in the community that simultaneously brings about information processing and the ideal segment of society for the log run can contribute largely to the containment of the epidemic. (Trickett; Pequegnat, 2005)

The possible solution for the state, where the epidemic ca be spread by a known infected person is to cast a punitive punishment. Perhaps make the event actionable. Thus one of the possible laws that could be brought about to stem the growth of infection could closely follow the laws of pollution and the principles of pollution and the polluter pays principle that is much effective in industrialization. Thus the legal system has procedures to deal with the spread of epidemics although it has been used so far in the case of pollution. Another interesting area where the principle is used and can be cited is the case of cigarettes and the non-smokers inhaling second-hand smoke from a variety of brands. (Murphy, 1997)