HIV
HIV is widespread in nearly every nation and impacts populations. The complacency of persons living in reasonably stable places with HIV infection is especially hazardous since the illness remains unnoticed for too long. By the time individuals start dying in large numbers, the infection has already been established in society (Roser and Ritchie, 2018). Rapid growth rates ultimately result in the spread of the disease to the general population. No country is immune to HIV, and AIDS will overcome no country. HIV transmission behaviors are prevalent in all societies to variable degrees.
HIV in South Africa
In South Africa, incidence rates continue to climb. In certain African nations, up to 40-50% of women of reproductive age are reported to be HIV-positive (Arndt et al., 2020). This results in reduced birth rates and more excellent death rates, particularly child mortality. The vast majority of persons living with HIV/AIDS in the globe are between the ages of 15 and 49, in their prime working years (Etoori et al. 2020). Thus, AIDS reduces economic activity by lowering labor productivity and raising expenditures related to HIV care and treatment.
Country Information
Administration
Pretoria is the capital, and it is here that the President, as a representation of Parliament, sits. Cape Town serves as the parliamentary capital, with parliamentarians meeting twice yearly (Arndt et al. 2020). Bloemfontein is the legal capital, and the Supreme Court is located here. Today, South Africa is a Parliamentary Republic with a 65% majority of ANC (African National Congress) legislators, most of whom are Kos people. Whites and coloreds are united in the DA (Democratic Alliance) party, which received 16.6% of the vote in the recent elections. The South African Parliament is a bicameral institution comprised of the National Council (90 individuals) and the National Assembly (400 people).
Demography
The Republic of South Africa’s population was predicted to be 60,867,543 by the end of 2022. The population of the Republic of South Africa is projected to increase by approximately 650,941 individuals between now and 2022 (Madhi et al., 2022). The annual rise was 1.08%, considering that the Republic of South Africa’s population was expected to be 60,216,602 at the start of the year (Madhi et al. 2022).
Life expectancy is one of the most significant demographic statistics. The average life expectancy at birth (for both sexes) in the Republic of South Africa is 49.3 years (Madhi et al., 2022). This is significantly lower than the global average life expectancy, which is approximately 71 years (Madhi et al., 2022). Poor health and education, among other things, contribute to high mortality and fertility rates.
Healthcare
All healthcare facilities are separated into private and public, and the state medical institutions are not inferior to the private sector in equipment. Since a lack of competent people, horrible, filthy conditions, lengthy lines, and a somewhat chilly attitude of medical employees toward their tasks, only the lowest sectors of the population utilize the services of public hospitals (Hermans et al. 2020). Only roughly 79% of the country’s people have access to medical treatment (Madhi et al., 2022).
In South Africa, there are 78 physicians for every 100,000 people (here is where racial inequality begins – one doctor serves 450 white people and around 22 thousand black people). The inadequate degree of training of trained medical workers helps explain the doctor shortage. To address this issue, 400 South African physicians were sent to Cuba for training during the last decade to strengthen their abilities and change the thinking of the local medical professionals toward the potential of preventative care as the foundation for all therapeutic efforts.
Prevalence of HIV
The importance of HIV prevalence in South Africa is greater than ever. South Africa had 7.5 million persons living with HIV in 2021(Madhi et al., 2022). That equates to around 18% of the adult population (Madhi et al., 2022). Every week, 4,100 new infections are discovered (Madhi et al., 2022). Despite decreasing numbers, South Africa remains one of the world’s most contaminated countries. Even when the situation was bad in the 1990s, officials refused to use the phrases “epidemic” or “crisis.”
Since HIV and AIDS outbreaks are connected with marginalized people (drug users, sex workers), states find it difficult to recognize the severity of the situation. South Africa, although a democratic country with a comparatively high GDP per capita ($7055 vs. $1773 in neighboring Zimbabwe), continues to suffer from the disease (The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, no date). HIV/AIDS outbreaks appear to be widespread in developing countries when access to excellent education and medicine is restricted. In South Africa, around 260,000 people have died as a result of AIDS (The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, no date).
At the national level, South Africa had the most significant absolute number of DALYs in 2019 (7.68, 95% CI: 6.49-9.54 million) (The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, no date). In South Africa, teenage girls and young women between 15 and 24 years have the highest risk of developing HIV (The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, no date). Nine women in this age group contract HIV in South Africa every hour.
HIV in the United Kingdom
Country Information
Demography
The predicted population of the United Kingdom by the end of 2022 was 68,992,721. The UK population is expected to grow by 430,570 persons by 2022 (Russell et al. 2021). Given that the UK population was predicted to be 68,562,151 at the start of the year, the yearly growth was 0.63% (Russell et al. 2021).
According to the United Nations Department of Statistics, the total area of the United Kingdom is 243,610 square kilometers (Bhaskaran et al. 2021). The total area refers to the state’s land area and the area of all water surfaces within international borders. Population density is determined as the ratio of the entire population living in a particular area to the total area of that place.
The population of the United Kingdom is expected to reach 68,992,721 at the start of 2023. As a result, the population density of the United Kingdom is 283.2 persons per square kilometer (Russell et al. 2021). The United Kingdom has a stationary or rejuvenating kind. This pyramid is characteristic of wealthy nations with dropping birth rates. Despite this, the population of such nations has a comparatively high life expectancy due to their low mortality rate.
In the United Kingdom, the average life expectancy at birth (for both sexes) is 80.1 years (years). This is greater than the worldwide average life expectancy of roughly 71 years (Russell et al., 2021). Heart and circulatory illnesses, cancer, respiratory diseases, and nervous system disorders are the leading causes of mortality in the United Kingdom. This country has created medicine that is both affordable and of good quality. In addition, the private insurance business in the United Kingdom is quite established.
Prevalence of HIV
According to the most recent WHO estimates from 2020, 188 people died from HIV/AIDS in the UK, accounting for 0.04% of all fatalities. The age-adjusted mortality rate in the United Kingdom is 0.23 per 100,000 people, placing it at #143 in the world (Bhaskaran et al. 2021). In the UK, in 2020, there will be 106,890 persons living with HIV (Russell et al. 2021). Six hundred of these persons died, with 99 of them dying as a result of concurrent coronavirus infection. The observed reduction in DALY loss from HIV infection was 63.5% in the United Kingdom (Russell et al. 2021). HIV is most common among guys who have intercourse with other men in London.
Policies
The plan prioritizes people and attempts to bring all governments, communities, and partners in both HIV and other sectors together to take priority action to enhance the health and life outcomes of people living with or affected by HIV. The third and final strategic priority is to increase fair and equal access to human-centered integrated HIV services. This involves reducing legal and societal impediments to obtaining HIV-related outcomes (Meyer-Rath et al. 2019).
Another critical element is the allocation of resources and support for the HIV response and its complete integration into health, social welfare, and humanitarian systems. The World Health Organization is pleased to endorse the next five-year Global AIDS Strategy, with its ambitious vision of eradicating gender inequalities and realizing human rights, including the right to health, and calls on all partners and stakeholders in the field of HIV control in each country to change discriminatory gender norms and end stigma.
WHO will continue to help all countries improve health systems, mainly primary health care, to achieve universal health coverage. If the Strategy’s targets and pledges are accomplished, the number of individuals newly infected with HIV will fall from 1.7 million in 2019 to less than 370,000 by 2025, and the death toll from AIDS-related illnesses will fall from 690,000 in 2019 to less than 250,000 in 2025 (Etoori et al. 2020). The goal of eliminating new instances of HIV infection in children is to reduce the number of new HIV infections from 150,000 in 2019 to less than 22,000 by 2025.
To minimize the number of new HIV infections in the most afflicted nations in Eastern and Southern Africa, females must be encouraged to take the lead. This is the demographic group most at risk of HIV infection for a variety of biological and socioeconomic factors, including poverty, gender inequity, and inadequate access to youth-friendly health services. According to the Human Sciences Research Council of South Africa, girls account for one-quarter of all new HIV infections in the country. In reality, behind this statistic are young people aged 15 to 24 who are eager to face the difficulties that impact them and their communities (Etoori et al., 2020).
DREAMS is an acronym for Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-Free, Mentored, and Safe. It is being carried out with the assistance of the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Girl Effect Project (Etoori et al. 2020). DREAMS has been implemented in South Africa’s two provinces and five districts that the pandemic has severely afflicted (Etoori et al., 2020). The initiative’s objective is to reduce the number of new HIV infections among girls in 10 Eastern and Southern African nations by 40% in two years.
In response, the British HIV Infection Association (BHIVA) and ITN Productions Industry News announced the creation of the Health and HIV program – a project to bring together the voices of community leaders from health and care for individuals living with HIV to commemorate World AIDS Day and beyond. Health & HIV, produced in collaboration with ITN Productions Industry News, is intended to deliver interesting and valuable information about HIV prevention, effective medicines, transformative research, and combating stigma (Meyer-Rath et al. 2019). The program will bring together notable public health officials, researchers, and industry innovators, as well as those living with and impacted by HIV, to get a better understanding of society’s concerns. As a result, these measures are intended to lower the prevalence of HIV in both nations’ populations. Both initiatives have yielded positive results as leading public health organizations have guided them.
Partnerships
Concerned about the slowing progress for children and the widening gap in care between children and adults, UNAIDS, UNICEF, WHO, and their partners collaborated to form a global alliance to ensure that by the end of the decade, no child living with HIV will go untreated, and to prevent new HIV infections in infants. Leading participants at the International AIDS Conference in Montreal, Canada, announced the formation of a new worldwide coalition to eradicate AIDS in children by 2030.
In addition to United Nations organizations, the Alliance comprises civil society movements such as the Global Network of People Living with HIV and foreign partners such as the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the Global Fund. In the first phase, twelve nations joined the Alliance: Angola, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
There is a Terrence Higgins Trust HIV collaboration in the United Kingdom. This non-profit organization advocates and offers HIV and sexual health services. The organization works specifically to halt HIV transmission in the UK, assist and empower individuals living with HIV, remove HIV-related stigma and prejudice, and promote excellent sexual health (including safe sex). The Foundation is widely considered the premier HIV/AIDS charity in the United Kingdom and the largest in Europe.
It is also Public Health England’s premier HIV prevention partnership organization. The Terrence Higgins Trust, founded in 1982, was the first charity in the United Kingdom to respond to HIV and AIDS (Hedge et al. 2021). It was formerly known as the Terry Higgins Trust after Terry Higgins died on July 4, 1982, at 37, in St. Thomas Hospital in London (Hedge et al. 2021). He was one of the first persons in the UK to die from the AIDS virus, which had just been detected a year before. Terry’s close friends, Martin Butler and Tony Harris-Calvert, and Terry’s companion, Rupert Whitaker, together with other friends, established a foundation to generate money for AIDS research (Hedge et al. 2021). Soon after, when a surge of support for the organization arose during a meeting in Red Lion Square, Tony Whitehead and others joined the group, officially founding the organization and seeing it register as a charity to assist persons impacted by HIV directly.
Inequalities
These organizations were also formed to address the disparities that come with HIV. Individuals, social groupings, strata, and classes are at different levels of the vertical social hierarchy and have uneven life chances and opportunities to satisfy needs, resulting in social inequality. As a result, people have uneven access to limited financial and spiritual resources and unequal rights, privileges, and advantages.
Inequalities in access to services, the most advanced medical technology and treatments, limits on the rights of vulnerable populations, and a lack of resources all exacerbate the pandemic. Gender inequity, which persons from crucial communities frequently experience, influences the problem. Women are more susceptible to HIV than males, according to global data.
Young women and girls are twice as likely as males of the same age to get infected. Women, on the other hand, stick to therapy more closely, which influences mortality statistics: women’s mortality is dropping faster than men’s (Madhi et al., 2022). Stereotypes and social positions have an impact on the battle against illness transmission.
Women are more likely to face abuse and financial insecurity, in addition to shouldering the burden of having children and caring for loved ones. A lady with HIV, for example, cannot see a doctor or travel to the AIDS Centre unless she finds someone to leave her children with. When no such chance exists, the visit is postponed, possibly indefinitely. A woman burdened with home responsibilities and caring for her children and relatives has less time to care for herself and her health and make money. Males on their path to HIV testing and treatment are stymied by the fear of “losing their masculinity” – a belief that males should not have flaws. And HIV is seen as a weakness in this country. HIV, in reality, is a chronic illness that must be managed.
Since the world cannot eradicate AIDS based on patriarchy, it is critical to address the associated inequities that women face. Women who have experienced intimate partner violence have a 50% greater risk of infection in HIV-endemic areas. Only 41% of married women aged 15 to 24 in 33 countries were able to make their own sexual health decisions between 2015 and 2021. The route of feminism is the only viable way to eradicate AIDS, accomplish the Sustainable Development Goals, and safeguard health, human rights, and general well-being.
Women’s rights organizations and movements have already stepped up to the front lines of the AIDS response, pursuing these lofty objectives with zeal. It is also worth noting that discrimination, stigmatization, and punishment of specific groups cost many lives and impede progress toward agreed-upon AIDS objectives. The number of new infections among homosexual men and other men who have sex with men is only marginally decreasing. This is true in both West and Central Africa and East and Southern Africa. In the fight against the virus, failing to make success with critical groups weakens and hinders the whole AIDS response.
Social indicators are among the health determinants. People with low earnings, for example, do not seek care or care at a later stage of sickness in nations where health care is not free. Actual or perceived discrimination in the health care system is a barrier to access for marginalized groups, including transgender persons. There have been reports of trans persons not obtaining care owing to discrimination and bad treatment by medical personnel. For many people, the fear of being addressed by the wrong gender or by the name on their passport is reason enough not to seek medical attention. People who confront intersectional oppression encounter even greater impediments to health treatment.
Nursing and HIV
Patients with HIV who have secondary infections require enhanced protection against environmental germs as well as attentive care. When caring for HIV patients, the nurse must deal with a wide range of disorders that cause harm to anatomic-physiological systems and organs. As a result, the nurse must be able to care for various patients, including infectious, therapeutic, urological, gynecological, oncological, and other conditions.
Patients may have social and psychological issues. The nurse may encounter intense and painful emotions when caring for such patients. These characteristics need professional knowledge, experience, and the capacity to view the patient’s problems in a unified complex. Mercy and kindness are essential attributes in a nurse.
The nurse must actively monitor the occurrence of bad responses and side effects from medications, bring the attention of medical personnel to such situations, and ensure that medications are taken correctly. Regarding drug administration, the nurse is the patient’s final defense against mistakes (Roser and Ritchie, 2018). Professionally fulfilling one’s nursing obligations entails not only doing something but doing it wisely. Nurses must understand the nature of drugs as well as the person to whom they are prescribed to complete this job in terms of providing medications to patients and evaluating their positive and negative effects in any setting.
Nurses educate the public and help to avoid the spread of disease. Since nurses are the closest to patients and their families through their work, they are the ones who can create the most favorable psychological atmosphere, which is very important for the success of treatment and control (Etoori et al. 2020). In real life, the nurse is in a position to create a unique relationship with the patient.
Since the nurse involved in the care must communicate with the patient and their family regularly, the nurse must be able to convey essential information about HIV infection, explain how the disease spreads, describe a specific clinical situation, discuss the principles of control, know the signs and symptoms of the disease, and understand the structure of HIV screening and treatment. She should be able to discuss the course of therapy with the patient, analyze the dynamics of laboratory data, understand the spectrum and characteristics of care, strong and weak side effects, and recognize and report adverse responses and symptoms of drug resistance creation.
People living with HIV can greatly benefit from the proper, suitable nurse as the coordinator of the complete long-term patient treatment and care process because the nurse can be the most successful. By using such an approach, superfluous communication filters of nurse-patient interactions are removed (Etoori et al. 2020). In turn, the patient can expect the nurse to have sufficient knowledge and excellent case management skills to handle their issues. Thus, improving the training of nursing staff in the treatment and tertiary prevention of HIV infection, as well as the formation of professional competencies of students in the fields of psychology, epidemiology, and infectious diseases, is one of the essential reserves for increasing the effectiveness of ART as a leading component of modern technologies for combating the HIV epidemic.
Suppose a nurse is well informed and has acquired the ability to instill in the patient and his social surroundings a strong dedication to the surveillance and treatment of HIV infection, as well as safe behavioral practices. In that case, she may help to prevent the disease’s spread and enhance the quality of its management. In turn, the NMC claims that nurses may not feel comfortable discussing sexual health concerns with patients. This problem must be addressed as it has a significant impact on the spread of HIV. It is worth mentioning that there is an HIV organization called the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care (The Nursing and Midwifery Council, no date). It makes a significant contribution to informing nurses to care for infected patients, which helps to solve the problem of HIV-related deaths.
Reference List
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