TED TALK : How does HIV/AIDS affect life expectancy?

Jada Martin

Ms. I

Statistics

1/16/17

“How does having HIV/AIDS affect life expectancy?”

HIV is an infection that attacks the body’s immune system, specifically the CD4 cells (T cells), which help the immune system fight off infections. If left untreated, HIV reduces the number of CD4 cells (T cells) in the body, making the person more likely to get infections or infection-related cancers and can lead to AIDS(“What is HIV/AIDS?”, 2016).  HIV/AIDS weakens the body and presents a pathway for opportunistic diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumonia, and meningitis(Loewenson and Whiteside4). The HIV/AIDS widespread is one of the most devastating health crises of modern times, ruining families and communities throughout the world(Ashford1). Life expectancy is defined as the average number of years that a person can expect to to live in. Stigma, globalization, and human development are the three main focus for why these specific countries have low life expectancy levels.

Human development is basically about gaining  freedom and opportunities and improving your well-being. It is about creating an environment in which people can develop their full potential and lead productive, creative lives in accord with their needs and interests. Making sure human development has an approach to HIV/AIDS helps to focus on the study of people rather than on the virus.  HIV/AIDS is affecting the Human Development Index (HDI). The index measures basic human capabilities, ranking countries according to their average levels of life expectancy, educational attainment and basic purchasing power(Womenaid International1).  Researchers have concluded that the world lost on average 1.3 years of human development progress due to the pandemic between 1982 and 1992 (Womenaid International1).

AIDS is both a product and a cause of globalization. Globalization affects all  of human life, including health and well being. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has pointed out the global nature of human health and welfare and globalization has given rise to a trend toward finding common solutions to global health challenges. HIV/AIDS is affecting the global human development of African countries through its devastating impact on health and demographic indicators such as life expectancy at birth, healthcare assistance, age and sex distribution.  By 2005, more than 25 million people had died and an estimated 39 million were living with HIV. An estimated 4 million people were newly infected with HIV(Ashford1).  Countries that have been hard hit by the AIDS epidemic have seen mortality surge and life expectancy drop in the last decade. Such as Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asian countries. When looking at the graphs below you’ll be able to see this impact.

HIV/AIDS was discovered 1981; the virus, 1983. These Gapminder bubbles show you how the spread of the virus was in 1983 in the world, or how it was estimated.  In the graph the y axis represents the life expectancy and the x axis are represented by people living with HIV total of all ages. The total number of people in all ages that are estimated to be infected by HIV, including those without symptoms. The life expectancy represents the average numbers of years a newborn child would live if current mortality patterns were to stay the same. The bubbles represents the country and the size of the bubbles represent the population of the country. As the x value changes the y values increases which indicates that it’s a negative correlation. The graph is pretty consistent as it’s increasing there aren’t any outliers. As you can see in the first graph when it was first discovered only a few countries had the disease the life expectancy was still at an average rate. Around 1987 the graph starts to decrease a lot which means that the people with HIV started to increase and the life expectancy decreased in the countries. As you can see in the graph when HIV/AIDS has already increased and affected countries China has the biggest population size which means the more people affected the lower the life expectancy is for that given country.

HIV/AIDS is related back to stigma because it refers to prejudice, negative attitudes and abuse directed at people living with HIV and AIDS. In 35% of countries with available data, over 50% of men and women report having discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV(AVERT1).  Some people are pushed away by family, peers and the wider community, while others face poor treatment in healthcare and educational settings, no basic human rights, and psychological damage. These all limit access to HIV testing, treatment and other HIV services. For example, A man living with HIV in China filed a lawsuit in 2012 after he was denied a job as a primary school teacher when the employer found out he was HIV-positive. That’s where the low life expectancy comes in because people start to die off because they aren’t getting the fair treatment that they need.

Some people may argue that HIV/AIDS isn’t the cause of low life expectancy. Life expectancy refers to the expected number of years of life remaining for an individual at a given age. Overall there are several factors, including sex, race, and lifestyle habits, are known to influence life expectancy. One of the biggest factors that people may say is the cause of low life expectancy is drugs. Drugs have been the main cause for suicide for decades. People have so manys ways to obtain drugs and they overdose and die. So, others don’t blame diseases and infections for the reasons that people are dying off.

HIV/AIDS is a personal, social and economic tragedy as well as a global health threat.  In Europe and North America, AIDS is now the leading cause of death for adults under 45(The Global HIV/AIDS Epidemic1). The above statement is the main reason why I decided to focus on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. People overall aren’t very aware in my opinion of the spread of HIV/AIDS. Even though I didn’t focus more so on North America but HIV/AIDS is definitely on the rise because so many people ignore the fact that this disease is real and incurable. While doing this essay I learned a lot about globalization and the stigma of people who are affected by this.

MLA CITATION

General Topic: How HIV is affecting the world

http://www.prb.org/pdf06/howhivaidsaffectspopulations.pdf

Ashford, Lori. "How HIV and AIDS Affect Populations." HOW HIV AND AIDS AFFECT POPULATIONS (n.d.): n. pag. BRIDGE. Population Reference Bureau. Web. <http://www.prb.org/pdf06/howhivaidsaffectspopulations.pdf>.

General Topic: Statistics on HIV

http://www.healthline.com/health/hiv-aids/facts-statistics-infographic

Heitz, David. "HIV by the Numbers: Facts, Statistics, and You." Healthline. George Krucik, n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2016. <http://www.healthline.com/health/hiv-aids/facts-statistics-infographic>.

General Topic: How has HIV impacted families

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2822872/

Ji, Guoping, Li Li, Chunqing Lin, and Stephanie Sun. "The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Families and Children -a Study in China." AIDS (London, England). U.S. National Library of Medicine, Dec. 2007. Web. 21 Dec. 2016. <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2822872/>.

General Topic: Global epidemics on HIV/AIDS

https://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/global-statistics/

"Global Statistics." Welcome to AIDS.gov. U.S Department of Health & Human Services, n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2016. <https://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/global-statistics/>.