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Essay / HIV/AIDS Essay - 3140
IntroductionHIV/AIDS is a global pandemic that threatens lives around the world. It is important to understand exactly what this disease is and how it affects societies globally. Although HIV, in severe cases, leads to AIDS, there is a distinct difference in the definition of the two terms. According to the Mayo Clinic, AIDS is a potentially fatal disease. It results from the human immunodeficiency virus and gives rise to this disease (AIDS) for which there is still no known cure. By hindering and distressing the human immune system, the HIV virus disrupts the immune system and significantly reduces the body's ability to prevent other diseases and infections, which in turn leads the body to become infected more and more easily by diseases in the environment. The HIV virus is mainly contracted during sexual intercourse, i.e. also during vaginal/anal intercourse, but rarely during oral sex. HIV can also be contracted and spread during pregnancy. During childbirth, the mother exposes the offspring to infection and, through this, causes the child to become infected with the virus. A child can also contract the virus by being breastfed by the infected mother. The HIV virus can remain latent and, in some cases, take years before affecting the human immune system significantly enough for an individual to contract AIDS. HIV/AIDS has a negative impact in various ways. According to Danziger, areas of impact include: economics and demographics; labor productivity; agricultural production and development; pressures on the health sector; the role of families and households; children; women; discrimination based on the fact that a person has HIV/AIDS; and the impact of HIV/AIDS on the individual. According to May...... middle of document ......lcollaborate with international and local organizations to establish community partnerships to improve HIV prevention. The CHN should effectively use primary prevention to reduce overall incidences of transmission by: seeking to increase the proportion of drug treatment facilities that provide HIV/AIDS education and support, educating and increasing the proportion of sexually active people who use protection. The nurse can also implement secondary prevention or early detection and rapid treatment of the disease. This type can prevent the activation of latent infections and promote optimal health in people infected with HIV. The CHN would also implement tertiary prevention by encouraging patients to undergo consistent follow-up examinations to identify and prevent diseases that may affect people with HIV/AIDS, such as tuberculosis and other diseases...