Transmission and Three Stages of HIV/AIDS
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome or AIDS is a condition that develops in human beings on getting infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV. It is known to be affecting people all across the globe. The most common way of its transmission is through exchange of body fluids such as having unprotected sexual relationship, hypodermic needles, blood transfusions and also during pregnancy from the mother to the child (World Health Organization 2019). It is observed to undergo three stages before showing all the symptoms. During the first stage, the HIV infection occurs and the infected individual shows minor flu like symptoms. The second stage is the longest stage or the stage of inactivity during which, the virus multiplies within the body and starts deactivating and manipulating the immune system of the individual. In the final stage the individual reaches the stage in which, they become entirely immunodeficient and is characterized by occurrence of various other infections like pneumonia and tuberculosis, which could have been prevented by the immune system if it was in the right order (Maartens, Celum and Lewin 2014). It is generally treated with antiretroviral therapy. HIV is the reason for approximately 770,000 deaths in 2018 and about 37.9 million individuals were living with HIV (UNAIDS 2020). In this essay, the impact of HIV/AIDS on the public health in the United Kingdom from the year 2015 to the year 2018 will be discussed in details.
HIV was first identified in the year of 1981 in the United Kingdom and since then the instances of the disease have increased exponentially throughout the country (Public Health England 2020). The increase in the number of instances of people suffering from HIV/AIDS has affected public health as well. There are a few factors that are playing the key roles in increasing the cases, which include men having homosexual relationship. It has been seen that men having a sexual relationship with another men have the highest risk of contracting HIV infection than others in the United Kingdom (Curtis et al. 2015). There are also instances reported where people get involved in heterosexual casual relationship without using any protection, which also spreads this virus. The next category of people who are seen to be contracting HIV infection are the ones injecting intravenous drugs. Another important subpopulation of people having HIV/AIDS is the older people (Daskalopoulou 2014). Owing to the long latency phase of the virus, an increase in the number of older people suffering from AIDS has been observed. This causes a detrimental effect on the older people because of the societal judgement and often leads them to the state of homelessness (Maartens et al. 2014). Thus, HIV/AIDS has hugely affected the public health in the United Kingdom.
Increasing HIV/AIDS Cases and Their Causes
Looking at the exponential increase in the cases of people getting infected with the HIV virus, the government designed health policies in such a way so that people having doubt can check their status with ease. Thus, the diagnosis and treatment of HIV has been made free across the country (McGowan 2017). The mode of treatment offered is the administration of antiretroviral therapy or combinational therapy in which, a combination of three different drugs are administered combined in a tablet (Langebeek 2014). In extreme cases, highly active antiretroviral therapy is also administered. Highly active antiretroviral therapy or HAART is a procedure that decreases the viral load of HIV virus in the affected individual as well as maintain the function of immune system thus, also prevents the opportunistic infections that often leads to death (Ballocca et al. 2016).
Apart from improving the diagnosis and treatment procedures of HIV/AIDS in the United Kingdom, the authority has also designed various strategies to reduce the increase in the instances of people suffering from the disease. The most important strategy is the conducting widespread awareness campaigns across the country to educate the people and inform them about HIV/AIDS and the ways it can be prevented. The government has also initiated sex education programmes in every school to make the children aware about the sexual facts so that they can act accordingly in the future (Bath et al., 2016). The availability of condoms have been made more widespread and is given free of cost in every government healthcare facilities. The use and advantages that both male and female condoms exhibit have been communicated through digital and social media as well as offline (Brown et al. 2018). The government has also introduced policies in which, the drug addict subpopulation can enrol themselves for rehab programmes or can exchange older needles with new needles from any pharmacy shop across the country. The government is also in its way to entirely legalise and make pre-exposure prophylaxis medication available for the common people. It is a medication, which can be consumed by people who are HIV negative but are at higher risk of contraction (National Health Services 2020). Thus, it can be stated that the government policies are quite well-planned and might improve the situation for better in the coming years.
Statistical data of the United Kingdom regarding HIV/AIDS shows that by the end of 2018, about 160,493 people were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and it was estimated that about 7,500 people were having HIV/AIDS but were undiagnosed (Public Health England 2019). The recent trend shows that about 32% reduction in the rate of instances between the year 2009 and 2018. According to another report, by the end of the year 2017, it was estimated that 92% of the people with HIV/AIDS has been diagnosed and were receiving proper treatment whereas, the rest 8% of the people were living with the infection without being diagnosed (Public Health England 2018). The highest percentage of people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS were homosexual men. Statistical data of 2017 also showed a sharp decrease during the period of 2015 to 2017. In 2018, 4453 new cases were diagnosed from which 43% people were diagnosed late, which also increased the risk of death (GOV.uk, 2019).
Government Health Policies
Conclusion
Thus, to conclude the report it can be stated that HIV/AIDS is still predominant and one of the most dreaded disease in the United Kingdom. However, the government health policies have done a decent job in reducing the rate of instances considerably. The government also needs to work in grassroot level to enlighten the entire population about the facts. The widespread awareness campaign should also be continued to reduce the rate to further lower level. The recent trends show positive results which might improve in the upcoming years.
References
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