Sociology SOCL1016 MBBCH I Week 6

Sociology Week 6




HIV/AIDS
What will be discussed in the lectures:
- The distribution of health and disease, social determinants, and the social responses to
the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
- Who is infected
- How & why, they are infected
- How individuals and the collective copes with HIV & AIDS
- Who experiences secondary or co morbid infections (+ syndemic)
- The time and pathway from morbidity to mortality (HIV to AIDS, etc.)
The key issues surrounding HIV/AIDS
1. The significance + importance of the clinical in prevention and treatment
- This cannot replace behavioural (individual, interactional, social interventions)
- The broader social, economic, cultural, and political context also needs to be considered
and engaged with
A human rights framework provides a platform to provide care to ALL
We need to find ways of realizing synergistic and substantive interaction across all key
sectors to deliver quality care.

,The social determinants of HIV/AIDS
1. Race + Ethnicity
- Both have equal biological vulnerability but considerable social differentiation
- Since poverty and race are interlinked, access to healthcare, preventative education,
treatment, and support services for HIV/AIDS are limited to certain races
- Certain ethnicities intertwine with unequal rights for genders (women often don’t have
a say in certain cultures with regards to contraception and consensual sexual intercourse,
leading to transmission of HIV/AIDS) as well as certain practices which are banned in
certain cultures (contraception). These also link with the shame and stigma that comes
with HIV/AIDS.

2. Sex, Gender, Sexuality
- Females are more biologically at risk (lack of contraception for men), socio-culturally
at risk (lack of power to give consent in certain societies/cultures)
- Hetero-normativity and gender in responses to infection + treatment
- Diminished gender power
- Heterosexually transmitted HIV epidemic numbers have been growing

3. Social-economic
- Depends on your economic class, social capital, and access to healthcare

4. Culture
- Perceptions + practices differentiate risk/provide protection
- Abstinence is a common practice in certain cultures and religions, providing protection
against sexually transmitted HIV/AIDS
- Refer to the ‘Race + Ethnicity’ for more reference

5.Age distribution
- HIV infections progresses to AIDS more rapidly in older than in younger patients
- Mortality is much higher in older patients
- Opportunistic infections effect older patients as they generally have weaker immune
systems
- However, HIV/AIDS effects both young and old however the disease burden often
differs

6. Geography
- Socio-economics, migration and political decisions on health and social welfare
spending have an impact
- Spatial based inequality leads to under-resourced areas, lack of access to healthcare,
overcrowded conditions, lack of educational opportunities

, 7.Politics
- Will + resources to address epidemic
- Social/civil stability in contrast to unrest/war
- Corporatism and for-profit health care decisions (does the government fund
support/education/health care to sufferers)
- Moral standpoint + role modelling
There is an existing framework of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare. Within this
international legal framework, a number of associated rights are applicable to the attainment
of sexual and reproductive health. These include the right to life and survival; autonomy and
confidentiality; information and education; equality and non-discrimination, and privacy,
amongst others
Intersectionality is a framework for conceptualizing a person, group of people, or social
problem as affected by a number of discriminations and disadvantages. This has an effect on
a person’s contact with HIV/AIDS.
Example of intersectionality and HIV/AIDS
- Black women are disadvantaged in terms of HIV/AIDS due to their race and gender.
Systemic (effects) means affecting the entire body, rather than a single organ or body part.
HIV/AIDS has systemic effects on the patient.