Interview Report: Discrimination on People Living With HIV/AIDS

I visited Mr. Lawrence Overlan of the D'Amore-McKim School of Business to interview him on the issue of discrimination experienced by people living with HIV/AIDS. Mr. Lawrence Overlan is my professor of macroeconomics, and he knows the statistics on the HIV infection around the world.

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To know the possible reactions of people on noticing that they accidentally contact HIV, I asked him, "Suppose you are unfortunately infected with AIDS, your first reaction or action would be...?" I received an overwhelming answer from Mr. Overlan.

Mr. Lawrence Overlan noted:

When diagnosed with HIV different people will have different reactions to the findings. Some people may feel angry, surprised, hopeless, confused and many another emotional expression. In my case I will feel disappointed in myself because I know that based on the ways through one can contact the virus, different ways of prevention could have been applied. Unless the virus was contracted through an accident, every individual is expected to be careful and avoid the modes of transmission. The action I would take is to go to a healthcare facility and get help from professionals. HIV is a condition that is not treatable; however, health care practitioners have different ways through which the condition can be managed. When one goes to a healthcare facility, they place themselves in a position whereby they can get proper advice on the best way to deal with the virus and the medication that can contain it.

I wanted to know the various ways and routes in which the HIV spreads, so I asked him, "What routes of the AIDS transmission do you know?" He gave me a considerably detailed answer.

Mr. Lawrence Overlan noted:

The knowledge that I have which is backed up by different written materials indicates that HIV can only be transmitted through contact of the body fluids. The main body fluids that can lead one to get infected include blood, semen, rectal fluids, breast milk, and vaginal fluids. One can get HIV when they get into contact with contaminated blood through piecing, open wound or ingestion of such blood. Furthermore, the most known risk factor for getting HIV is sexual contact with an individual with the virus. During sex, the exchange of body fluids (semen and vaginal fluids) creates the most potent source of virus transfer from one person to another. In most cases, it is recommended that people who cannot abstain from sex should ensure that they use protection during sex (Baggaley et al., 2010). However, it has not been proven beyond reasonable doubt that the use of condoms completely protects an individual from contacting HIV.

Pregnant or expectant mothers are usually advised to get tested so that it can be ascertained that they are not positive. A mother that has been diagnosed with HIV is expected to avoid breastfeeding since the milk is a potent source of virus transfer from the mother to the baby. Rectal fluid is also a means through which the virus can be transferred, and it is one of the reasons to why gay people may be diagnosed with the virus when they are not keen to protect themselves.

To get deeper into the matter, I was anxious to know which group of people among the community had the highest chances of contracting HIV, I asked Mr. Overlan, "Who do you think are the people who are susceptible to AIDS?"

Mr. Lawrence Overlan answered:

Every human being that engages in an activity that exposes them to modes of transmission is susceptible to HIV. What is not correct is to indicate that one group of people have higher chances of getting the disease than another (Patel et al., 2014). An individual who has unprotected sex with multiple partners is equally susceptible to a deaf gay person who has unprotected sex. What society should be aware of is that different modes of transmission exist and people should avoid them.

Many myths exist about the behavior of the HIV patients, and I wanted to know whether this was true, so I asked him, "Do you think AIDS patients have had these behaviors-drug addict, prostitution, deaf, and people with multiple sexual partners, gay, bisexual?" He answered, "It is not correct to indicate that all HIV patients have the above behavior. People contact the virus based on different modes of transmission meaning that they cannot be bundled into a single category."

Many people who live with the virus fear to identify themselves to the community. This action is a strange but understandable act, and I wished to know why? Therefore I asked him, "Why do you think people living with HIV should or should not disclose their identity?" And he answered, "HIV is a condition that people should not be ashamed of. It is a condition just like any other, and people who are diagnosed with the condition should not be ashamed."

References

Baggaley, R. F., White, R. G., & Boily, M. C. (2010). HIV transmission risk through anal intercourse: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and implications for HIV prevention. International journal of epidemiology, 39(4), 1048-1063.

Patel, P., Borkowf, C. B., Brooks, J. T., Lasry, A., Lansky, A., & Mermin, J. (2014). Estimating per-act HIV transmission risk: a systematic review. AIDS (London, England), 28(10), 1509.