Identify five common misconceptions that people hold about HIV/AIDS. Based on the articles, demonstrate why these are misconceptions. Second, and again, based on the research literature, explain why a good number of people hold these misconceptions. F

Running head : HIV misconceptions

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Intercourse with a virgin will cure AIDS (Meel , 2003 , intercourse with an animal will prevent and cure AIDS . These are just but a few misconceptions which people have been made to believe about the HIV epidemic in the world . People have committed terrible acts such as raping children and having intercourse with animals in the name of curing their HIV status . What needs to be asked is are these misconceptions really true

Organizations which are fighting against the

epidemic are on the first line and have established their own misconceptions will the world tends to believe . Different persons have supported them and they have almost become real . The various misconceptions about the HIV epidemic will be highly discussed and will be answering the following question : Are the misconceptions necessary in fighting the HIV epidemic

There are various misconceptions which continue to used by bodies and agencies about the HIV epidemiology and its transmission dynamics . They are usually used to support the prevailing socially and politically correct though epidemiologically incorrect paradigm of UNAIDS

One of the misconceptions is that virtually every one is at an almost equal risk of getting infected with HIV . This misconception was derived from the initial short doubling times when the reported AIDS cases in the early 1980s led to a false conclusion that AIDS was caused by an agent which was thought to be highly infectious . Presence of high risk behaviors in the world such as homosexual and heterosexual promiscuous behaviors and sharing of drug injecting objects in populations also led to the belief that all the populations will be infected by the HIV epidemics (Moore Rosenthal , 1998

The second misconception is that HIV 'bridge ' populations will invariably ignite heterosexual HIV epidemics . This means that the bisexual male or the IDUs serve as a bridge for HIV entry into the rest of the heterosexual population . However , what has been ignored all along is that this kind of bridging has and continues to occur from non epidemic transmission between the HIV discordant couples , that is transmission from an infected person to the regular sex partners or partner (James , 2007 . Currently , this is the predominant mode of transmission of HIV throughout the world although these are bridges to nowhere (James , 2007

Third is that all HIV risk behaviors result in HIV epidemics . It should be noted that HIV transmission is very high in commercial sex workers especially where partners are exchanges frequently . But the transmission is low in countries where the country is able to sustain the HIV epidemic

The fourth misconception is that poverty , discrimination and the lack of access to health care are the major determinants of the HIV epidemic preference in populations . Although this issue is socially and politically correct , the wealthy people in the poor countries where the populations are not able to access health care have multiple sex partners therefore although they are able to access health services are exposed to the risks of...