How Does Haiti Affect America

A country located in the Caribbean Sea with an uneven coastline, warm and humid tropical climate, population of mainly African origin, and one of the poorest locations can describe the Republic of Haiti. The Republic of Haiti and its location, economy, stability and political structure have all had effects on the spread of disease and the risk factors associated with it. The highest occurrence of HIV in Latin American and Caribbean countries has been seen in Haiti. This all started with the epidemic of HIV that began in Haiti in the 1970s. Haiti and its capital of Port-au-Prince has a population of around 10.1 million with most of the population speaking either Creole or French. The population of Haiti grew after 1900, but the life expectancy
Haiti had minimal defense against this epidemic due to being one of the poorest nations with limited healthcare. Haiti has the highest adult HIV occurrence and the rate is 2.2% twice the level of the Dominican Republic. The rate of HIV progression was twice as high due to problems such as poor nutrition, high prevalence of community-acquired infections, and high rates of active TB. There was an increase in sexual violence against women and gang rape. HIV spread rapidly in Haiti with women as the epidemic started. “Since 1985, heterosexual intercourse has been the dominant mode of transmission, as the blood supply was protected early in the epidemic, and intravenous drug use in Haiti is rare, and has never been a significant risk factor for HIV/AIDS. As the epidemic became generalized, an increasing proportion of cases have been female” (Koenig, et al., 2010). Elevated HIV rates were reported for young women compared to those from 13-24 years of age (Malow, Rosenberg, Lichtenstein, & Dévieux, 2010). There is an estimated HIV prevalence among adults from 15-49 and 7,400 estimated AIDS related deaths from adults fifteen and up. In 2015, there were an estimated 68,849 adults living with HIV receiving antiretroviral treatment (Center of Disease Control and Prevention,
AIDS is the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome where the immunity is severely damaged and lowers the bodies ability to resistance infection. HIV is the virus that causes AIDS. Fluid from an infected person much encounter a mucous membrane, the bloodstream, or a cut or injured area of another person to transmit the virus ((Davis). Early symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, and a sore throat within two to four weeks of being infected. There are three phases to the disease. Thee first stage includes the acute infection and many people do not experience any symptoms. The second stage is known as clinical latency and means that the virus is dormant and reproduces much slower rate than in the acute phase. The second stage can last for one decade although it sometimes progresses faster. The third stage is AIDS. Individuals have low T-cell counts and compromised immune system that make them easily susceptible to infections and cancer (Davis). Social and economic consequence of HIV include loss of job and income, decreased family income, increased expenses for seeking care, and greater economic consequence, shown by selling assets. Those with AIDS deal with the social measures of being discriminated against along with their physical, mental, and social wellbeing. The disease can lead to a weakened family support