HIV SCREENING
  A big part of this blog is focused on how to stop HIV/AIDS. Many people have contemplated on this thought for years but little has been done overall to help it. Many people all over the world never know they have HIV until it is too late. HIV screenings will help a person know if they have HIV and maybe could end up saving this person.

   Health professionals all over the world from little clinics to big name hospital should be familiar with HIV screenings. HIV screening can be done in most hospitals or doctor's office using various forms of technology.These screenings have doses like most other medical tests and they change from person to person. For example, while pregnant women should get tested in the first and third trimester, people at high risks should be screened at least once a year. People with frequent HIV side effects should be tested regularly as well.

  HIV screenings must be voluntary but every doctor should be recommending the screening to everyone over 13 years of age. While it is optional, most people hardly every say "no" to the testing for various health reasons. My question for this is, do they have these tests in Africa? It says here doctors all over the world have them but in Africa simple things everyone takes for granted like food is scarce not to mention doctors and medicine supplies. It is hard to tell from one article how people in Africa and all over the world can know if they have this horrible disease, but that's why the research must continue.

      Branson, Bernard M., and others. "Revised Recommendations for HIV Testing of Adults, Adolescents..." MORBIDITY AND MORTALITY WEEKLY REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS AND REPORTS. Sept. 22 2006: 1-16. SIRS Government Reporter. Web. 26 Feb 2012.

HIV/AIDS STATISTICS

    To start of my intriguing topic I must first establish a foundation in which we may know a little bit more about the topic, and its number around the world. How many people does it affect? How many of them are children? As the years progress, HIV/AIDS just keeps spreading and affecting more lives. Every 10 seconds someone is lost to this relentless disease.  

   5 to 6 million people need lifesaving HIV drug treatment in low and middle income countries, yet only seven percent, or 400,000 people, have access to this expensive, much needed treatment. There are many so called "prevention" programs but they only reach fewer than one in five of the people who need them; and an estimated 15 million children under the age of 18 worldwide have lost one or both parents to AIDS! 12 million of them in sub-Saharan Africa. Does this mean HIV/AIDS started in Africa? Why is it such a prevalent disease and cause of death in this one country? Is this what keeps them from becoming a global figure? 

Black, A. (2004, October). HIV/ AIDS. State Magazine . Retrieved from http://sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/ 

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I chose the topic of AIDS because  I have always been interested in medicine, especially on what can be done to prevent it and how it spreads. AIDS is a big name disease known all over the world today (it has affected almost every country of the world if not all of them) but it affects Africa in huge amounts. Two simple but well thought out questions will be the answer to my curiosity, why is HIV/AIDS so common in Africa and what can be done to stop them from spreading even more?