Blog 5

In all honesty the information that I know about HIV/AIDS is limited to the medical model's perspective in that I know the how, what, and why of it's medical information but I do not feel that I know all that much about its TRUE prevalence. The information that I have gathered about HIV/AIDS has been through the educational institutions by means of public health and biology. I really do want to understand the TRUE prevalence of this disease as we as Americans are jaded in our views towards HIV/AIDS because of its non-publicized nature in our media. A very interesting fact that I learned was on the video in Monday's class about Namibian males dominance. It stated that the women have to give themselves to the men whenever and with any form of protection that the man desires causing an increased rate of spreading HIV. I do not like the fact that they linked poverty to sexual encounters as that may be have a correlation but I do not feel that poverty is the cause for sexual desire.

Blog 4

I feel that the main disparity that needs to be addressed to day is the sources of funding to the nations that are stricken with the majority of the world's STI/HIV problems, reffered to as the North and South Divide. I feel that we as Americans view this division from an outsiders point of view since the prevalence of these maladies are very unapparent in our country. From that stand point the broader causes and aspects of these diseases and viruses cannot be seen as we work toward public health and because we, as Americans, do not struggle economically as other countries do. I feel that Americans cannot true appreciate the gifts they have been given to grow up in a country that helps it's people in times of need as compaired to other countries that cannot from some form of poverty affecting its country.

Blog 3

First and foremost is the video that I found on youtube.com:





The information that conveyed in this ad that is true is the statistics that the announcer reads off though a little out dated and the actual spelling of the word. He also tells one of the many ways in which one can contract Gonorrhea. I believe that the age group this ad is targeted towards are adolescents and young adults. I believe that this commercial portrays this message in comedic yet educational manner in which it is trying to make the audience viewing it think. I do not think it is effective in that the youth and young adult population need something more shocking and less funny to convey the needed information to be able to retain and remember. I feel that the media plays a huge role in how we view STDs and STIs and I believe that through a broader scope in the type of ads as well as the number show they may very well be able to get the information out to the public in an effective manner.

Clinton's Apology

The study in Tuskegee was unjustifiable, immoral, and racist. The study involved the male African-American community in a county in Alabama in which the patients had no knowledge of the disease they had, the lack of care being provided to them, or the simple fact that they where in a study! The men in the forced study had the disease know as syphilis in a time period when moral and ethical decisions were not being up held in a manner befitting a medical community. They were given placebos and told that they had "Bad Blood" so that, in the name of progress, the American medical community could see if there were any key changes in the effects of syphilis on an African-American in comparison to any other race. The results showed no differences. Syphilis still attacked these poor individuals who had no knowledge of the disease and afflicted them in a way that no person should have to go through especially when there was a cure at the time! Now to the apology.

Issued many years after the study and with good intentions I feel that the president was earnest in his apology towards the African-American community. He does not state any form of agreement towards what was done and in fact the last half of his speech lists the advances he decided to implement to prevent further atrocities from happening. As the president stated,"So let us resolve to hold forever in our hearts and minds the memory of a time not long ago in Macon County, Alabama, so that we can always see how adrift we can become when the rights of any citizens are neglected, ignored and betrayed. And let us resolve here and now to move forward together." Though some may have construed his later remarks as a call for more research subjects I feel that he was trying to get at the fact that since the Tuskegee Study the research FOR African-Americans have been severely hurt by a lack of trust. Not a call for more African-Americans to study but the rebuilding of a broken trust in the medical community that failed them long ago and to help see new heights in medical advancement of our nation.

BIO-TERRORISM!!!!!!!!!!

SMALL POX WILL GET YOU!!!

The use of small pox as an agent of war, i have to admit, was one smart move. Mean, but smart. During the French-Indian war we used smallpox ridden blankets to warm the bodies of our enemies in the hopes that they would, and did, contract the smallpox virus. Though this was quite an appalling method to attack the foe before us it did have the desired affect. A complete annihilation of an enemy so that one can claim victory without losing any men is the way people win wars apparently.The fact that Russia had a few metric tons of small pox pointed at the US was a little shocking to hear about. During the Cold War this sort of thing would have been looked at as a direct threat and I believe that though smallpox is a frightening thing to imagine resurfacing I feel that a nuke pointed at Russia did the trick to cancel it out considering we do have a cure to smallpox. Public health is related to Bio-Terrorism because the act of terrorism will effect the entire population of any nation and needs to be a public matter of interest. I feel that we should not be worried about a resurgence of smallpox as it has been eradicated and our ties with Russia are strong enough to prevent a war. I feel that the herd immunity effect has left the majority of the population of the US vulnerable to easily preventable diseases and illnesses for instance the out-break of whooping cough in Oregon.

That's all I have to say about that.