Free Essay About Health Education On The Spread And Prevention Of The HIV/AIDS

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a unique virus that causes a wide spectrum of conditions that is usually referred to as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The HIV virus is a challenge to the medical researchers who have failed to develop a cure for the infection for the virus. In other words, there is simply no cure for the virus infection even though breakthroughs in science has led to the discoveries that the viral load can be reduced significantly which in turn lengthens the individuals life span and this is done through the use of antiretrovirals(ARVs) (Action, 2012). This virus is actually communicable from one host to another through contact with the individual’s body fluids of the infected individuals in processes that include blood transfusion with infected blood, from the mother to unborn child during birth when blood mix, unprotected sex with an infected individual (Sorrentino and Remmert, 2014). The elimination of this disease has been a priority for the health sector and education is a tool that has proven significant in this fight.

HIV prevention in high schools

Indeed, the spread of HIV virus among the population has had the world at the end of the line seeking for answers regarding the solution of this serious virus. According to Herr, Telljohanns, Price, Dake, and Stone (2012), the teenagers in school have been termed to be an average of 10% of the persons under 30 years that have been diagnosed with the HIV virus. The teaching of relevant topics regarding the virus in high school has indeed proved to be helpful. For instance, children are taught on the relevance of abstinence from sex and how the virus transmits from one individual to another. An assessment performed by Herr, Telljohanns, Price, Dake, & Stone (2012) has proven that the teaching of HIV related courses is indeed a need since an approximate of 99% agreed to the teaching of the prevention courses.

HIV prevention education in rural schools

Ignorance has indeed also led to the spread of the virus especially in rural areas where the villagers have little or no knowledge at all regarding the HIV virus and its spreading capabilities. According to Anderman, Gray, Cupp, lane and O’Connell (2011), the adolescents have a good perception when it comes to the mastery of intrinsic classroom structures rather than extrinsic structures like test scores. In other words, to instill acceptable behaviors with regards to HIV and AIDS, the students will perceive the instructions and even practice them best when they are involved in intrinsic classroom structures. The main aim for health education is to primarily ensure that the students adapt and copy the acceptable behaviors in order to minimize the spread of HIV virus among the adolescents. Thus, motivation is an intrinsic classroom structure that needs to be established in order to promote the learning process in health classes.

The use of dialogue in promoting HIV/AIDS education

As mentioned earlier, education is a powerful tool when it comes to the promotion of health, and in this case the learning about the HIV virus and how to avoid infection. This is because it provides an individual with tools he or she needs to avoid contamination with the virus. Dialogue is the process of indulgence that allows one to perceive the thoughts and emotions from another person (Kiragu and McLaughlin, 2011). This has been employed in health education in the form of counseling of the clients. Dialogue is the preferred tool when it comes to education on very sensitive matters such as protected and unprotected sex that is at an individual level. Therefore, for the betterment of the health through promotion of HIV prevention, dialogue should be employed to ensure maximum effectiveness of the promotion. It is only through the dialogue that one can learn the attitude of an individual towards the HIV and AIDS spread and this assists the health educator to plan on the best approaches to employ.

Health education through the internet

With regards to communication and media, the internet has proliferated all over the globe and it contains loads of information especially on the HIV virus and its spread. Today, an estimate of 40 to 50% makes use of the internet with regards to retrieving health information. The presence of health websites and blogs all over the internet is just a picture of how easily information regarding a health issue can be spread globally very fast. Sharing of information regarding the spread and prevention of HIV and AIDS will indeed impact the world. Robinson and Grahamt (2010) performed a research that found that the application of the internet with regards to the HIV virus and AIDS disease has had a positive impact on the behavioral practice with regards to the virus. In other words, many with access to the internet resources changed their behaviors when they accessed the information.

Literature review

The HIV virus spread is being combated all over the world today. Robinson and Grahamt’s (2010) study, the fight against the spread of HIV and AIDS can be fought through the application of media and technology and in this case, their study focused on the internet. The spread of the information on websites and kicking ignorance out are ways of ensuring people know what HIV/AIDS is and how to avoid it. On the other hand, education of the high school teenagers is a step forward in this fight and a study carried out by Herr, Telljohanns, Price, Dake, and Stone (2012) denotes that the teachers in several schools are appreciative of the need for the knowledge of prevention of HIV virus among teenagers. In addition, Anderman, Gray, Cupp, lane and O’Connell (2011) describe the use of classroom structures in the advancement of the knowledge that the teenagers need to know. In their article, Kiragu and McLaughlin (2011) claim that the use of dialogue while teaching individual clients is a method of perceiving the attitudes of that individual towards good health.
A scholarship for advanced practice nurses refers to the indulgence of the nurse into vigorous and more complex training than what he or she was used to in a bid to improve her knowledge. This makes a nurse more fluent in his or her daily practice of nursing with regards to the knowledge gained in her practice. When it comes to the education of the patients regarding the HIV virus, the nurses can now share the knowledge they possess with people at an even deeper angle ensuring that they perceive the danger related to HIV virus. Doing literature review is important for a nurse because it keeps him or her up to date with the current happenings in the health care environment and even the new technologies and methods regarding the care of HIV/AIDS and other life threatening conditions.

Conclusion

The HIV virus indeed has been an issue that has puzzled many in the medical field with its deteriorating impacts once an individual contracts it. The cure for this virus is still not known and so the best way to ensure that the disease is managed is through preventive measures. This generally includes the avoidance of contact with the body fluids from an infected individual. However, education has proved a better way to prevent the disease and it simply provides a person with the tools in form of information that should be applied in order to live a life that is safe from the AIDS disease. Health education has been applied in high schools in order to save the teenagers from being infected and instilling the required behavior in conjunction with the disease. The education has also been applied in the form of dialogues with clients and over the internet through online websites and blogs. In a nutshell, education is a major step towards the betterment of the future life without HIV virus.

Reference list

Anderman, E. M., Cupp, P. K., Lane, D. R., Zimmerman, R., Gray, D. L., & O'Connell, A. (2011). Classroom Goal Structures and HIV and Pregnancy Prevention Education in Rural High School Health Classrooms. Journal of Research on Adolescence (Wiley-Blackwell), 21(4), 904-922. doi:10.1111/j.1532-7795.2011.00751.x
HERR, S. W., TELLJOHANN, S. K., PRICE, J. H., DAKE, J. A., & STONE, G. E. (2012). High School Health-Education Teachers' Perceptions and Practices Related to Teaching HIV Prevention. Journal of School Health, 82(11), 514-521. doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2012.00731.x
Acton, Q. A. (2012). Antiretrovirals: Advances in research and application: ScholarlyBrief, Atlanta, Georgia: ScholarlyEditions.
Kiragu, S., & McLaughlin, C. (2011). Unveiling their worlds: the use of dialogue as a health-promotion tool for HIV/AIDS education in a poor community in Kenya. Sex Education, 11(4), 419-430. doi:10.1080/14681811.2011.595243
Robinson, C., & Graham, J. (2010). Perceived Internet health literacy of HIV-positive people through the provision of a computer and Internet health education intervention Christie Robinson & Joy Graham Internet health education intervention. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 27(4), 295-303. doi:10.1111/j.1471-1842.2010.00898.x
Sorrentino, S. A., & Remmert, L. N. (2014). Mosby's essentials for nursing assistants, St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier.