Transgender and HIV/Aids
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome is caused by a virus referred to as the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Additionally, it is spread through sexual contact with an HIV infected individual, contaminated blood, and needles. A woman infected with HIV/aids can spread the virus to her baby during pregnancy, childbirth, or through breast milk. Some of the common symptoms of HIV include weight loss, tiredness, prolonged fever, skin rash, night sweats, persistent diarrhea, and lower immunity to infections. Additionally, over time the virus weakened the immune system causing individuals to be susceptible to diverse kinds of infections, which are generally life-threatening. Also, it exacerbates the severity of severe conditions, including cancers. There is no cure for the disease, but antiretroviral drugs play a critical role in
delaying the progression of the disease.
Approximately one million people in the US are identified as transgender. Transgender individuals, particularly women, are at elevated risk of contracting HIV. Notably, the evidence suggests that transgender women are among the most affected by HIV in the united states.
According to xxx, transgender men and women are disproportionately affected by HIV.HIV prevalence account for 14.1 for transgender women, 3.2 percent for transgender men, and 9.2 percent for transgender persons overall.
Additionally, research suggests that transgender women of color are at escalated risk of contracting HIV. HIV prevalence among African American transgender women is 44.2 percent, 25.8 percent among Hispanic /Latina transgender women, vis-à-vis 6.7 percent among white transgender women.
Determinants of health
Transgender individuals are undoubtedly socially, politically, economically, and legally marginalized. Discrimination against transgender individuals emanates from multiple forms of stigma interlinked to gender identity, gender expression, and perceived sexual orientation. Arguably, in most nations, transgender individuals cannot access gender –conducive legal identification, and most of the time, they are required to undertake genital surgery to do so. At the same time, transgender individuals do not opt for surgery to change their appearance, and hence surgical requirement is a grave impediment to legal recognition.
The absence of gender congruent identity documents bars them from accessing a range of services, including health care, employment, education, and voting rights. Most jurisdictions fail to offer practical and enforceable legal protections against the prevailing discrimination. To this end, the stigma, racism, and absence of le recognized documents exclude transgender persons from civic engagement. Be that s it may also limit economic opportunities and leads to poverty and marginalization that exacerbate HIV Vulnerability.
According to xxx, transgender people involve themselves in several risky behaviors to cope with dominant discrimination and stigma in society. They engage in injecting hormones and drugs, anal intercourse without condoms or medicines to cushion them from contracting HIV. The escalation of HIV among transgender individuals is further fuelled by healthy care workers’ insensitivity to remove the barriers for transgender people who are seeking quality treatment and care services. Many healthcare professionals do not have adequate training, and they are not knowledgeable about transgender health issues and their particular attention. This, in turn, leads to limited health care access and negative health care experiences.
Transgender individuals in most countries encounter restrictive policies toward their gender expressiveness; for instance, laws in some countries criminalize cross-dressing. Other systems also impact the increase in HIV among transgender people significantly. For example, most nations do not allow sex workers. however, commercial sex is a significant source of income among transgender individuals, given their
exclusion from mainstream income-generating activities.
Epidemiologiocal treaid
The epidemiological triad encompasses three components agent, host, and the environment. A host offers an enabling setting for the pathogen to develop the illness. The degree of immunity, degree of exposure, genetic composition, condition of health, and overall fitness of the host determines the illness’s progression. Moreover, exposure is often impacted by the host’s conduct, including hygiene, sexual behavior, and other personal choices alongside age and gender.
The agent of an infectious illness include viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungi, and molds. In non-infectious diseases, injury, disability, death, the agents can encompass dietary foods, tobacco smoke, solvents, poison, nutritional deficiencies, and solvents. One or more agents can contribute to a particular illness. However, the agent must be present for a disease to occur, but it’s essential to note that the presence of an agent alone cannot always be enough to cause illness. A myriad of factors come into play to determine whether a particular organism can cause disease.
A pathogen’s ability to adapt to new settings is a determining factor since some pathogens thrive well under certain ideal circumstances. For instance, a large number of infectious disease agents exist only in limited temperature conditions. Environmental variables encompass the biological ecosystem as well as the cultural, social, and physical environment.
HIV is a viral infection that generally targets an individual’s immune system. It typically opens windows of infections where one becomes more vulnerable to other kinds of infections. Since the virus attacks the immune system, the body cannot combat HIV on its own. To this end, HIV is communicated through direct contact with an infected peoples bodily fluids and but it primarily disseminates through sexual contact and shares needles. The host of HIV is the human body. Numerous socio-economic factors can affect the spread of HIV. POVERTY, LIMITED ACCESS TO CARE AND DISCRIMINATION EXERCABATE THE SPRES OF THE AHIV IN THE SENSE THAT THESE SOCIAL PRESSURES IMPEDE INDIVIDUALS FROM BEOINTY TESTED AND SEEKING MEDICAL INTERVENTION.
Role of nurses
Transgender individuals need special attention to improve their health outcomes. Health care professionals need to be sensitive to the issues that correlate with transgender identity. The specific perils and care needs of transgender persons are not adequately addressed in most medical and nursing schools. Consequently, most health care providers lack the required knowledge and experience to cater to the diverse needs of transgender people. This absence of cultural and clinical competency results in misunderstandings, appropriate care, and undiagnosed health issues. Vital convalescent teaching can be missed as a result of information not being tailored for individual transgender patients. Nurses in all settings, notwithstanding the specialty, need to be enlightened on transgender problems to ameliorate perceived mistrust of health care frameworks.
As per the international council of nurses, nurses are mandated to engage in the general scope of nursing, including health promotion, prevention of illnesses, care for the physically ill, disabled, mentally ill, and people of all ages in health care settings. Additionally, a nurse is expected to enlighten convalescents on how to take care of themselves and, particularly for transgender people, how to cushion from HIV/ AIDS. A nurse
It critically supervises care delivery and is actively involved in implementing evidence-based approaches in health care settings.
Nurses engage in surveillance, primarily focused on early detection of deterioration indicators, recognition of alterations, and subsequent initiation of urgent and appropriate mitigations. It also participates in evaluating assessment parameters alongside acquisition, interpretation, and integration of information from other sources, including family members, members of various health care groups, medical databases, and clinical session support framework.
Overall, there is a need for design for awareness campaigns to sensitive general populace on the need to respect transgender individuals’ rights. On a similar note, these campaigns can also be directed to transgender people to encourage them to get tested and the steps they are supposed to take to protect themselves adequately against HIV/aids. Beyond the health care sector, enhanced visibility of transgender persons can escalate public knowledge and acceptance. Anti stigma initiatives are urgently needed to champion dignity and human rights for transgender individuals.