AIDS Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

AIDS - Essay Example Official Statistics of global HIV infections in the 1980s provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) for example were put at between 5 million to 10 million (â€Å"James Chin†), a figure which sent shockwaves globally as there was increasing talk about the ability of infections to reach epic proportions if prompt and serious interventions are not made to address the supposed looming global epidemic. Evidently, such a looming global health disaster required scientific research and study into its causes and popular modes of transmission and reports published by international bodies like WHO and UNAIDS have become an almost unquestionable truth. This essay will attempt a presentation of five popularly held conceptions (or misconceptions) about HIV AIDS that have been perpetuated by international organizations like UNAIDS and WHO and which have been accepted as the unquestionable consensus. According to James Chin one major misconception about HIV AIDS is the assertion that: â€Å"Virtually everyone is at almost equal risk of infection with HIV†. This fuelled the perception that â€Å"in the absence of aggressive prevention programs directed to the general population, especially the youth, it is only a matter of time before epidemic heterosexual HIV transmission will break out in populations where HIV prevalence is low† (â€Å"James Chin†, 165). This conception has proved to be false. Barry Schoub has for instance said concerning the HIV virus that â€Å"in terms of its ability to transfer itself from one host to another, it ranks as one of the least efficient of viruses.† (91) This is because unlike an airborne virus like the influenza virus, the HIV virus cannot adapt to environments â€Å"outside of the warm nurturing intra-cellular location in the human body† (â€Å"Barry Schoub†, 91). Thus: â€Å"The venereal route is ideally suited† for its transmission (â€Å"Barry Schoub†, 91). Notably, HIV transmission is to a large extent effected through sexual