Death PenaltyEssay Preview: Death PenaltyReport this essayPregnant Women & HIV TestingHIV might be one of the most recognized and possibly one of the most frightening diseases of the past twenty or so years. The percentage of infected people in the world is about 0.6 percent which does not seem like much but, if the amount of people in the world is considered (about 6.6 billion) then it shows how many people this epidemic has effected (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). This percentage has finally started to stabilized over the past few years and new antiretroviral drugs such as Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) have been making a positive change in the quality of life for those already infected. Living with HIV, dealing with the pills, the chronic sickness, and the stigma of a mostly unforgiving society has to be difficult. So, what could be worse than that one might ask? The fact that the disease has been passed on to their newborn child has to be unwanted news. The next question then might be can this be stopped? And if so, how? A start to solving this problem would be mandating all pregnant woman to get tested for HIV.
If a pregnant woman is unknowingly infected with HIV it would be unfair to her, as well as the future child who may, in fact, acquire this disease from its mother. Without mandatory HIV testing for pregnant mothers, the chances of spreading the disease becomes much greater. With about 40.3 million people at the end of 2005 already infected with HIV, babies being born everyday carrying this disease only makes the epidemic more frightening and furthers society from stopping it (Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, 2002). The tests would not only determine if a woman has the disease, but it would give her options and a head start that she would not have without the test . An HIV positive mother that is not on any antiviral medication has about a twenty three percent chance of passing along the virus to her unborn child (Fan, Connor, Villarreal, p.117). However, with early enough notification and intensive treatment the transmission rate drops from twenty three to about eight percent (Fan, Connor, Villarreal, p.117). So, with the knowledge the test might give someone, they can make a decision whether they want to keep the child, if they want to start taking medication, or in an unfortunate, yet possible case, just continue on with the birth and not do anything about it.
The major problem with mandatory HIV screenings for pregnant mothers is that it might not be possible. The location, the society, and the people are what control the outcome of this disease. Places such as the United States, Europe, and other wealthy and organized countries might be more able to enforce and have the resources to do these tests. However, places like Africa, India, and Asia might not have the organization, the money, or the resources to effectively carry these tests through. The differences in the number of HIV cases between countries also becomes a factor. With the poor, more medically inefficient countries having many more cases of women with HIV than countries such as the United States, it is hard to say there should be mandatory tests all over the world.
The decision to bear a child when one is an HIV positive mother should be well thought out, and a well developed knowledge base should be obtained before the final decision is made. The first issue presented is possibly birthing a child who, from the time of conception, will be medicated and harassed until the day they die. The child will have to take medication daily throughout life, which will never cure them, and never allow them to have a normal child or adulthood. With the high price of HIV medication, it is likely that the child will not receive the toys, clothes, and necessary items for an optimal upbringing. On top of that, they will constantly be sick and perhaps live half the time of a healthy individual. There is no reason that a child, who has done nothing wrong, should have to be just
I hope that as well as making this article as well with the help of some of the other online forumers I will make myself available to address some of these issues later.
Q: A pregnant woman and her baby are told she can no longer go to the local HIV service at the day of delivery, since they live over the border. How do we provide this information and how does the Department interpret the guidance given a year ago? A: I would like to know more and have the department update with a list of steps in getting the family to have the services they need and what the information they receive will be. The only information that I could find is an information service document in the National Child and Family Information Service, available on the website of the Department of Health (www.hospitals.gov). The information is given on a monthly basis, so they may have their own records.
Q: On the advice of The Department of Health, I am told that if a child receives treatment for HIV, there is no way the hospital can get all the resources they need through regular, regular follow up visits. When they should receive treatment, the hospital will have no way of knowing that. It would be nice if they were able to come up directly to the child’s doctors after seeing their doctor but not after they did not get treatment. What this allows is a couple of hospitals to offer a special option when a child becomes infected, but then they try to keep all of the funds that they receive.
Q: My GP has decided on an HIV testing centre but my GP warns me that they cannot take him. I tell him I must give him a test to see they can take him. He does not want to pay any money for the tests, which I ask in an attempt to keep costs down. I also ask him where the blood and urine tests are being performed. He is not very interested because he thinks the tests are in the process of being done. My partner tells me I need to take him to a doctor to ensure I don’t have the testing again because I am afraid that he could be HIV positive.
Q: I have just passed a period of weeks where I have to go to the NICU to get HIV testing. I have to wait two weeks for my GP to return to my clinic for my test. I can’t use online medical care. I go into detail about my treatment experience as if I were getting something in return. How could any of this possibly change? If you are HIV Positive, what can you do now to help save your life?
Q: I would like the Family Council to support an online tool that identifies how important the parents’ information has been and how the support it has brought. In February 2015 The Children and Family Council was created to help people living with HIV protect themselves from the harm done to their loved ones by the AIDS virus by asking them to identify and protect them from harm. I am concerned that they will not have any access to family history because the HIV status of the parent does not appear in their ID and not in any of the other forms of financial responsibility, like the receipt