Study: Americans ambivalent about HIV/AIDS; Conservatives "less compassionate" to victims
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Study_Americans_ambivalent_about_HIVAIDS_crisis_1127.html
Study: Americans ambivalent about HIV/AIDS; Conservatives 'less compassionate' to victims
Ron BrynaertPublished: Monday November 27, 2006
A study conducted by an international Christian child development organization finds that many Americans are ambivalent about the world's HIV/AIDS crisis, with nearly two-fifths admitting to having difficulty sympathizing with victims, RAW STORY has found.
In the study commissioned by Compassion International, a ministry to poor children in developing countries, 1,004 telephone interviews with adults 18 and older were conducted by a Christian polling organization.
In a press release, Compassion noted that the results showed "conflicting behavior and attitudes" by Americans regarding the disease which has killed more than 25 million people since it was first recognized in 1981, according to United Nations figures.
When asked if they "have more sympathy for people who have cancer than you do for people who have HIV or AIDS because you feel most of those with HIV/AIDS got the disease as a result of their decisions or lifestyles," thirty-nine percent of the people polled agreed strongly or somewhat.
The study shows that political ideology plays a large role in the degree of sympathy Americans hold for victims.
"Demonstrating that these issues have been co-opted by political considerations, easily the most significant gap related to sociopolitical ideology," the study says. "Political conservatives (50%) were twice as likely as liberals (23%) to say that they have less compassion for those with the 'lifestyle' disease."
"Also, Republicans’ lack of sympathy outpaces that of Democrats (45% versus 34%, respectively)," the study adds.
While roughly one out of seven Americans (15 percent) said they donated in 2005 to an organization specifically to address the HIV/AIDS crisis, only 8 percent said that they have a compassionate attitude toward HIV/AIDS victims and have donated to the cause.
Fifty-two percent admitted to being unengaged with the HIV/AIDS crisis, expressing conflicting, neutral or undecided views and behaviors related to addressing the issue, according to the press release.
By nearly two-to-one, respondents said they would rather address HIV/AIDS than global warming (52 to 28 percent), but ranked access to clean water (66 to 13 percent), dealing with cancer (47 to 19 percent) and addressing poverty (47 to 22 percent) as more important.
The poll also showed that nearly half of Americans believe they can help influence the war on terror (48 percent).
A pdf file of the poll can be accessed at this link.
posted by MICHAEL EMANUEL RAJNER at 11/28/2006 04:49:00 PM
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AIDS has become one of the major health problems affecting people around the world. As of 2006, more than 39.5 million people are currently living with HIV, and By 2010 it is estimated that approximately 100 million people will have been infected and that there will be 25 million AIDS orphans worldwide. By 2006 an estimated 39.5 million (34.1- 47.1 million) people were living with HIV/AIDS. Sub-Saharan Africa has been the region hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic; more than two-thirds of all people with HIV/AIDS are in this region.
Asia is also grappling with the increasing feminization of the epidemic and its impact on children and families. The prevailing poverty among women and its further accentuation or ‘feminization of poverty’ due to adverse effects of globalization make the women in the region highly vulnerable to the epidemic. The impact of Globalization, which effect directly in some individual culture in some region, the opinion of AIDS researcher Mohammad Khairul Alam, “the mixed effect of traditional norm and globalization has brought frustration in the man. For these two things people are forgetting traditional social norms, social values and the social structure are facing a great threat following the western and others cultures. Familitical ties are breaking; family sexual behaviour is changing, attitudes of peoples towards sex is changing very fast. Besides migration for jobs, an increasing number of women taking up jobs outside the home, a decline in the traditional joint family system, and conflict to global culture were considered to have contributed to this phenomenon.” The situation is further aggravated by the presence of all forms of violence against women including those in conflict and disaster situations.
From about 20% a decade ago, the percentage of women accounting for new infections has risen to 30 per cent indicating a constantly rising vulnerability of women and girls to HIV. Severe gender inequality in political, social, educational and economic areas and absence of informed choices in the region, render women extremely vulnerable to HIV and subject them to intense stigma and discrimination. Often, women have no control over their sexual lives and have extremely limited access to prevention information and services. However, even the best knowledge on prevention does not guarantee protection for women due to the overpowering dominance of patriarchy. It is not merely coincidental that about 14 per cent and 60 per cent of the girls over the age of 15 in South East Asia and South Asia respectively are illiterate. The Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation survey focuses on the attitude, behavior and practice of commercial & non- commercial / casual sex workers (so-called sex workers), floating/ street sex workers in Dhaka city in Bangladesh, this study did point out that almost 16% of sex workers enter the profession before the age of 18 years, and 30% enter between 18 to 24 years of age. Approximately 10% of prostitutes belong to the scheduled castes minority people; about 90% floating sew workers enrolled due to poverty, and 85% are illiterate.
Meanwhile, an issue that has a far reaching socio-economic impact, but is not acknowledged and measured in economic terms, is the stigma and discrimination faced by people living with HIV. The spread of HIV/AIDS presents a challenge to all of us in the Asia region, which is threatening to offset gains in human development. It underlines the urgency of effective prevention and changes in behaviors and attitudes in order to combat HIV/AIDS and mitigate its effects.
K. Mustafa Ali
New Chuburji Park,
Lahore
Pakistan
92-42-741 44 56
Source:
1. WHO report, HIV/AIDS in Asia and the Pacific Region, 2003.
2. Asia Pacific’s Opportunity: Investing to avert an HIV/AIDS Crisis, July 2004. ADB/UNAIDS study series.
3. “Oh! This one is infected!”: Women, HIV & Human Rights in the Asia Pacific Region, paper commissioned by the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, ICW, 2004
4. “From Involvement to Empowerment”, UNDP, 2004
5. AIDS in Asia: Face the Facts. Monitoring the AIDS Panedmic (MAP) Report, 2004, HDR, 2003
6. Rainbow Nari O Shishu Kallyan Foundation
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