Literature Review Social Determinates and HIV in Black Community

HIV/AIDS has been a concurrent infection of epidermal consequences amongst the Black community in the USA. A lot of reasons have been given for this occurrence but have, nevertheless, stood out to be substantial. However, clinical researchers and public health officers have attributed this fault to the way of life of the Blacks. Most of the research studies that have been conducted seem to drive towards truth in the subject matter. In this paper, a literature review of some four studies on the matter is carried out to evaluate on the matter of social determinates and HIV in the Black community.

Search Terms

The topic of this literature review is “How Do Social Determinants of Health among African Americans Increase the Risk of Acquiring HIV/AIDS?” The paper looks at the aspects of sociality within the Black community that might be the cause of the increasing HIV-infected population. For the literature search, some search terms were used. I searched for social determinants among the Black community that lead to HIV/AIDS infection, HIV/AIDS in the Blacks, and the Black community of the U.S.A and their health disparities. Additionally, some wider search was done on the socioeconomic impact of the HIV and its rise in the African American community. After that, I also did a search on how to address these social determinants so as to avoid the widespread of HIV in the Black community.

Databases Used

For the search, I used three major databases. They include the CSU Public Health Database, ProQuest; The Stephen B, Thacker CDC Library, and the last one was the Public Health Reports Database. With this, I was able to get the best literature ever done on the subject topic.

Literature Review

Database: CSU, Public Health Database, ProQuest

Article title: Understanding and responding to disparities in HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in African Americans.

Aral, S. O., Adimora, A. A., & Fenton, K. A. (2008). Understanding and responding to disparities in HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in African Americans. The Lancet, 372 (9635), 337-40. 

This preliminary investigation examined the rate of infection of HIV and related infections among African American community among other several health disparities. The Authors examine how the social status of the black community affects their way of living as well as the spread of HIV and other sexual transmitted illnesses. This article clearly brings out the evidence of how the disease is spread by multiple partners who disseminates and maintains the infection within the community. Aral, Adimora & Fenton (2008), put their focus on the factors that act as catalysts to spread the disease among the people of color and other immigrants and the dilemmas that African American face in the context of their health status.

Database: CSU, Public Health Database, ProQuest

Article title: Health inequalities: promoting policy changes in utilizing...

Kennedy, B. R. (2013). Health inequalities: promoting policy changes in utilizing transformation development by empowering African American communities in reducing health disparities. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 20 (4), 155-62. 

The main reason of this exploratory research was to examine the health care issues and their outcomes for the African Americans. It investigates their unpleasant living conditions, prejudice and the dismissal that they experience the ill effects of the American Society. The review is an explanatory audit of the writing that highlights the social and wellbeing imbalances that the dark group perseveres. The author has proposed strategy changes by executing change improvement and group strengthening models as systems for group medical attendants who take part in helping African American communities, address the health disparities that face them. These models engage individuals from the group to take an interest in a community oriented exertion in rolling out political and social improvements to enhance their general health results. In addition, Lack of proper medical care and limitations to access health facilities are some of the major factors that contribute to spread of diseases in the African American community

Database: The Stephen B. Thacker CDC Library

Article title: Association between Community Socioeconomic Position and HIV Diagnosis Rate among Adults and Adolescents in the United States

An, Q., Prejean, J., McDavid Harrison, K., & Fang, X. (2013). Association between Community Socioeconomic Position and HIV Diagnosis Rate among Adults and Adolescents in the United States, 2005 to 2009. American Journal of Public Health, 103 (1), 120–126. 

This article reviews and brings together research focusing on the association between social economic position and HIV diagnosis rates in America. It also summarizes the racial disparities in diagnosis rates. The report presents data that was collected concerning the social status of African Americans. The paper raises the concern of how African American are affected disproportionately by HIV infection despite their smaller proportion. The data collected in the study shows how inconsistencies in care and treatment may add to the higher rate rates among groups with higher prevalence of HIV. An, Prejean, McDavid, & Fang (2013), have provided an incisive analysis of how Social Economic Position is linked to the health problems among Blacks in the United States of America. The author has insisted that measures should be taken to improve the social, economic position (SEP) in areas that are mainly occupied by African Americans, so as to reduce cases of HIV infection and the spread of other related illnesses.

Database: Public Health Reports

Article title: Addressing Social Determinants of Health in the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Tuberculosis.

Dean, H. D., & Fenton, K. A. (2010). Addressing Social Determinants of Health in the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Tuberculosis . Public Health Reports, 125 (Suppl. 4), 1–5.

This article reflects the authors’ quest to understand the social determinants that threaten the health of human beings. After reviewing the literature on health effects, the authors talk about the developments and advances in fusing a social determinant of health structure that is meant to address the HIV epidemic in the USA. Understanding the connections between these determinants is crucial as it helps in preventing and controlling the HIV disease from spreading.

Conclusion

In conclusion, African American health disparities have undermined their health care system. From the discussion in this paper, African American are more likely to suffer from certain health conditions, get sicker, have serious complications to the point of dying. The three articles provided vital information in line with my topic of research. Each paper at least tackled an area of interest fully. However, of the four articles, Kennedy’s (2013) paper was quite a presentation. It highlighted a major social determinate of the health disparities in the Black community and performed an in-depth analysis of its scope and effect. Her choice of the literature review was also quite outstanding as compared to the rest. Her elaboration of how health inequalities have affected the African American community was also quite revealing. Again, she touched a bit on the socioeconomic aspect and also went ahead to offer some ways on how to go about the social determinates. The paper was heavily researched and conclusive making it a perfect point of reference.

References

An, Q., Prejean, J., McDavid Harrison, K., & Fang, X. (2013). Association between Community Socioeconomic Position and HIV Diagnosis Rate among Adults and Adolescents in the United States, 2005 to 2009. American Journal of Public Health , 103 (1), 120–126. Doi: http://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300853.

Aral, S. O., Adimora, A. A., & Fenton, K. A. (2008). Understanding and responding to disparities in HIV and other sexually transmitted infections in African Americans. The Lancet , 372 (9635), 337-40. Retrieved from https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/199020233?accountid=33337.

Dean, H. D., & Fenton, K. A. (2010). Addressing Social Determinants of Health in the Prevention and Control of HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Tuberculosis. Public Health Reports , 125 (Suppl 4), 1–5.

Kennedy, Bernice Roberts, PhD, A.P.R.N., B.C. (2013). Health inequalities: promoting policy changes in utilizing transformation development by empowering African American communities in reducing health disparities. Journal of Cultural Diversity , 20(4), 155-62. Retrieved from https://libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com.libraryresources.columbiasouthern.edu/docview/1477574599?accountid=33337.