Sociology

One of the worst social problems that have hit humankind is the prevalence of the HIVAIDS disaster. According to statistics provided by the World Bank in 2002, the statistics of people affected by the scourge are staggering.  By 2002, around 25 million people had died of AIDS, and around 40 million people were estimated to be living with HIV or AIDS. According to the World Bank, these figures rose by about 50 percent between 1991 and 2002 as projected by the World Health Organization (WHO) (World Bank, 2008).
It is generally known from media and sociological researches that third world countries, and especially Africa have the highest prevalence of HIVAIDS, yet there are also conflicting reports of deaths associated with HIVAIDS in different continents. For instance, India is reported to have the highest number of death cases related to AIDS, yet ironically, the country is considered to have a low prevalence of the scourge (World Bank, 2008). Could this difference be attributed to differences in sociological perspectives and what the media generally report 
This paper will analyze various perspectives regarding the HIVAIDS scourge. In particular, the paper will focus on the sources of in regarding HIV and AIDS with particular focus on the crisis as it is in Africa an in the United States. The paper will focus on access to medication as well as the cost effectiveness of treatment of HIV and AIDS in these two regions. In addition, the paper will evaluate the popular media sources and considerations concerning HIV and AIDS. The other section of the paper will entail an analysis of attitudes about AIDS, perceptions and facts. In line with this, the paper will address the impact to the media in disseminating information about HIV and AIDS, in particular how this compares with sociological perspectives on HIV and AIDS.
Availability of academic sources regarding HIV and AIDS
Availability of information about HIV and AIDS has been considered the most effective approach to dealing with the pandemic.  It cannot be gainsaid that people need to be informed in order to understand the reality. There is much evidence the education helps people to protect themselves against HIV infections.  For instance, data obtained in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the period when the scourge was just emerging showed that there was a positive correlation between the peoples level of education and the rates of infection of the disease. This could be attributed to the point that the more educated people were of as higher economic status   and had greater mobility, enabling them to interact with and have a higher number of sexual partners. This was exacerbated by the fact that at the time of the onset of the HIV and AIDS pandemic education was devoid of topics on prevention of HIV and AIDS as well as behavior change (World Bank, 2008).
When means to prevent infections were better known people were empowered with ways to reduce further infections and adopt safer sexual behavior. With this, sociological studies later revealed that there was a reversal in the trend of infection - the uneducated people now being infected more.  This can confirmed by a study that was done in Zambia in which it was noted that there was a marked decline rates of infection of HIV among youths aged between 15 and 19 (having medium to high-level education), but there was a marked increase in the number of infections among people of lower education levels. That would imply that the prevalence of HIV and AIDS has been very high in Africa especially in the sub-Saharan region.
The next section focuses on access to medication in Africa as well as the United States
Access to medication
There is mixed opinion over the sociological views and what the media reports about HIV and AIDS as well as access to medication for the condition. In many regions, the prevalence of HIV and AIDS is estimated using local conditions that are not well suited for determining of the real prevalence in entire populations. Such estimates therefore fail to address issues such as monitoring the efficiency and patterns of transmission in many regions of the world.
There are also difficulties in obtaining accurate projections for new HIV infections if the prevalence rate is relatively low. This leads to a creation of two scenarios one, a case whereby sociological studies may reveal statistics that are inflated leading to more media attention in one given area and two a situation whereby the statistics are underreported, leading to diversion of media attention from areas that would otherwise have needed more focus. A key problem here is that when the statistics are overly alarmist, they tend to encourage either popular skepticism or even fatalism. On the other hand, overly low estimates rouse international suspicion (Van Niekerk  Kopelman, 2009).
The AIDS crisis in Africa and other international communities
In Ethics  AIDS in Africa the challenge to our thinking, Van Niekerk and Kopelman note that the vast majority of HIV and AIDS patients in developing countries have no access to life saving drugs (Van Niekerk  Kopelman, 2009).  Thus, the authors suggest that compulsory licensing of HIV and AIDS is preferable, both in moral and pragmatic terms. In line with this, the two authors suggest that   aspects subsidizing the availability of HIV and AIDS medication such as price cuts and donation schemes are imperative (Van Niekerk  Kopelman, 2009).
In Africa, studies have revealed that South Africa has the highest prevalence of the HIVAIDS pandemic. The prevalence rate was 10.8 percent of the general population in the year 2004 (Rohleder, Swartz,  Kalichman, 2009). The impact of the scourge is enormous if one considers factors such as access to drugs needed to combat opportunistic infections associated with the disease. The magnitude of the devastation caused by HIV and AIDS is exacerbated by the stigma associated with the conditions. Usually families have to spend fortunes caring for those affected with HIV and those in the AIDS stage. Significant costs are also incurred in funeral expenses the people who die of AIDS as well as supporting children who are orphaned due to the scourge. This implies that access to medication for those who are infected with HIVAIDS is a Herculean task (Rohleder, Swartz,  Kalichman, 2009).
There have been many attempts to deal with the spread of HIV but they are hampered by social perspectives about HIV and AIDS. Many considerations have been about employing vaccination trial programs in a bid to step infections. But any sociologist would view vaccine trial on human being as one of the most mind-boggling activities to be done by human beings. This cannot be gainsaid. According to Rohleder, Swartz, and Kalichman (2009), community participation in HIV vaccine trail is often times assumed to be a wide social good, particularly for communities that whose members are at very high risk if contracting HIV. Nevertheless, it has been noted that perception about participation in HIV vaccine trials may pose a significant personal risk for the participants as a result of the social stigma that the participants may be subjected to as a result of their participation in HIV related research (Rohleder, Swartz, and Kalichman, 2009). Most of the concerns are related to the side effects of the HIV vaccines. As such, many projects in HIV management in Africa are hampered by diverse sociological perspectives.
Media reports about HIV and AIDS in Africa are usually focused on one or few issues. For instance, a report published on the Voice of America website on 16 November 2009 cited the government of South Africa for not providing antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to the people who need them (Taylor, 2009). As such, the report says, supply of HIV and Aids support drugs has been left to non-governmental organizations such as Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) which strives to have patients afford the drugs (Taylor, 2009).  But can media reports be trusted Readers who commented on the VOA report had mixed opinions. One reader noted that the article was just an illustration of there United States media interest in Africa, given that there are also HIV and AIDS patients in the United States but their plight is not highlighted as much as it is in Africa (the comments can be accessed at httpwww1.voanews.comenglishnewsafricasouthernSouth-Africa-AIDS-PT1-Taylor-16Nov09-69963137.html)
AIDS in the United States
With better systems to check the prevalence of HIV and AIDS among its population, the United States is faced with a rather unique problem. Studies done in 2005 revealed that highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) causes HIV patient to live longer healthier lives, but this poses another sociological problem (Mooney, Knox  Schacht 2008).    Patients under the therapy engage more in unprotected sex with the belief that they have lower HIV load and are less likely to infect their partners (Mooney, Knox  Schacht 2008).  The implication of implication of this is that any high prevalence of HIV and AIDS in the United States is disguised by the highly effective medication that is available.
Media reports in the United States focus on revised HIV treatment as opposed to Africa where most reports concern inaccessibility of drugs, high cost of ARVs and so forth. Web sites such as aegic.com provide detailed information on how to treat HIV in the initial stages (Highleyman, 2009).
Cost and effectiveness of medication in the treatment of AIDS
Much attention on treatment of HIV and AIDS in developed countries is paid to cost cutting agenda as well as quality care. The situation developing countries different many people cannot have access to basic needs not mention the expensive medication for HIV and AIDS. But this varies among various target groups.
HIV and Black women
Studies by Centers for Disease Control have revealed that 64 percent of the women living with HIV and AIDS in the United States are African-American (Ho, 2009).   This means that there is need for more intervention on the social as well as other factors that cause variations in the prevalence rated between black women and white women (Ho, 2009). 
Gay men and AIDS
The gay marriages have been a source of controversy in recent years. Gays were initially viewed to be a group disconnected from the entire society recently they have gained recognition in many countries such as the United States and Australia. In the media, there are many newspapers that address their plight especially with respect to transmission of HIV through sexual acts (Moore, 2001).

Popular media sources and considerations concerning HIV and AIDS
Sociological studies on HIV and AIDS rely on findings obtained from sample populations. As mentioned earlier, the finding may be overly representative of facts or be overly under representative of the actual truth. Yet in many instances, media reports rely on these biased findings.  Hence, media houses that are generally trusted such as VOA may be sources of unreliable information. Report from developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa have generally indicates a high prevalence of HIV but if analyzed keenly, the information could indicate a generally high risk rate in a all populations around the world save for the better information and access to resources that that come countries have  (Moore, 2001).
Attitudes about AIDS
The fact that perceptions and facts surround the issue of HIV and AIDS presents mixed opinion about the condition. Perceptions about AIDS are rife given the nature of spread of the disease. Media such as newspapers often carry what is perceived to be the position about HIV and AIDS prevalence, but the figures may not necessarily be true. According to Landau-Stanton and Clements (1993), even professional  may deny the validity of scientific data due areas that have not been understood or well studied about HIV and AIDS such as risk guideline, routes of transmission, as well as personal risk assessment. There have many media report focusing on HIV among Hispanic American as well as African Americans, who perceived to be among the high-risk communities. The problem is that such groups are minorities and prevalence of HIV in any group is generalized to the entire minority populations.