Can gender have an impact on how people living with HIV

Introduction:

HIV or human immunodeficiency is the virus which attacks body’s immunes system thereby destroying the pathogen-resistance mechanism inside body (Koehn et al. 2021). Gender disparity has been a long-term factor that impacts on the healthcare services receive by people in Australia for HIV treatment.

This presentation will discuss how the gender disparities in Australia can impact on the treatment of people living with HIV in Australia

HIV prevalence in Australia:

In Australia, 29,045 people have been diagnosed with HIV in 2019. (Medland et al. 2018). Among this proportion, more than 90% people are diagnosed with HIV at the end of 2019. During 2020, more than 59% of the HIV cases had been attributed to homosexual sex, 23% was attributed to heterosexual sex and more than 3% was due to injecting drugs into body.

Impacts on gender disparities on the experiences in living with HIV in Australia:

Gender has become a major factor that impact on how people with HIV lives their life and receive healthcare facilities in Australia. The data from Australian Federation of AIDS Organisation (AFTO) shows that although the rate of treatment and diagnosis for is increased in Australia in recent years, there is high level of disparities between men and women for receiving healthcare services for HIV (Holt et al. 2020). Women in Australia are more likely to face discrimination, humiliation and social exclusion as compared to men while they disclose that they are HIV +. Evidences suggest that women are more likely to face the negative consequences on disclosing of their HIV status as compared to men such as verbal abuse and physical assault

Gender disparities impacts on the healthcare received by people in live with HIV in Australia:

While it comes to receive health care services for HIV, women in Australia are reported to be exposed to more harassment, abuse and neglect by healthcare providers than men. Evidence also suggests that women who are going to receives the hospital-based treatment or generalist treatment, face unnecessary questions from healthcare staffs which interfere with patients’ dignity and self-respect (Gray et al. 2018). Evern, women are also more exposed to loss of confidentiality and verbal abuse under care setting.

Strategies to overcome the influence of on gender disparities on healthcare service for HIV:

For overcoming the impacts of gender disparities on the way HIV + people in Australia receive healthcare services, it is important to educate health care providers, society people and HIV patients for raising the awareness regarding how to manage this health condition (Mullens et al. 2018). Conducting health awareness campaigns in Australia can also be a useful strategy in which a supportive and caring approach towards HIV people can be developed in the society.

Conclusion:

From the above-mentioned discussion it can be concluded that, HIV is a virus that can be transmitted by the body fluid of an infected person and destroys the immune system of body. In Australia, there is high level of disparity in the way women and men with HIV receive healthcare services. Gender disparity impacts adversely on how people with HIV; live their life and receive different healthcare facilities in Australia. Through educating people and conducting health awareness and health promotion campaign the people living with HIV can be provided with proper social support a high-quality healthcare facilities.

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