People Living With Hiv Health And Social Care Essay

People Living With Hiv Health And Social Care Essay HIV/AIDS is one of the most challenges to human life and dignity. It affects all levels of the society and has a massive impact on global economic and social development, (Rowden, 2009). Studies have been conducted on its impact on human life and how it could be controlled. This review was conducted by visiting a number of websites of different publishers and organisations for published articles on HIV/AIDS and stigma. Literature covering a period of 8 years from 2002-2010 was extracted from Assia, PubMed, Sage, British Medical Journal, Cochrane and Absco-host. However due to the topic in question, literature from most recent articles would have been preferred. The term HIV/AIDS stigma was used to capture a wide range of articles covering all areas of the globe. Abstracts from twenty studies were reviewed for the study, objectives, methodology and key findings. Twelve studies covering different locations of the world were chosen. Relevant documents and reports from other organisation s such as UNAIDS, WHO and the World Bank were also reviewed. Both qualitative and quantitative data was used to present the information. Due to the challenges presented by HIV/AIDS to global public health, Baum. (2008:241) calls for collective participation of all sectors in the fight against this deadly disease. Baum emphasises on the collective participation between the lay people and the health structures as key to success. This is further supported by Farmer, (1999), who does not condone the dominance of the biomedical perspective in health and healing. He believes that lay people have a significant role in the process of health improvements and emphasises on the importance of listening to, and understanding the lay peoples experiences of ill-health and how it is affected by their daily lives. Goffman, (1963), and Parker and Aggleton, (2003),s theories of stigma help us to understand how stigma is constructed and its influence in peoples lives. They view stigma and discrimination as functional systems which maintain boundaries between those in power and those without. Through such power, social inequalities are developed leading to creation of social norms. These formulate stigma by governing interactions between people and reinforce power structures that serve to isolate those that are regarded as outsiders, ( ). Both theories have been widely used in HIV related stigma to highlight how the prejudice, negative attitudes, abuse and maltreatment directed towards people living with HIV/AIDS have hindered the progress of prevention and treatment. Findings from the studies highlight the significance of lay people for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS to be effective. In Tanzania, the study unveiled some discriminatory and stigmatised practices such as gossiping about patients HIVs status, neglect, verbal abuse, testing and disclosing HIVs status without consent, (Tanzanias Stigma Indicators Field Test Group, 2005). Similarly in India, health workers were disclosing patients HIV status to their families without the patients consent, (Journal of Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, 2007). Harassment, avoiding and isolation of HIV-positive patients and testing without counselling are common features of stigmatisation in most studies. Findings showed that stigma and discrimination in health care settings contribute a great deal in keeping people away from accessing HIV/AIDS treatment and care, therefore compromising their health and wellbeing. Patients felt greatly affected by the health workers feeling uncomfortable with them and treat ing them in an inferior manner. Some health workers wore protective clothing even if there was no physical contact during interactions. This affected peoples willingness to access the services despite it being vital to their health. The fear of being identified as infected with HIV was one of the reasons why some people prolonged testing for HIV even though they had the symptoms and only accessed services when their illness was at an advanced stage, (Bond, Aggleton, 2002, Human Resources of Health, 2007, Kinsler et al, 2007, Varga, Sherman, Jones, 2006, Kalichman, Simbayi, 2003). In Zambia, HIV-positive health workers were hiding their HIV status from their colleagues in fear of being stigmatised, (Dieleman et al, 2007). Experienced and perceived stigma and discrimination revealed by the studies have severe influence on people living with HIV/AIDS access to health services. While most of the literature on HIV/AIDS and stigma and access to health services is negative, research also highlights increasing evidence of the value of supportive and de-stigmatising HIV services in some parts of the globe. Brazil has been viewed favourably by people living with HIV/AIDS. The lay people reported supportive inclusive structural systems that create healthy environments for all. The success story of Brazils effective HIV/AIDS and stigma prevention and control is attributed to active participation of different groups in the society and the Brazilian government, (Caltado, 2008). Another success of collective efforts of the lay people and the health structures has been noted in South Africa where most people believe in traditional healing. Aids Activism in South has made a positive significance in HIV/AIDS preventing and treatment by translating and mediating the biomedical approach within local ideological frameworks which are easily understood and acted on by the loc als, (Colvin, Robins, 2010). From the research findings it is clear that collaboration between the lay people and the biomedical approach to healing is essential for successful control of HIV/AIDS and stigma. There is no cure for AIDS but Anti-retrovirals (ARVs) can prolong life by keeping the level of HIV in the body at low levels therefore delaying the process between HIV and AIDS, (Robin, 2009). While ARVs are now readily available in most countries, concerns are mostly centred on the rising numbers of newly infected people. According to the World Bank, 60 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. Access to treatment has increased dramatically but for every 100 people on treatment, 250 become newly infected, (www.worldbank.org/EOL81VLA20 ). For this reason, pressure in now rising on the effectiveness of only relying on the biomedical approach as a concept of health and healing HIV/AIDS. Diseases such as HIV/AIDS need to be tackled using both the biomedical approach and the lay perspective for prevent ion and treatment to be effective. The shortfall of the biomedical approach to treatment lies on its focus that is restricted to the physical illness of an individuals body and the scientific understanding of disease therefore making the approach heavily based on pharmacology. While pharmacology is beneficial in the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS, it benefits the pharmaceutical industry which has also been critiqued as hindering the progress on controlling HIV/AIDS. Pharmacology further promotes the privilege of the biomedical model which may be inappropriate to the communities and create feelings of helplessness and vulnerability. This may contribute to the undermining of alternative approaches to treatment and prevention, (Global Health Watch, 2008, Rowden, 2009, Farmer, 1999). Such interventions are not successful in nations who believe in indigenous forms of healing, for example the dependency on traditional healing in Africa. The lay approaches to healing are effective because they are embedded within local social and cultural structures, but as with HIV/AIDS care, this cannot be confirmed as true. Unlike in the biomedical approach, indigenous approaches seek to heal the whole person by linking the illness with the persons social and economic background. In South Africa, despite people heavily relying on traditional healing approaches, the HIV prevalence continued to rise. Significance towards effective control of the epidemic has been noted with the increase in accessibility of ARVs, (Colvin, 2009). In the UNAIDS report on global AIDS epidemic 2010, in 7 countries, five of them in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, HIV incidences increased by more than 25% between 2001 and 2009. Sub Saharan Africa, although still remaining the most highly affected by the epidemic, figures either stabilised or showed signs of decline owing to positive behaviour due to increased services that are embedded in local culture. T he report affirms that stigma and discrimination, lack of access to services and bad laws can make the epidemic worse, (www.unaids.org/globalreport/Global_report.htm). The attribute to increased incidences in Europe and Central Asia could be on the countries reliability only on the biomedical model of healing. Baum, (2008) asserts that community level mobilisation where there is partnership between the lay people and structures is the effective way of combating HIV/AIDS and stigma. Active participation of lay people will not only promote individual level responses to dealing with the stigma, access to care and preventing of HIV/AIDS but could also go a long way in improving global public health, (Parker and Aggleton, 2003). Improving health care services and making them accessible to people living with HIV/AIDS without fear of being stigmatised, educating health care professionals about the impact of stigma on patients and policies that encourage inclusion of people living with HIV/AIDS in decisions that affect their lives are some of the key factors of effectively tackling the epidemic, (Farmer, 1990:90). Advocacy is another way lay people engaged to improve the relationship between health structures and people living HIV/AIDS. The Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS, (GIPA), formally adopted as a principle at an AIDS Summit in 1994 emphasises the need for involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS at all levels in the fight against the disease. According to UNAIDS, people living with HIV/AIDS understand their situation better therefore their voices could be heard well if their needs were presented by people in the same situation, (www.unaids.org). In the Zambia study, with supportive structures, the professionals living with HIV/AIDS are in a better position to advocate for people accessing services. Baum, (2008:550) claims that advocacy involving public health practitioners is an effective way of influencing structural barriers in public health. Both the biomedical and lay perspective approaches to health, healing and prevention of HIV/AIDS and stigma have both benefits and limitations. There is therefore the need for holistic approaches that collaborates both models for HIV/AIDS and stigma interventions to be effective. HIV/AIDS has claimed a lot of lives and continues to claim more; through collective action of the societies and the national structures the epidemic could be controlled.

From Source to Shore an Amazon Success Story Essay

From Source to Shore An Amazon Success Story By Ankit Shah Amazon is one of the first ventures that set out to tap the potential of web for retail business. It’s hard to believe that a business that started out of founder Jeff Bezos’ garage in 1994 has revenues of over $32 billion today. What is even harder to believe is that the company didn’t make any profit for first 5 years of its conception. Looking back, many leading business analysts see Amazon’s business plan as one of the soundest yet simple business plans, or virtuous cycle as it is more popularly known, of that era. Figure 1: Amazon’s Business Plan. A sharp customer focus was the key take away of the business plan. While the general market trend during the dot com boom was of aggressively fending off competition, Amazon remained faithful towards the simplest principle of the industry, â€Å"It’s a Customer’s Market†. Driven by his will to increase customer satisfaction, Bezos made hefty investments in research and technology which was also new to the market. Consistent upgrades to the web portal made it increasingly easy to use and opened up the market by introducing its customers to products that were not available at a regular retail store. Features like personal recommendations, search inside a book, wish lists were highly customer centric and quickly caught the attention of the e-shoppers. The high variety offered by Amazon enticed even more customers after the features like rating a product, reviews and discussions were added. Figure 2 shows the current customer satisfaction standing of Amazon and its competitors. Figure 2: American Customer Satisfaction Index (Internet Retailers). Feb 2011. Recognizing the importance of the long tail market has also played a part in Amazon’s increasing customer satisfaction scores. Being an online retailer, Amazon has the flexibility to offer obscure products to its customers. The ease of obtaining products and items, which are rarely available at regular stores, is a key USP of Amazon. It is also a major profit maker for Amazon. Figure 3: The Long Tail Phenomenon Consistent high scores on the customer satisfaction index and the sound business strategy reaped its first profit in 2001, by which time Amazon had become a household name. Customer satisfaction is identified as a leading contributor to a company’s profits by many leading industry experts. Figure 4: Contribution of various Business Performance Factors to Shareholder Value ‘Cost of attracting a new customer is almost 4 times the cost of retaining an old one’ is a statistic that is widely accepted in the industry. This translates to huge savings in Figure 5: Reason for customers to stop dealing with vendors operational costs as Amazon stands at over 81 million registered users today. As Amazon concentrated on building deeper customer relationships, it also came up with innovative ways to leverage these relationships to increase sales. Bill me later’ was introduced to increase the buying power of the existing customers. It allowed customers to buy a product instantly but be billed at a later date. Amazon Marketplace is a service that allows users to buy and sell used items. It is also a great example of how Amazon has leveraged its customer relationship to create new opportunities as the success of such a venture depends greatly on the customer relationships. The Brand Value of Amazon has also seen an upward movement similar to the customer satisfaction index. This has also helped Amazon attract more customers and increase its market presence. 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 36 Amazon 65 62 58 43 Brand Index Figure 6: Amazon’s Increasing Brand Value [5] The increasing brand value and the saturating market in United States have urged Amazon to spread into international markets. Amazon began its European expansion by acquiring Bookpages. co. uk in 1997. The international market growth of Amazon has been steadily increasing in the new markets and off late has come at power with the US market in terms of contribution to the revenue stream. Figure 7: International Sales vs US Sales The categorical waterfall approach to international expansion coupled with religious adherence to the customer centric business model is the major contributor to Amazon’s success in international markets. The international expansion time line below shows that Amazon favors American market to introduce its new product lines and features. Also, the American market still remains Amazon’s favorite in terms of wide product line. Figure 8: International Expansion Timeline for Amazon. Amazon is now moving towards establishing itself as a global leader in e-tailing. In keeping with its sound business model, Amazon is still focused towards innovating customer centric features and targeting customer satisfaction as a primary goal. With an increasing presence in international markets, Amazon also faces increasing competition from local e-tailers. Entering a market by acquiring an existing player is a strategy that has worked for Amazon. Country Acquired Year UK Bookpages. co. uk 1998 Germany Telebuch. e in 1998 China Joyo. com 2004 Figure 9: Amazon’s International Acquisitions.   Amazon also offers many country specific features and variations to its product line. This differentiation approach towards international markets plays a key role in building a market value and capturing market share. Country Canada Features †¢ Choice of language between French and English on the web portal. †¢ Canadian website Amazon. ca which is fully managed from the USA and on which Canadian customers can place their orders. To avoid expensive exporting from the USA, Amazon has entered partnerships with publishers and wholesalers from which customers are directly supplied. †¢ Offers a separate UK product selection. †¢ Provision to pay through postal orders. †¢ The German subsidiary is also responsible for serving the Austrian market. †¢ Provision to pay using cheques. †¢ Pays a small fine for ignoring the 5% limit for discount on books. †¢ Reduced its French staff and outsourced some of its administrative functions to the UK. †¢ Used the existing delivery system established by joyo. com instead of nation wide couriers.

Assessing Books in Line with the Greenaway Medal Criteria Essay

The Kate Greenaway Medal is one of the most prestigious awards given in the UK. It is awarded annually for distinguished illustration in children’s books. Awarded along with the Carnegie Award (given for distinguished writing in children’s books), the Greenaway Medal is given by the Chartered Institute of Librarians and Information Professionals (CILIP). For more than half a century now, the Greenaway Medal has been regarded as one of the most aspired recognitions by illustrators. Since it was first awarded in the year 1956, hundreds of prominent British book artists like Lauren Child, Anthony Browne, Shirley Hughes, and John Burningham have already received the award. The criteria Books which are nominated for CILIP’s Kate Greenaway medal must be of exceptional artistic quality. Focusing on the visual experience, the illustrated book must be stimulating and engaging. Although the graphic elements are prioritized, the texts must be properly coordinated with the images. Among the most important factors which must be assessed are the creative style, format, harmonization between illustration and text, and the visual experience. â€Å"The Baby Who Wouldn’t Go to Bed† by Helen Cooper The book tackles the story of a boy who simply refuses to go to sleep. When his mother calls for Bedtime, the boy drives away in his car and travel on to the night in search for a companion for his night quest. However, he constantly fails at his attempts to find the perfect comrade in the magical world full of characters from his toys. In the end, he realizes that nighttime is truly bedtime. He is then reunited with his mother, who like also cannot sleep as she was in search for him. To start with, the medium used for the book â€Å"The baby who wouldn’t go to bed† is quite suitable for its purpose. The visual images were not just appropriate – but rather very crucial to promote a general idea of the story. Although the concept presented in the book can also be delivered successfully through audio-visual mediums, the printed one is also equally fitting. Readers cannot help but notice that the visual images presented in the book follows the central theme that the story diverges on – a dreamy night. The images on the book well deliver the story from the sun setting to an overwhelming darkness all on its own as the readers go over the story page by page. As the story progresses, the shades and colors go darker and more looming with every page. Basically, the style of presentation of the texts and images vary. Some texts are matched with images much like groups of idea clumped together to present a segment of the story. In this style, the texts and images complement each other much like a painting with a written description. In other pages, the texts are separated from the visual images, thereby promoting the idea that the images only serve as a supplementary backdrop of the story. In some cases, the texts act as mere subtitles or captions for the graphics. Consistent throughout the whole book however is the dreamy style of illustration that is distinctively unique. Focusing on the typography, readers will find the book a pleasant read as its texts come in bold roman prints offered in the right sizes fit for kid’s reading. To a certain extent, the texts which are sparingly arranged in no more than five lines a paragraph heightens the reading appeal of the book. The spacing of the fonts and lines also makes each page pleasing to the eye. The lay-out of the book varies from page to page and that lack of a uniform presentation style adds up to the surprise element of the story. The texts do not appear intrusive. However, there are some pages where the texts are not placed in successive orders. This lack of order prompts a reader to ignore some texts so as to focus more on the highly important texts. A particular example is on page eight, where texts â€Å"The little car went slower†¦ and slower†¦ and slower† will probably be ignored as the more integral content (â€Å"The musicians played such a sweet tune†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ) attracts the reader’s whole attention. (Cooper) Among the most notable characteristics of the book was the fact that the images and the texts were complementing with each other. Both were much needed for the presentation of the story and both of which enhanced the effect of one towards the full comprehension of the story. Another positive aspect of the book is the fact that the illustration were all very clear as to what message that they wanted to deliver – it even seems that the pictures/ graphics alone can tell the story without the texts. In general, this book gives young ones (twelve months to six years) a good reading experience as it combines reality with imagination by merging a typical night time scenario with a magical and dreamy presentation. It plays out a pre-existing experience into a dreamy adventure that is packed with much imagination left to be unveiled by the reader. It serves well as a nighttime book that’s meant to be read just before naptime – and its whole significantly proves that it is in line with that theme. â€Å"Jethro Byrd Fairy Child† by Bob Graham The book â€Å"Jethro Byrd fairy Child† explores an age-old theme – the need to enjoy the small wonders of life and keep oneself imaginative despite an adult’s tendency to formulate a very preoccupied life as he welcomes maturity. In the book, Annabelle spends most of her time trying to find fairies. Fortunately, she discovers that they are really true as she meets the fairy child by the name of Jethro Byrd in her own backyard. She also meets the rest of the Byrd family and invites them for tea. Unfortunately, her parents cannot see the fairies and Annabelle wonders what would happen if she would just go with the fairies and leave her family behind. Just like any good fairytale book that is jam-packed with lots of creative juices, this book is an appropriate medium for the story. A book that’s full of illustrations is probably the best way of delivering a story with a fairy plot like this. However, although the theme and the plot of the story are both cliches, the illustrations are not. The graphics and the artist’s style are very distinguishing as it almost focuses only on a single setting – a backyard in a suburban area. Although the whole story seems is full of magical elements, what’s good about the illustrations is that they tone down the imaginations. The graphic images do not offer the same magical bluff that most fairy stories deliver. Instead, they create a more casual and simple theme that allows the readers to dwell on a balanced storytelling style – one wherein both the texts and the images are telling the story. In addition to that, the quality of the washed-out illustrations was consistently appealing all throughout the book. The simple style works well with the theme which is also straightforward and easy to follow. As for the typography, the book also rated well. The typeface and size were fit for the reading requirements of young ones four to seven years old. Another good thing about the book is that there was no uniform style of placing the texts. The texts were placed on the top, bottom, left, or right side of the page, depending on the demands of the graphical elements for every page. Such made the layout more appealing. Moreover, since the texts were properly placed, they did not appear intrusive in each page despite the fact that they were a bit too many lines for every page. Instead, the texts took on a very integral role to fully comprehend the flow of the story. Unlike other books with illustrations however, this one would probably fail to tell the story based on the graphical elements alone. Fortunately, the need for texts was met fully in a creatively appealing manner. The illustrations and the texts were also very much in synch. The artist made use of recurring visual images – the fence and the backyard setting – to normalize the magical theme and keep the readers abreast with the values and the theme that the story wanted to portray and develop. To set the normal setting of the story, the illustrations on the covers and title page of the book were used as an introductory element showing a casual metropolitan/suburban scenario. Unlike other graphical books which appear as picture mosaics, this one is more organized and fit for a child. The book’s use of images is not merely for decorative purposes. Rather, the images harmonize one’s imagination and reality. It merges the idea of fairy existence to normal day-to-day experiences, therefore engaging more young readers. With these illustrations, young readers cannot help but think of their own backyard and their own probable adventures with the fairies that they might find. Overall, the visual experience that this book offers is simple but overwhelmingly clear and engaging. The story which revolved around a simple plot with a spice of magical elements requires just these plain illustrative elements. As the illustrations normalize Annabelle’s adventure, the book becomes more engaging and pleasing to read. The colors used and the water-color style of the graphics also gave the book a very heartwarming appeal. Conclusions The two books fit the criteria of the Kate Greenaway Medal on the following grounds: the artistic style portrayed in the books were unique and distinctive; the illustrations were in sync with texts; the illustrations were clear; the illustrations did not appear like picture upholsteries, rather, they increased one’s understanding of the story. In general, the visual experiences offered by the books were engaging, enhancing the book’s ability to attract and retain the young reader’s interest in literary works. WORKS CITED: Helen Cooper. â€Å"The Baby who wouldn’t Go to Bed. † Toronto, ON: Doubleday Canada, 1996. Bob Graham. â€Å"Jethro Byrd Fairy Child. † Cambridge, Mass. : Candlewick Press, 2005, c2002

There are multiple definitions for SIDS, otherwise known...

There are multiple definitions for SIDS, otherwise known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. According to the textbook Essentials of Human Diseases and Conditions by Margaret Frazier and Jeanette Drzymkowski, this disease is defined as â€Å"the sudden and unpredicted death of an infant under the age of one year†. Another source, the Ohio Department of Health describes it as â€Å"the sudden death of an infant less than one year of age, which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including performance of a thorough autopsy, investigation of the death scene and a evaluation of the clinical history†. Although there are numerous explanations as to what this particular disease is, one thing remains a certain constant: the†¦show more content†¦However, multiple risk factors are thought to increase the risk of an infant dying from SIDS. The textbook Essentials of Human Diseases and Conditions describes many of these contributing elements, such as, â €Å"smoking and drug abuse during the pregnancy, poor prenatal care, exposure of the infant to secondhand smoke, prematurity, recent upper respiratory tract infection in the infant, sleeping in the prone position, and a sibling with apnea†. Others in the medical field believe that there are genetic anomalies that can create a disposition to SIDS in an infant. One such individual is Debra Wood, R.N at the NYU-Langone Medical Center. In her article on SIDS, she proposes multiple genomic irregularities that could play a part in the eventual diagnosis of this disorder: â€Å"abnormalities in a section of the brain that controls breathing during sleep and waking, abnormalities in the control of heart rhythm, changes in how serotonin (a neurotransmitter) functions in the brain, changes in some components of the immune system, inadequate arousal response to breathing obstruction or asphyxia—a lack of oxygen or excess carbon dioxide in the body caused by interruption of brea thing; may cause unconsciousness†. The Ohio Department of Health lists multiple maternal factors that are deemed important : placental abnormalities, low weight gain during pregnancy, anemia and a history of sexually transmitted disease (STD) or urinary tract infection (UTI). Environmental factors to be notedShow MoreRelatedProject Managment Case Studies214937 Words   |  860 Pages Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center