Cross Sections Between HIV and Poverty
Due to the nature of capitalism in the United States, we are defined by our socioeconomic status. This means we are measured by the combination of our education, income, and occupation and placed into a class status used to define us (1). Discrimination based on these class placements is know as “classism” and is a common facet of western society. Socioeconomic status defines us, affecting every aspect of our lives, especially healthcare. This status influences our ability to treat any illnesses we contract or develop, whether it be chronic or curable. A prime application of this would be the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
HIV stands for human immunodeficiency virus and AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. AIDS is caused by the infection of HIV, which damages your immune system and decreases your body’s ability to fight disease. It is a sexually transmitted infection, or STI, but can also be spread through blood contact or through a mother to the fetus during pregnancy or breastfeeding (2). These autoimmune diseases were first discovered in the United States in the early 1980s. A handful of young, previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles were found to have a rare lung disease called Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia, or PCP. Each of them were also found to have an array or other strange infections, this indicated a problem with the men’s immune system. After the publication of this bizarre event doctors from all over the country were reporting similar cases to the Center for Disease Control. Also reported were clusters of gay men in New York and California diagnosed with a rare cancer known as Kaposi’s Sarcoma. The CDC created a task force to investigate these odd outbreaks (3). Eventually the CDC concluded that the disease originated from chimpanzees in the Democratic Republic of Congo and somehow crossed species into humans. It then spread slowly to the United States where clusters of gay men being infected led to it originally being called GRID, gay-related immune deficiency, and also led to the conclusion that it could be spread through sexual contact. In September of 1982 the Center for Disease Control officially labeled the disease as AIDS for the first time. In April 1984 the National Cancer Institute announced they had discovered the cause of AIDS, a retrovirus then known only as HTLV-III. It would not be until 1986 that the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses declared the virus officially as HIV (4).
This epidemic was very widely spread throughout large cities with higher populations of gay people like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, and San Francisco, but these cities have high populations of people of color and high poverty rates as well. As previously stated, socioeconomic status has a great deal to do with one’s ability to treat illness, especially an autoimmune one. An autoimmune disorder leaves the body susceptible to infiltration from many diseases, meaning having to pay for even more medication and even higher hospital bills. In 1987, six years after the epidemic in the United States began, the first drug created to treat HIV was approved by the FDA (5). Azidothymidine, more popularly known as AZT, was initially extraordinarily expensive, beginning at the price of $8,000 per year, what would be $17,000 today (6). A New York Times article from 1989 stated “…AZT is said to be the most expensive prescription drug in history”. In the same article they said that 35% of AIDS patients at the time had either no health insurance or policies that did not cover AZT (7). Expenses like this alone can put a person into a lot of debt, but it doesn’t stop there. Because HIV/AIDS are autoimmune diseases, carriers can spend a lot of time in the hospital or too ill to leave the house. This makes them unable to work or hold down a job, decreasing their assets even more. Lacking in assets leaves one unable to pay for medical bills and medication, leaving the person sick and still unable to work. It is a vicious cycle that leaves people with the virus stuck in poverty (8).
The HIV virus and poverty are inexplicably linked. Whether a person contracts HIV and their medical bills lead to a decline in their wealth, or a person is already living in poverty and contracts the virus because of a high risk lifestyle, it would be remiss to have any discussions about the HIV epidemic and not include the way contraction interacts with socioeconomic status.
References:
- “Socioeconomic Status.” Socioeconomic Status. http://www.apa.org/topics/socioeconomic-status/
2. “HIV/AIDS.” Mayo Clinic. January 19, 2018. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hiv-aids/symptoms-causes/syc-20373524.
3. “A Timeline of HIV and AIDS.” HIV.gov. March 27, 2018. https://www.hiv.gov/hiv-basics/overview/history/hiv-and-aids-timeline.
4. “History of HIV and AIDS Overview.” AVERT. March 09, 2018. https://www.avert.org/professionals/history-hiv-aids/overview.
5. Park, Alice. “AIDS Drug AZT: How It Got Approved 30 Years Ago.” Time. March 19, 2017. http://time.com/4705809/first-aids-drug-azt/.
6. “AZT’s Inhuman Cost.” The New York Times. August 28, 1989. https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/28/opinion/azt-s-inhuman-cost.html.
7. “HIV/AIDS and Poverty: The Critical Connection.” ILOAIDS, October 2005. http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_protect/@protrav/@ilo_aids/documents/publication/wcms_120468.pdf.
8. “HIV/AIDS and Socioeconomic Status.” Monitor on Psychology. http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/hiv-aids.aspx.
