#mini paper

Frequently with in the context of Future Studies, the concept that “the future is now” pops up both in theory and dissection of various issues. This paradigm is useful for close inspection of events and issues that go on indefinitely in the foreseeable future. Applying a variety of concepts frequently used in the field of Future Studies to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic can provide insight and creative ideas to combat the ongoing (and at the moment, unending) epidemic.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus is an incredibly costly global pandemic; its cost comes in both human life and billions of dollars. Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is the cause of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) a debilitating condition that progresses to death through the acquisition of various opportunistic infections including Karposi’s sarcoma and various Lymphomas. Contrary to popular belief the HIV/AIDS pandemic is still a critical issue in matters of both economic and health issues.

To be frank, the future of the HIV pandemic/world AIDS crisis looks bleak. We face several major cultural challenges with regards to the containment and treatment of the disease. Almost all hope for the development of a vaccine has been ruled out (and with the recent resistance to vaccination campaigns, that method of prevention may already be off the table). The future HIV/AIDS pandemic faces three challenges that are not mutually exclusive. The challenges that face the field of global health are misinformation about HIV transmission, stigma associated with HIV/AIDS and a distinct lack of funding for antiviral research and HIV treatment (especially in the United States).  These three major issues have confounded public health officials for over two decades, and an anthropological paradigm with in the context of future studies would be a huge aid in understanding what exactly is happening in the public eye.

            Misinformation is a giant problem in the age of the Internet. Not just in regards to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, but to society in general. As discussed in Trauma Time; a Still Life the United States has begun to live life in a state of suspended disbelief. We are subjected to harsh images and terrible news on a regular basis. The Internet exacerbates this effect, causing imagery and misinformation to only be a click away.  With five minutes on Firefox and a few words typed into Google, everyone becomes an expert, and everyone has seen the reality of Trauma Time.  Nowhere is this more apparent than in our youth population. Even with all of the educational resources provided by private groups (safe-sex is still a touchy subject in schools) various misinformation issues persist such as a belief that only homosexual men get AIDS, or that they don’t need to worry about HIV because they don’t use drugs or sleep with gay men.

This is an especially dangerous misinformed viewpoint, one that blurs between Stigma and Misinformation. Many heterosexual men and women do not know their status. This represents a huge problem for the future management of HIV. If people continue to behave promiscuity without practicing safe sex, and not getting themselves tested we have no way of tracking or containing the disease. Yet people continue to ignore the warnings and the devastation that surrounds them. Surely everyone knows at least one person who is HIV positive, maybe more. How can they remain so ignorant of its effects and the eventual death it causes? Simple, Trauma Time. Ignoring a problem that doesn’t affect you directly.  It is especially concerning that this viewpoint is prevalent among high school and college students who fit in the 18-25 year old demographic that account for over fifty percent of new HIV infections.               

            Due to our hetero-normative social structure, and a tendency to ignore drug addicts and people of low social strata, we as humans beings don’t like to talk about AIDS. It’s scary, it came out of nowhere, and we would like to forget it. Since the hardest hit areas are among the most marginalized groups in our society, it’s easy for us to sweep the whole pandemic under the rug [Tapia-Aguirra et al. 2003]. This phenomenon (and the misinformation that comes along with it) is due to a severe stigma that is still present in the United States (and across the globe). There are several major consequences of social stigma with regards to HIV. The main issue being that the stigma/fear of stigma prevents many people from seeking out a testing facility and finding out their status [Brown et al 2003]. As previously mentioned, having a population that is frequently screened for HIV is the only way to control and track the pandemic.

            Whether or not we as a society mean to or not, we have created an Imaginative Horizon with regards to the HIV epidemic. An Imaginative Horizon is a future in which we construct, wittingly or unwittingly horizons that determine what we experience and how we interpret what we experience [Crapanzano 2003]. As it stands right now, laissez faire attitudes towards HIV are creating and cementing a future where we will never control the pandemic. Indeed echoes of this sentiment are rampant through out this very essay.  People’s attitudes have moved away from trying to prevent the disease to treating the currently infected. This is not an acceptable attitude to take. HIV inevitably leads to AIDS, which will kill you. This sentiment that HIV is no longer a death sentence is a false statement, and the Imaginative Horizon we have created for HIV/AIDS will cost many lives, and for the sake of the future health of generations, we need to change it.

            The final issue at the heart of the HIV/AIDS pandemic lies within the health care system itself, that is pharmaceuticals and paying for them. In order to contain the epidemic, in addition to the need for increased education and safe sex practices, we need to make access to antiviral treatment cheap and easy. Regular use of anti-viral medication reduces viral loads and decreases mutation rates with in the virus [Stover et al. 2011]. However the pharmaceutical have patens, and under the guise of protecting their investment, refuse to make drugs at lower cost or allow others to produce them at a more reasonable price [Holmes et al. 2012]. Government intervention/subsidies is looked down upon in the United States, especially in regards to HIV/AIDS medication, due to the stigma and misconceptions placed on those stricken with the disease. Under the guidance of corporate America’s capitalism, the pharmaceutical companies have directed the future of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in less than positive ways.

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