Online Custom «Drug and Alcohol Abuse and HIV/AIDS» Essay Sample

The HIV / AIDS disease has been in existence for three decades now. It is one of the pandemics that continues to afffect people. The disease has no cure to date. This implies that the lives of the sick will be destroyed. The condition also takes longer periods to treat and contains the effects of the infection. The repercussions of the infections imply that victims’ heath deteriorates a lot so that they can accomplish only light assignments. The disease poses serious health challenges to the victims, their families, and other people. Upon the entry into the human body, the virus replicates at a high rate and ultimately affects the immunity of the patient. This virus multiplies in the blood cells (Hel, McGhee, & Mestecky, 2008). Hel, McGhee, and Mestecky (2008) note that HIV advances the growth of AIDS through depletion of CD4+T cells. These cells play a major role in the human body.Tthis paper investigates the linkage between drug/alcohol abuse and the HIV infection.

Drinking of alcohol and drug abuse are linked to the spread of HIV/AIDS. Drug abuse has a biological effect on the individual’s overall health. Appay & Sauce (2008) believe that drug abuse affects the brain by injuring the cells. They both concur that drug abuse, alcohol intoxication, and HIV cause a great injury to cells in the brain. The UNAIDS World AIDS Day Report of 2011 noted that the methamphetamine in human beings increases the level of HIV virus in the brain. Even though current medical therapies can prolong the lives of the HIV patients, the continued drug/alcohol use interferes with a person’s likelihood of following the prescriptions and benefiting from the treatment offered.

Drug abuse contributes to HIV transmission through the use and sharing injection through needles or the things of the infected persons. Many people who use drugs also lack the knowledge of the factors that enhance the spread of the disease. One of the greatest effects of addiction is the alteration of the brain’s chemistry and functionality. Drugs tend to control thinking in terms of taking precautions before taking actions. Drugs addiction affects the people’s ability to realize that the consequences of the drugs will be fatal; besides, the body cannot control the urge for the drugs. With a continued or prolonged addiction, a person’s ability to make informed decisions is impaired to a level that one would choose crime, sex, and leisure over really important priorities.

Drinking alcohol and using drugs have adverse social and health consequences. Alcohol consumption is the beginning of awful and harmful events in one’s life. HIV and AIDS affect many sectors of the economy. The availability of human capital reduces when a big part of the population dies because of AIDS. Societies collapse mostly in the developing countries with a large AIDS population. The scourge undermines development in the entire globe by lowering the ability of people to contribute towards productivity. HIV and AIDS affect a young active population thereby reducing the taxable population, which results in the lack of resources for the public expenditure (Samuels, 2009).

In conclusion, behavioral intervention is required as one of the major aspects to prevent HIV transmission. The governments should raise awareness of the citizens making them understand the consequences of AIDS. Efforts of governmental and non-governmental agencies are crucial in addressing the drug menace too. Drug trafficking cases are on the rise. This means that more people are at risk. Drug barons should be arrested and charged. Punitive legislation is paramount to deal with drug peddlers and their accomplices. This will contribute to lowering the rate of HIV transmission.