The Politics of Disease:HIV/ AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa vs. Diabetes in the U.S.A.
As Americans, we are very accustomed through media and other means, to positioning as a successful and evolved society in the eyes of both ourselves and the rest of the world. This position is often attained from pointing out flaws in other societies and cultures while virtually ignoring our own. One can turn on the television at any time and likely find images of impoverished and starving people in other parts of the world, all juxtaposed with commercials for fast food, shiny cars, mutual funds and other symbols of affluence. And as Americans we buy into these images without realizing that the average American has to travel no more than five miles from her own home to find poverty and hunger. We read the newspapers and watch TV shows shaking our heads at the oppression and injustice we see around the world when here in the US, a highly disproportionate number of minorities are in prison, women don't earn as much as men for the same jobs, and people are shot by the U.S. government trying to cross the border from Mexico. In many aspects, it appears as if our society thrives on pointing out what is wrong with other cultures while ignoring the major problems in our own backyard.
One key example of this behavior is the American perception of illness and disease. Western culture displays much pride in how far science and technology has brought the health of humanity. The media is constantly informing us of health problems and disease around the world, while primarily showing images of healthy Americans on television, movies, etc. The truth is that while there are many nations that are battling with disease epidemics, the population of the United States is by no means an exception. There are certain diseases around the world that attract a lot of attention from American media. The main illness you cannot avoid hearing about is AIDS - more specifically AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. There are television specials, newspaper and magazine reports and multi-million dollar "awareness" campaigns led by A-list celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Bono. These campaigns funnel large amounts of money and other resources into AIDS education in Africa. Due to their celebrity endorsements and significant financial resources, these campaigns have garnered a lot of attention and visibility. Once again Americans are able to focus self-righteously on the problems of the rest of the world while ignoring an equally as large, if not worse, epidemic on our own soil: Diabetes.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a disorder of metabolism-the way our bodies use digested food for growth and energy. Most of the food we eat is broken down into glucose, the form of sugar in the blood. Glucose is the main source of fuel for the body. After digestion, glucose passes into the bloodstream, where it is used by cells for growth and energy. For glucose to get into cells, insulin must be present. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, a large gland behind the stomach.
When we eat, the pancreas automatically produces the right amount of insulin to move glucose from blood into our cells. In people with diabetes, however, the pancreas either produces little or no insulin, or the cells do not respond appropriately to the insulin that is produced. Glucose builds up in the blood, overflows into the urine, and passes out of the body in the urine. Thus, the body loses its main source of fuel even though the blood contains large amounts of glucose.
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimune disease. An autoimune diease results when the body’s system for fighting infection (the immune system) turns against a part of the body. In diabetes, the immune system attacks a nd destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. The pancreas then produces little or no insulin. A person who has Type 1 diabetes must takeinsulin daily to live.
At present, scientists do not know exactly what causes the body's immune system to attack the beta cells, but they believe that autoimmune, genetic, and environmental factors, possibly viruses, are involved. Type 1 diabetes accounts for about 5 to 10 percent of diagnosed diabetes in the United States. It develops most often in children and young adults but can appear at any age.
Type 2 Diabetes
The most common form of diabetes is type 2 diabetes. About 90 to 95 percent of people with diabetes have type 2. This form of diabetes is most often associated with obesity, family history of diabetes, previous history of gestational diabetes, physical inactivity, older age, and certain ethnicities. About 80 percent of people with type 2 diabetes are overweight.
Type 2 diabetes is increasingly being diagnosed in children and adolescents. However, nationally representative data on prevalence of type 2 diabetes in youth are not available. When type 2 diabetes is diagnosed, the pancreas is usually producing enough insulin, but for unknown reasons the body cannot use the insulin effectively, a condition called insulin resistance. After several years, insulin production decreases. The result is the same as for type 1 diabetes - glucose builds up in the blood and the body cannot make efficient use of its main source of fuel.
Diabetes is widely recognized as one of the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. In 2002, it was the sixth leading cause of death, However, diabetes is likely to be underreported as the underlying cause of death on death certificates. About 65 percent of deaths among those with diabetes are attributed to heart disease and stroke.
Diabetes is associated with long-term complications that affect almost every part of the body. The disease often leads to blindness, heart and blood vessel disease, stroke, kidney failure, amputations, and nerve damage. Uncontrolled diabetes can complicate pregnancy, and birth defects are most common in babies born with diabetes.
Sixty-three percent of Americans are classified as overwight and thirty-one percent as obese; processed and fast food has become the core of the American diet; and physical education and fitness have taken downward plunge that does not seem to be turning around. Our diets are filled with fats and sugars and toxic chemicals and we don't even give our bodies a chance to recover from such poor sustenance by exercising! Diabetes is taking as much of a toll on the American population as HIV/AIDS is in sub-Saharan Africa.
What is HIV/AIDS?
HIV stands for "Human Immuno-deficiency Virus". HIV is the virus medical researchers believe causes AIDS. Since the vast majority of researchers believe that HIV is the sole cause of AIDS, HIV is often referred to as "the AIDS virus." Like other viruses, HIV attacks cells in the body. Different viruses attack different parts of the body - some may attack the skin, others the lungs, and so on. The immune system is a group of cells, glands and organs that protect your body by fighting disease. A healthy human immune system usually finds and kills viruses fairly quickly. What makes HIV so dangerous is that it is a virus which attacks the immune system itself - the very thing that would normally get rid of a virus. It particularly attacks a special type of immune system cell known as a CD4 lymphocyte.
HIV has a number of characteristics that help it to evade the body's defenses, including very rapid mutation. This means that once HIV has taken hold, the immune system can never fully get rid of it. A person infected with HIV may look and feel pertectly well for many years and may not know that they are infected. But as the person's immune system weakens they become increasingly vulnerable to illnesses, many of which they would previously have fought off easily.
The term AIDS applies to the most advanced stages of HIV infection. The AIDS definition developed by the Centers for Disease Control includes the following conditions: 1) A person must be HIV positive, and 2) have a CD4 (T-cell) count below 200 or one or more opportunistic infections (pneumonia, herpes simplex, Kaposi's Sarcoma, etc.).
Statistics
According to Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, UNAIDS, May 2006, the prevalence of HIV in the adult population of sub-Saharan Africa is 5.9%. The prevalence of Americans in 2005 with diabetes according to the Centers for Disease Control is 7.0%.
Left untreated, the health of a person with Type 1 diabetes will likely deteriorate quickly.
In some cases, missing just one daily dose of insulin could be enough to damage internal organs and send the diabetic individual into a coma and even death. Type 2 diabetes is more controllable through the behavior of the person - strict diet, exercise and close monitoring. But failing to exercise regularly or consuming too much sugar can send a Type 2 diabetic quickly into a health crisis and Type 2 diabetes can turn into Type 1. Untreated, a person infected with HIV could expect to develop AIDS within 10 years of HIV transmission and then live, on average, an additional 1-2 years.
Through insulin and living a healthy lifestyle, diabetics in America can expect to live a relatively long life. AIDS patients who have access to the latest antiretroviral drugs and maintain a healthy lifestyle are also expected to live fairly long lives.
The numbers of Americans diagnosed with diabetes are increasing on a daily basis - primarily because our health values are not changing. We continue to be overweight, we continue to eat unhealthy foods and we continue to live a sedentary lifestyle. The numbers of new HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa are slowing down and in some countries the numbers are decreasing due to education, resources and the impact of the traditional healers.
So in conclusion, we can see that in regard to health, America is as challenged as any other nation in this world, if not more. America continues to thrive on appearing to be more successful and evolved than any other society, which is why all fingers are pointed at Africa's AIDS prevalence, while many of those pointing fingers rely on daily injections of insulin just to stay alive. But in light of the many agendas the U.S. currently has in regard to Africa (i.e. politics, natural resources, Africon, etc.), feeding the common perception that Africa is a desperately sick nation in need of America's help and influence serves the U.S' political agenda much more than actually working toward providing the American population with the education and resources we need to curb our own health crisis.