Like most diseases, the person who has it is not the only one who is impacted by it. Fatal diseases have the highest degree of impact on all family members and close friends. The diagnosis alone instills fear, anxiety, sadness and a number of other equally intensive emotions.
Aids have been wrecking havoc on families for a little over two decades. It has spread from individuals to partners, to families and communities. Now the spread has reached regions, and across continents to have a global impact. Families turn to many medical professionals for care and advice as well as for counseling to deal with issues that arise when trying to come to terms with a fatal disease. Some of the additional faces of AIDS are those belonging to the victims of AIDS as well as those who are involved in the AIDS issues. These faces are varied and span many segments of society.
Over the years AIDS has developed several additional faces: the face of a health issue, the economic face, the security face and the face of human rights. There are many suffering and compassionate, understanding faces as well. Some of the faces you may encounter are: moms, dads, children, grandparents, drug users, medical professionals, sex businesses, the impoverished, homosexuals, young people, aids activists, governmental agencies and AIDS organizations.
Governments have the responsibility to implement programs that address not only the healthcare issues surrounding AIDS, but the security, and support issues as well. Governments call upon the assistance of state and local governments, civil groups, the United Nations and those in the private sector. Governmental agencies are set up to address the many security issues that range from protecting blood supply and donated organs to protecting the rights of those with AIDS.
The economic face of AIDS is sad and depressed. If the head of the household is the one who contracts AIDS the family can suffer a devastating loss of income that can plunge them rapidly into poverty. The cost of medical care is high and requires that as the disease progresses that family members take time off from work or school to care for the AIDS family member/patient. The difficult fact is that AIDS is a fatal disease and when the adult family members die, children can become orphans, or are raised in single-parent families that are typically facing difficult economic uncertainty or rough times with only one income source. There will be the cost of funeral and any left over medical bills to pay.
Statistics tell us that 14 million children worldwide are facing a life without one of their parents and in some cases they have lost both of their parents to AIDS. Emotional and Mental impact of a child losing a parent cannot be measured. The child suffers the immediate loss of the emotional and economic security they had come to rely on. The child will also suffer the loss of adult guidance and cultural and familial heritage that only the special ties of a parent can impart. Other may try to duplicate these values to the child and the child may benefit from other caregivers but the loss cannot be duplicated as closely as having the original parent could do.
