I researched the statistics and numbers of HIV and and information about demographics as well as prevalence in areas such as Rwanda and Haiti. I also researched the PIH and its efforts globally while browsing their website and read about their Priority Programs, as well as countries they assist. I also researched the authors and took a look at the main author's other articles that he cited this paper in.
The article has a very long list of references and most seem to be primary sources. This shows the article was developed and is supported by people who are helping and seeing people struggling economically and the effects it has on their health.
The authors support their argument many ways, one being how that the rates of HIV/AIDS are so positively linked and correlated with social arrangements that it is often referred to as social disease. HIV commonly effects those that are poor and disease rates are fueled by gender inequality, racism and poverty. The article discusses how structural violence has influenced HIV progression. The article cites that structural violence influences diagnosis rates, staging and treatment. The also article references a study done in Baltimore which reports racism and poverty forms of structural violence and the effects on excess mortality among African Americans without insurance- ultimately showing they were more likely to to be susceptible. The authors also used other historical data and research to support heir claims. Efforts through Partners in Health were made to prevent the spread and transmission of diseases in Haiti. The efforts made in Haiti and Rwanda were cited, both the positives and negatives. The article also discusses ways to incorporate more interventions to help eliminate any social influences of disease.
Paul Farmer is an American physician and anthropologist who is known for providing appropriate healthcare in under developed regions and developing countries. Farmer is situated in emergency response in that he is a physician providing care to those in need and works toward ensuring that people will have access to healthcare despite socioeconomic conditions. Bruce Nizeye works alongside Farmer and specializes in TB infection control in Rwanda. Sara Stulac is a physician who specializes in women’s and children’s healthcare. Her focus has included pediatric HIV prevention and treatment, malnutrition care, inpatient pediatrics and neonatology, and pediatric oncology and other non-communicable disease treatment. Salmaan Keshavjee is a physician who specializes in multi-drug resistant tuberculosis and in providing access to healthcare in poverty stricken regions.
Many studies used as references for this article have to do with the biosocial aspects of diseases. Many of the articles trace the spread of disease in different populations and analyze the population's demographics. Health care utilization and social aspects are all themes that are seen in most of the references in this study. There are also many epidemiological studies. The dates of studies date back as early as the 80s and as recent as the year the article was written in 2006. This shows an extensive and thorough amount of research. The articles are also taken from reputable sources and journals and written by experts as well, showing a great deal of care and effort gone into research aspects of this article.
“we have seen that it is possible to decrease the extent to which social inequalities become embodied as health disparities”
“National health insurance and other social safety nets, including those that guarantee primary education, food security, and clean water, are important because they promise rights, rather than commodities, to citizens.”
“: structural violence remains a highranking cause of premature death and disability”
This article focuses on the fact that there not only biological aspects of disease and the spread of it, but also social factors that need more attention. The article cites that epidemic disease is linked with social conditions such as structural violence, education, income and more. The article addresses the fact that social conditions have an effect on disease prevention and many diseases quickly become diseases of the poor due to this. There are social conditions that effect patient's abilities to defend themselves against disease based off money, social condition, infrastructure, access to food etc. The concept of structural violence and its effects on disease spread within the poor community is discussed and analyzed. Overall, the main point to be driven home is the fact that disease spread can be decreased with the reconfiguration and addressing of social issues.
Personal experiences and other research articles from scholars and physicians were used to develop the arguments in this article.
Paul Farmer cites this paper in some of his other studies and articles written after this. The article has also been cited in a book entitled "Social Medicine in the 21st Century" by Samuel Barrack. This article has also been cited in:
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/10612556/3585352.pdf;sequen…
http://opensample.info/blindness-survey-methods-response-from-sudan-stu…;
The authors used the healthcare developments of Boston, Haiti, and Rwanda where they have worked to provide access to healthcare. In Rwanda they provided easier access to HIV medications and trained neighbors or relatives of the patient on how to administer the treatments so they would not have to go to a clinic. They discussed a similar program that occurred in Haiti but for tuberculosis. In providing these treatments to people who previously could not afford them, they increased their life expectancies. In Rwanda they showed that in providing formula to mother with HIV or AIDs they were no longer transmitting the disease to their children. Previously the mothers could not purchase formula and the only way they could feed their babies was breast feeding.