Week 9: Bob Skinner

1. The thing that surprised me the most was the amount of medication he had to take. I also didn't realize all of the things that he has to do in regards to exercise and nutrition.

2. Bob's experience with HIV is definitely different from the majority of people around the world. Most people around the world that have the disease are heterosexual. This differs from Bob in the fact that he is homosexual. Another difference is the treatment and facility avaliable to him compared to that of the majority of HIV and AIDS patients around the world.

3. The route of HIV transmission in rural areas that Bob talked about is the one between wives and their husbands. This occurs because men possess all of the power in the relationship in these areas. If the wife tries to get their husband to use a condom to prevent HIV transmission, then it is assumed by the husband that the wife thinks that he has been unfaithful or that the wife has been unfaithful.

4. Treating HIV is rural areas is difficult because of the lack of treatment centers and the transportation to get to and from these centers. Most of the people in rural areas have to walk to and from these clinics so going routinely can be very difficult for patients. A lack of funding and trained physicians also accounts for some of the difficulty experienced by rural HIV patients trying to receive treatment.

Week 10: Review of Term

This term as a whole went very well. Many of the things that I thought I was going to learn, I did learn. These things were the different STIs and the different aspects like symptoms and treatments pertaining to them. Another thing that I planned on learning was the biology of the HIV lifecycle. The main thing that was covered that I didn't expect was the social aspect of all of the diseases. I never connected the low economic status of many countries with the fact that many people that make up their workforce are unable to work because of some of these diseases. The thing that I found most useful about the class were the discussions on all of the STIs. It is important to know the risk factors, prevention, and symptoms of these diseases so we can avoid them. Since many people in college are sexually active, I do agree that this class is worth teaching at the college level.