AIDS Policy of the Cuban Government NATURE OF AIDS AND PSYCHOSOCIAL COSTS

The second chapter presents a delineation of Cuban policy regarding AIDS and its relation to Cuba's general health care system while the third chapter evaluates the policy within the context of human rights and human rights violations. A summary of the reviewed material and points made is provided in the final chapter of the paper.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a disease characterized by the failure of the immune system to protect the body from diverse and life-threatening illnesses. The first cases of AIDS were observed in 1981 when researchers identified the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as having penetrated lymphocytes, macrophages, and cells of the nervous systems of a small sample of gay men, resulting in the development of rare cancers.

The HIV virus is a retrovirus whose own genetic code is integrated with that of the host cell in such a way that when the host cell subdivides, the virus is itself reproduced. While the system develops antibodies to fight the invading virus, Francis and Chin (1987) have noted that:

...one of the most remarkable aspects of HI

. . .
ary health care objective was to prevent an epidemic by identifying, isolating, and treating (to whatever medical extent possible), all infected persons. Testing, which began in 1986, is mandatory; Leiner (1994) states that by 1991, the entire population had been tested and repeat testings had begun. As part of policy, persons testing positive for HIV infection are sent to sanitoriums where they are under complete and total control of the medical establishment. Leiner (1994) reports that although people living in quarantine at sanitoriums pay no medical costs and are lodged in relatively comfortable quarters, the result of this policy is that: They must live isolated, nonproductive lives until they develop AIDS and are moved to a hospital...Already some people have lived almost seven years in this state of limbo. It amounts to a life sentence for healthy people. (Leiner, 1994, p.118) The difficult notion of a non-criminal, ill person being given a life-sentence strengthens when one considers that the median amount of time it takes to develop AIDS following HIV infection is about 10( years with some people taking as long as 20 years before they evidence symptoms. Further, with increasingly better medications being develop
. . .

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Approximate Word count = 6276
Approximate Pages = 25 (250 words per page)