Transgender Individuals with HIV/Aids

Transgender People Living with HIV/AIDS
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Introduction
HIV is an acronym for human immunodeficiency virus. HIV virus attacks the immune system of the victim by killing white blood cells. If untreated, HIV leads to AIDS. AIDS is an acronym for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. There is no effective cure for the disease but with proper management of HIV by taking antiretroviral therapy drugs, the prognosis is usually not life threatening.
HIV can be transmitted by, having unprotected anal or vaginal sex with an infected person or sharing syringes with infected person. Some of the common symptoms of the disease are; fever, swollen lymph nodes, muscle aches, fatigue, sore throat, night sweats, fever, mouth ulcers, rashes and chills.
Demographic of interest
Transgender people suffer significant health disparities in accessing quality healthcare. The term transgender refers to the people whose identify as sexually different from the societal expectations or the biological sex they were assigned at birth. According to CITATION UNA16 \l 1033 (UNAIDS, 2016), ‘transgender people are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV than the general population.’ Transphobia which is a real existential threat to transgender people and HIV related stigma create an additional layer of barriers to access HIV testing and treatment. Transgender people often face social and legal exclusion which predisposes them to economic hardship which increases their risk to violence. The culmination of these factors among others push transgender people to sex work and the disempowerment and low self-esteem make it harder for them to negotiate for protection during sex.
Determinants of Health for transgender people living with HIV/AIDS
CITATION Off20 \l 1033 (Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2020) defines determinants of health as the range of personal, social, economic and environmental factors that determine the health of an individual.
For transgender people living with HIV/AIDS, one of the main determinants of health is policy making. Whilst being a transgender person in the United States is not illegal, there are political issues that suppress the voice of the transgender people. President Trump banning the access to healthcare for transgender people in the military highlights the deep-rooted and systemic discrimination of transgender people which creates barriers to access to healthcare.
HP2020 lists HIV status as one of the biological factors that determines the health of an individual. As an incurable disease which is transmissible, it becomes a determinant of health of the individual as he/she has to embark of a lifetime management of the disease.
Social factors as determinants of health for transgender people living with HIV/AIDS mainly revolve around transphobia and HIV-related stigma. Both of these issues predispose transgender people living with AIDS to high levels of discrimination, gender-based violence and abuse, marginalization and social exclusion. This very reason makes it difficult to seek medical help when and while they need it. Because of these social issues, transgender people are more likely to drop out of school, stay away from their families, have workpl...