HIV reflection (1)

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Week 7 Scenario and Reflection Essay Susana Boateng West Coast University PHIL 434: Medical Ethics and Issues Professor Ian McDougall 12/17/2023

Week 7 Scenario and Reflection Essay HIV started back around 1959 when a blood sample from the Democratic Republic of Congo came back positive (Pence, 2021). Then, in 1978, it was found that gay men in Sweden, America, and Haiti had AIDS (Pence, 2021). These illnesses are primarily considered a global threat to human health. The topic of slowing the spread of these two diseases in Africa can be approached in a variety of ways. As a result, Drs. Meadows and Williams—two highly qualified medical professionals discuss how to proceed in aiding Africa in the fight against these illnesses. Dr. Williams continues by sharing her thoughts on this and the idea of making testing for those who are infected mandatory. It will assist them in realizing the importance of using condoms, which will be more beneficial than simply giving them out if people don't understand their purpose. Conversely, Dr. Meadows argues that requiring people to take a test violates their human rights and that in order to address this issue, we should instead adopt voluntary testing, educational initiatives, and improved condom distribution. Initially, while watching the discussion, I felt option B made the most sense to move forward with, but as we talked more about option A, Dr. Meadows's comments struck a deeper chord with me. It is more moral to educate everyone in Africa who has not been impacted by these illnesses. It has been demonstrated that offering education significantly slows the spread of these illnesses; from 1990 to 2010, new infections globally began to decline when educational programs were offered ( Pence, 2021). Additionally, according to Dr. Meadows, improving the condom distribution process will aid Africa during this terrible period of disease outbreaks. She further

stated that, in addition to violating people's rights, requiring testing in the manner advocated by the other doctor would put healthy individuals at risk, which is unacceptable. Since the doctors involved in this scenario need to understand how to use the virtues of compassion, which are an ideology of virtue ethics, virtue ethics is the ethical theory I will apply to this situation. They must acknowledge that the resources available to them in Africa are less than those available to others in America. Thus, providing these individuals with the resources will enable them to lower the HIV/AIDS prevalence. In virtue ethics, success depends not only on possessing the virtues of compassion but also on having the ability to heal and interact with people well (Pence, 2021). It is important to recognize that Dr. Meadows' demonstration of this virtue ethic which demonstrates compassion and healing knowledge for this group of people is demonstrated by her voluntary testing of these individuals and her explanation of how using condoms will exacerbate the disease. Ultimately, it is important to be concerned about the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Africa, even though it can occasionally be challenging to find morally responsible ways to assist those affected. However, encouraging better condom distribution, educating people about the disease, and providing greater access to testing will all contribute to the disease's spread. According to a study on condom distribution, participants in 10 of the 11 studies showed higher rates of condom use. According to Dr. Meadows, putting those strategies to use would improve the lot of people suffering in Africa. However, Dr. Williams disagreed, believing that since she is certain that these individuals will not use the condoms, testing should be made mandatory for them.

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References Pence, G. (2021). Medical ethics: Accounts of ground-breaking cases (9th ed.). McGraw Hill Education. McDougall I. (n.d.). Annual ethics symposium: Evolving ethics: Public health and HIV/AIDS [Video]. Canvas@WCU. https://canvas.westcoastuniversity.edu/ McDougall I. (n.d.). Week 7: Ethical principles of public health - presentation [Video]. Canvas@WCU. https://canvas.westcoastuniversity.edu/

HIV reflection (1)

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