The biological and ecological approaches to anthropology and hiv/aids
The biological approach of anthropology focuses on how evolution and genetic factors affect disease and how individuals respond to environmental stress. The ecological approach to anthropology focuses on how the ecosystem affects and interacts with human biology and adaptation. Observing the HIV/AIDS epidemic through the biological approach shows us how HIV/AIDS negatively effects the human body by destroying our T cells and CD4 cells, which are essential to our immune systems. The HIV virus was contracted by humans from hunting a certain type of Chimpanzee in West Africa and coming in contact with their blood. The ecosystem consists of the interactions between humans, animals, plants, and natural resources. Ecological anthropology studies how humans maintain a balance, or homeostasis, with their ecosystem, and how “modern human adaptations, life, civilization, and technology can impact this balance positively and negatively.” As stated in the Week 2 lecture, “medical ecology defines those aspects of the environment and global processes that have a direct bearing on human health.” Hunting has been a resource of meat for humans throughout our entire history, and this is an example of how our interactions with animals have affected the ecological balance in a negative way. When analyzing the groups of people who are most at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS, one can look at the reason through a culturally ecological approach. Cultural ecology examines how cultural beliefs and practices influences the ecological relationship between humans and diseases. Currently, while many people believe the most at risk group for contracting HIV/AIDS is homosexual men due to the stigmatization in America, this is not the case throughout the world. An anthropological journal article by Seiji Yamada tells us that it is actually women in poverty in the most effected region in the world, Africa. According to the article in the Pacific Health Dialog journal, the longstanding economic crisis in West Africa has led to widespread poverty, especially among women. This has caused these women, who already have limited occupational choices, to turn to multiple sexual partners in order to receive economic support. Their reason for this is survival, although it puts them at great risk of contracting the disease. In addition, many women who are monogamous are at risk due to their sexual partner’s polygamous behavior, which is not uncommon in that region. The graph below shows the prevalence of HIV in men and women living in several South African countries, and women outnumber men in all of them. The image below shows that infected women actually outnumber men in almost all of Africa. It is no surprise that 40% of new HIV infections occur in young people between the ages of 15-24, as that is the age when men and women tend to be the most sexually active.
Sources:
Fustos, Kata. "Gender-Based Violence Increases Risk of HIV/AIDS for Women in Sub-Saharan Africa." Gender-Based Violence Increases Risk of HIV/AIDS for Women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Accessed August 11, 2014. http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2011/gender-based-violence-hiv.aspx.
"HIV Prevalence." UNICEF. Accessed August 11, 2014. http://www.unicef.org/progressforchildren/2007n6/index_41821.htm.
Fustos, Kata. "Gender-Based Violence Increases Risk of HIV/AIDS for Women in Sub-Saharan Africa." Gender-Based Violence Increases Risk of HIV/AIDS for Women in Sub-Saharan Africa. Accessed August 11, 2014. http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2011/gender-based-violence-hiv.aspx.
"HIV Prevalence." UNICEF. Accessed August 11, 2014. http://www.unicef.org/progressforchildren/2007n6/index_41821.htm.