Infections And Inequalities Summary

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In the book Infections and Inequalities, Paul Farmer introduces three women from different cultural backgrounds to his audience; Darlene, Guylene, and Lata. Despite the three women being from different locations and cultures, they all shared the commonality of being HIV-positive and infected with AIDS. The first woman to be introduced is Darlene Johnson who was born in Central Harlem, lived in poverty, and grew up in an environment which revolved around physical and mental abuse. The second woman that is mentioned is Guylene, who was raised as the daughter of poor peasants in Haiti and lived a life with a very dysfunctional family. Finally, the third woman that is brought to the audience’s attention is Lata, who at the age of fifteen, was…show more content…
As a result, many of these women resort to prostitution for money, and can contract the virus that way as well. For many women, especially African American women, it is difficult to find places to work when you have very little education and job experience. Many people in this situation find themselves with no other options than to either degrade themselves for money, or stealing for food, alcohol and drugs. This is very dangerous for the African American community and in a way, can be seen as a way of holding the community back and not advancing ourselves higher as a race. In a recent journal article by The New York Times, it mentions that AIDS is a huge epidemic in the African American community and is becoming more widely spread and is becoming referred to as the “black…show more content…
According to helpstopaids.com, twenty-five percent of people have no idea that they have AIDS because they do not show symptoms of the disease. In fact, a person may not show symptoms of having the virus for up to ten years. This is a very scary statistic that everyone should be well aware of. There are currently 60,000 people in the United States living with AIDS in the Los Angles area with 1,500 to 2,000 people becoming newly infected each year. Los Angeles’ population of individuals with AIDS is slowly increasing to four people daily. This statistic should serve as a huge wake up call to society, and should encourage people to go out and stop the AIDS epidemic so there will not be any more cases of AIDS and stories of women such as the ones in Infections and Inequalities. It is not only important to stop the epidemic in the United States, but to stop it entirely across the

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