Thoughts about Health 312

For me, this class was what I thought it would be, but it helps to have a refresher every now and then. I have learned certain tidbits here and there but nothing contributed to me having a big revelation. Most of this information, I had already learned throughout my life, but I can see just by looking across the classroom at times, that I may have been the only one. At different times throughout the term, people seemed to be shocked about things I thought were completely trivial, and I think that is what surprised me the most about the class. The reaction some people had to different topics is what caught my focus and made me wonder how my upbringing was different from others. To be honest, I just believe its the fact that when it comes to diseases, nothing surprises me anymore, its as though I have seen it all.

With that said, I don't believe I am one to tell you what I would or wouldn't change about the class. On second thought, I believe the ethics portion of the class needs to be presented at the beginning of the course in more of an open-forum discussion that gets everyone in the class involved, or forces them. That way you can single out the narrow-minded people and well, since they are narrow minded, they will be forced to participate as narrow-minded people, as I have learned over the years, do not like to be singled out. Also, an open-forum ethics talk about stigmatizations about STIs should occur at the end so people may voice what they have learned over the term that way as a teacher, you know if the message you were sending was "hitting home" with these individuals.

I do consider this an important university level class, I believe it keeps the minds of individuals open to the world of sexually transmitted infections and the social impacts of having them. It has been a fun class, it has been an interesting class, and as a final goodbye to this last blog, I leave you with a quote:

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." -Aristotle

Bob Skinner

From Bob Skinner's talk, I have learned that living with AIDS is like living life heavily influenced by the fear tactics taught by STI prevention courses. It seems as though he lives a very cautious life, always uses protection, takes his anti-retrovirals, and maintains peak physical conditions as to avoid a secondary infection. He lives a very different life from others infected with HIV around the world. Many Africans are just struggling to make it through the day, whereas Bob Skinner is focusing years down the road; his only worry, it seems, is the cost of medication.

The route he mentioned in rural regions is the heterosexual route among married individuals. Like most married individuals, the use of protective barriers for preventing STIs is not even looked upon, otherwise, whats the point of being married? This makes life tough if people in rural regions become ailed with HIV/AIDS. In some areas, it takes a long time to drive to areas to be treated because of the lack of resources in these rural areas. Also, in rural areas, it proves difficult because rural areas tend to be more stigmatized when it comes to certain diseases, because of the lack of knowledge in these rural areas, and I am guessing that HIV is a major example. I grew up in a small town, where every one knows everyone's name, so if someone from my hometown was afflicted with AIDS, you can bet that my mom would find out and would tell me so-and-so has AIDS the minute after she herself found out. This would make life tough for individuals AND their family as well, because small communities can be brutal without proper knowledge.