Community Nursing for HIV Disorder

Running head: COMMUNITY NURSING FOR HIV DISORDER
COMMUNITY NURSING FOR HIV DISORDER
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
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COMMUNITY NURSING FOR HIV DISORDER
Human immune-deficiency virus can be defined as the transmissible organism that
participates in infecting the different human bodies through the support from the T-helper cell.
The infection is mainly seen to lead a progressive decline in the immune function and
subsequently leads to the situation of a state of immune compromise (Boyer et al., 2017). Mainly
because of the compromised immune system, individuals who are infected with the virus are
seen to become susceptible towards a variety of different types of opportunistic infections that
are refereed in healthcare as the AIDs defining illness. In individuals who do not get any
treatment, this viral infection often inevitably leads to death. HIV is a form of retrovirus. It is
actually an RNA virus and it has the ability for transforming its RNA into the DNA during the
replication procedure (Pearson et al., 2015). Due to the rapid replication, it has got the status of a
highly variable virus and therefore, it is one of the reasons why it becomes very difficult for
developing the vaccine. This retrovirus is indeed very much fragile and therefore they do not
survive outside the different host cell environment. This assignment would mainly be focusing
on the community nursing principles in effectively handling and reducing risks of HIV among
the vulnerable population in the nation.
This infection can affect any individuals who engage in unsafe sex, intercourse with
multiple partners, blood transfusions and many others. However, researchers are of the opinion
that the prevalence of the disorder has lessened in the general population due to proper health
promotion and allocation of resources but have not lessened among the vulnerable population.
Therefore, it is extremely important for the nursing professionals working in the communities to
identify the vulnerable population and develop interventions that would help them to reduce the
risks of them affecting by the disorder (Kim et al., 2016). Researchers are of the opinion that
there are some typical groups in the various communities of the nation who are more likely to be

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COMMUNITY NURSING FOR HIV DISORDER
diagnosed late, less likely to be engaged with healthcare, accessing of different treatments,
adhering to different treatments as well as achieve viral suppression.
Rates of the disorder among the aboriginals and non-aboriginal Australians were
previously found to be similar at around 4 per 100000 people in the nation but transmission
modes are seen to be different with higher rates being more prevalent in the women, people who
inject drugs and those who are heterosexual. However, the rates of the newly diagnosed HIV
rates in the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait islander population as found in the reports published
in 2012-2014 showed that the number of the affected individuals of the native background is
higher than that of the non-indigenous population for about 5.9 versus 3.7 per 100000 (Poteat et
al., 2015). Another vulnerable population with susceptibility of being affected with the disorder
is the asylum seekers. Reports have shown increasing number of asylum seekers with HIV
infection being reported in the Darwin of the northern territory. It has shown that the introduction
of the HIV screening for those arriving by both and without visa in the nation has increased the
number form 18 in 2011 to 2012 to that of 30 in 2012 to 2013. They mainly tend to hide their
disorders with the fear of not knowing the acceptation rates of the nation and being unaware
about the behaviors that he would receive from others in the new nation where the citizens would
be knowing about their disorders (Eldredge et al., 2016) . The fear of stigmatization as well as
discrimination in the nation makes them hide their disorders and so they do not seek for any kind
of services from healthcares. Therefore, they tend to be one of the most important vulnerable
groups that professionals need to care for.
In the nation of Australia, this disorder continues to be the transmitted through the sexual
contacts between men. In the year 2013, reports provided by the government had shown that
about 70% of the total new HIV infections were seen to be present among the men who had sex

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COMMUNITY NURSING FOR HIV DISORDER
with other men. It is seen that this population is highly affected and they need access to the
healthcare as well as prevention. They need to remain engaged in care for the reduction of the
community viral load and thereby helps in reduction of the number of new infections as well as
different types of HIV related co morbidities. The 2012 Global Men’s Health and Rights Study
had found interesting results (McCabe et al., 2016). They have found that men who have sex
with men are more vulnerable in encountering barriers for accessing treatment as well as
prevention at the different levels. Researchers are of the opinion that at an institutional level or
that of the systemic level, men who are seen to have sex with other men can encounter stigma as
well as criminalization of homosexuality and even discrimination. Often they feel that they
cannot disclose their preferences to that of the healthcare providers with the fear of being judged
regarding their sexual behaviors. This results in the leading of the situations where HIV testing
often is delayed and there is delay in the accessing of the treatment (Amaro et al., 2016).
Another vulnerable population is those people who are seen to inject drugs and are called
PWID (people who inject drugs). It is true that although Australian government had published
various types of developing and implementation of the harm reduction policies, in reality,
evidence based studies have shown that they experience reduced access towards healthcare
services and higher incidences of discrimination and poor treatment with the healthcare services.
Therefore, they are found to remain exposed to higher risks for the late HIV diagnoses in
comparison to men who have higher sex with other men as well as heterosexuals (Palacios et al.,
2015). Therefore, the community nursing professionals need to develop proper interventions
which should be evidence based and should be helping in reduction of the risks of being affected
with the HIV disorder.