Employment status is also another social determinant of health in HIV/AIDS. Employment status influences an individual’s socioeconomic status, access, and care affordability. The rate of HIV/AIDS tends to be higher among unemployed individuals than employed due to their increased predisposition to risky behaviors, including drug abuse and prostitution. The level of education is also a critical social determinant of health in HIV/AIDS. High rates of HIV/AIDS have been reported in populations with a low level of education (Friedman et al., 2018). Level of education influences constructs such as level of awareness, employment, and socioeconomic status of the population. Access to care also acts as a source of inequality in individuals affected by HIV/AIDS. Populations with limited access to healthcare due to lack of medical insurance coverage and unaffordability of care are likely to report high cases of HIV/AIDS. Factors such as delays in early diagnosis and initiation of treatment contribute to poor outcomes in HIV/AIDS management. Low access to healthcare services also affects the knowledge of the population about the prevention of the spread of HIV/AIDS (Santos et al., 2018). Therefore, it is important that interventions that address the social determinants of health in HIV/AIDS be implemented to promote the population’s health.
An epidemiological triangle is a tool used to develop a deeper understanding of the mechanism of an infectious disease in the population. It provides insights into the relationships between agent, host, and environment in infectious disease. The agent refers to the microorganism causing the disease. Concerning HIV/AIDS, the agent causing the infection is a virus. The commonest type of virus causing HIV/AIDS is HIV-1 (Gopalappa et al., 2017). HIV-2 is less common with low virulence and similar symptoms to HIV-1. Factors related to HIV influence its ability to cause infection to the host. They include virulence or pathogenicity and dose. Virulence is the ability of a disease-causing microorganism to cause disease. HIV has a high level of virulence, as it can invade and multiply itself in the host. The dose refers to the amount or concentration of a disease-causing microorganism (Gopalappa et al., 2017). Often, HIV exists in high doses with an enhanced ability to invade and multiply in the host. HIV spreads through hosts’ direct contact with infected fluids, including semen, vaginal secretions, and blood.
Host in the epidemiological triangle refers to the carrier of the disease. It refers to the individuals affected by HIV/AIDS. Several host factors influence their ability to be affected by HIV and the development of AIDs. One of them is immune status. The risk for HIV infection is high in individuals with lowered immunity. The rate of viral invasion, multiplication, and further suppression is high. The other host-related factor is individual behaviors. Behaviors such as engaging in unprotected sex, having multiple sexual partners, and using injected drugs with sharing needles increase the risk of host exposure to the agent (Mahdavi et al., 2021). Pregnancy is also another host-related factor for HIV/AIDS. Pregnant mothers infected with HIV/AIDS have an increased risk of infecting their unborn babies through mother-to-child transmission or during delivery and breastfeeding. Individuals suffering from existing medical conditions are also increasingly predisposed to HIV/AIDS. Co-existing comorbidities low immune status of the patients, hence, their vulnerability to the agent. Patients on existing treatments for malignancies also have a high risk of HIV infection due to their suppressed immunity (Joas et al., 2018). Patients receiving blood transfusions or involved in road accidents are also at risk due to contact with contaminated fluids.
Environment refers to the external factors that affect the epidemiologic outbreak. Environmental factors affect the spread of the disease,not attributed to the host and agent. The environmental factors in HIV/AIDS include communities with a high rate of sexually transmitted diseases and a low level of reporting (Dumais, 2017). Such conditions contribute to the flourishing of HIV/AIDS. Socioeconomic factors such as poverty also contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS by limiting access to the needed treatment. Social discrimination or isolation of individuals affected by HIV/AIDS also discourages the populations from utilizing screening and treatment services (Dumais, 2017). Consequently, they contribute to the increased spread of the disease in the population.
Community health nurses have several roles in the epidemiological management and prevention of HIV/AIDS. One of the roles is case finding. Case finding entails the identification of cases affected by HIV/AIDS and the popula
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