The article “ACT UP, Haitian Migrants, and Alternative Memories of HIV/AIDS” by Karma R. Chavez provides a clear example of Healthcare Communication Ethics. The author talks about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the impact that it had on Haitian migrants, and discusses the different narratives that surrounded the epidemic. As Haitian migrants were seeking refuge in the United States, the Bush administration created an emergency refugee camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, claiming to protect and house refugees. This created a narrative that the United States government was taking the epidemic seriously, this was not apparent decades later. Chavez talks about how “despite the severity of the Guantanamo situation, and the active role some ACT UP members played in calling attention to and eventually resolving the crisis, this moment has escaped public memory, almost entirely” (Chavez 66). Decades later, the HIV/AIDS epidemic appears to be forgotten by the public.
This article made me think about a class that I took at the University, Psychology of the Pandemic. In the class, we discussed multiple pandemics and how the public responded to them. When it came to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, my professor talked about how poorly the United States responded to it, and how long they took to even acknowledge it. The government's failure to publicly acknowledge the epidemic for four years created a narrative that the epidemic was not severe, and was not a public problem. The government also created a narrative that the epidemic was only harmful to white gay men, spreading even more homophobia through out the country. This resulted in a failure to allocate funds towards research, care, and public education until years later. After taking this class, I realized that I did not know that much about the HIV/AIDS epidemic and noticed how it is not talked about that often.
I think we can draw a lot of parallels between the AIDS epidemic and the Covid pandemic because of how the government mishandled addressing it to the public. When you mentioned the governments failure to publicly acknowledge it, it reminds me of how our government approached Covid. We knew this was coming around the world, and I felt like in the US we really went from 0 to 60 in a few days. Then SOME government figures really only acknowledged this as an issue to immunocompromised and elderly people rather than a collective issue. This impacted policy, research, and funds as well.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as though, oftentimes, the United States is either at the forefront of an issue or completely lacking in any formative support of an issue. As you look at the U.S.'s reaction to a multitude of issues- even human rights crisis's in smaller countries, there seems to be a direct tie into how important such an issue/place is to the government. I do think the Government (hopefully) cares about the people around the world, but there is evidence that suggests most of the United State's altruist missions are rooted in globalism and the potential to influence others rather than being truly altruistic. On the topic of narrative formation, it is very interesting how in Government the narratives can be so far off from the reality of the situation (Trump during Covid for example).
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