INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS- LEARNING JOURNAL

International Business- learning Journal

International Business- learning Journal

Introduction

This topic was chosen for study for a number of reasons. First, it is a relatively fatal illness, now only in its next phase of existence as a public health threat. Most of the information about AIDS has been disseminated by public health authorities, and the basic messages have been quite similar (Badcock-Walters, & Dan, 2003, 21-26). On this basis, it could be hypothesized that beliefs about causes, symptoms, and treatments of this illness would be quite similar in all of the populations studied.

Discussion

On the other hand, experience with the disease (prevalence) varies greatly across geographic regions, as do the socio-demographic characteristics of the populations. Although the picture is changing as a result of new treatments, AIDS is usually fatal, with no curative treatment. As such, many of those afflicted have sought a wide variety of alternatives to biomedical therapies in the hopes that something might prove effective (Carr-Hill, & Peart, 2003, 75-79).

Therefore, it could be hypothesized that there may he a variety of home remedies for the treatment of AIDS, as is the case for diabetes, particularly in Latin American cultures which have strong folk healing traditions. while neither Mexican folk healers (curandcros) nor owners of botanicas (folk remedy stores) in the United States felt that they could cure AIDS, two of the three curanderos interviewed in Mexico did feel that they could cure AIDS using herbal remedies (Bell, & Gersbach, 2003, 21-26).

It is often assumed that the beliefs of middle class Anglo-Americans about most aspects of health and illness are more similar to those of health care providers than are the beliefs of minority and immigrant populations. However, in a study of understanding the domain of mental health and illness the beliefs of middle class suburbanites were more similar to those of Mexican—American migrant farmworkers than they were to those of mental health professionals. But in relation to AIDS, a number of studies have found that Hispanic/Latino participants arc less knowledgeable about HIV/ AIDS than arc Anglo— or, frequently, African—American participants (Arndt, & Lewis, 2001, 427-449).

Knowledge gaps in Hispanic Latino populations are of particular concern given that while Hispanics account for only 9% of the US population, they account for 17% of AIDS cases nationally. Particularly hard hit have been the largely Puerto Rican populations in the cities of the northeast, as well as in Puerto Rico itself (Bell, & Gersbach, 2003, 21-26).

Even though the samples tended to agree, the questions with disagreement are also of interest. Only Guatemala answered 'yes' to the question of whether AIDS was inherited; this site also answered positively to the question “Can unborn children he injected with AIDS?” The general lack of secondary education and beyond in Guatemala may be a factor in these answers; health education messages about how an infected mother can pass the virus to her unborn child may be interpreted as evidence of the 'inheritance of the illness (Arndt, & Lewis, 2001, ...