What is the Impact of HIV/AIDS on Women?

What is the Impact of cle handst immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome on Women?ABSTRACTThis dissertation bequeath startline the major issues surrounding hu patch immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome contagion as it relates to women, with specific reference to women in Zimbabwe and the f every in Kingdom (UK). It provide explore the reasons wherefore women atomic number 18 change magnitudely at greater invent of contagious disease than males. Underpinned by a feminist epitome of womens oppression, it result include a discussion of how biological, access codeible, shakeual, economic and cultural inequalities consec charge per unit to womens vulnerability. It provide in any case mien at the impact of human immunodeficiency virus/ help on women and how these grammatical constituents screwing influence them to seek answer. The differences in what is deemed companion suit sufficient nominate in terms of two definit ion and practice as soundly as the differences in the health systems and the health c be lodge inmenters involved in de persistring workplace in both countries entrust also be explored.INTRODUCTION back up stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, a disease that makes it difficult for the body to encounter off morbific diseases. The human immunodeficiency virus k instantern as human immunodeficiency virus gains back up by infecting and damaging part of the bodys defences its lymphocytes against transmitting. Lymphocytes be a type of white stemma cell in the bodys immune system and argon supposed to fight off invading germs. People whitethorn be infect (human immunodeficiency virus positive) for numerous geezerhood before full help develops, and they may be unconscious of their status. human immunodeficiency virus arouse only be passed on if infected blood, semen, vaginal fluids or breast milk gets inside an early(a) persons body. human immunodeficiency vi rus and help squeeze out be treated, besides at that place be no vaccines or cures for them (WHO, 2003).human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS PREVALENCE IN WOMEN IN ZIMBABWE AND THE UKIncreasingly, the face of human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS is a womans face (UNAIDS, 2004). AIDS is now the leading ca physical exertion of death in sub-Saharan Africa and the fourth- exaltedest deliver of death world- widelyly (UNAIDS, 2002). AIDS is a pro anchor human tr vulcanisedy and has been referred to as the worlds most acerb undecl ard war (Richardson, 1987). Women and girls are oddly vulnerable to human immunodeficiency virus infection due to a host of biological, social, cultural and economic component parts, including womens entrenched social and economic inequality within inner relationships and marriage. human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS deal their devastating paste, affecting the lives of 16,000 batch each day, with women, babies and one-year-old good deal creationness change magnitudely affected. The number of pile life story with human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS has now reached almost 40 zillion glob everyy (UNAIDS and WHO, 2006), and of these an estimated two-thirds live in Sub-Saharan Africa, Zimbabwe included.Zimbabwe is experiencing 1 of the harshest AIDS pestiferouss in the world. The human immunodeficiency virus prevalence rate in Zimbabwe is among the highest in the world, although repenny evidence suggests that prevalence may be offset to decline. In Zimbabwe 1.8 million bads and churlren are living with human immunodeficiency virus/AIDS, with 24.6% of adults infected women check 58% of those infected among the 20- to 49-year-old age range. (Consortium on AIDS and International Development, 2006) In a country with such a tense g everywherenmental and social climate, it has been difficult to respond to the crisis. chairwoman Robert Mugabe and his g e genuinelywherenment let been widely criticised by the international communit y, and Zimbabwe has be trace increasingly isolated, both politically and economically. The country has had to deliver a number of severe crises in the past hardly a(prenominal) long cartridge clip, including an precious rise in inflation (in January 2008 it reached 100,000%), a severe cholera epidemic, high rates of unemployment, political violence, and a near-total collapse of the health system (AIDS and human immunodeficiency virus Information, 2009).In Britain, HIV prevalence is relatively low and contemporaryly stands at 0.2% of the population. Statistics show that at the end of 2008 there were an estimated 88,300 passel living with HIV, of whom over a quarter (22,400, or 27%) were unaware of their infection. This compares to the 77,000 people estimated to be living with HIV in 2007, of whom 28% were estimated to be unaware of their HIV infection. Of all diagnoses to the end of 2008, 45% resulted from sex between men and 42% from heterosexual sex, with black Africans repre senting 35% of newly diagnosed infections (HPA, 2009). fit in to the Health surety Agency (2009), there has also been a dramatic step-up in the number of women diagnosed with HIV. In the years up to and including 1992, distaffs accounted for 12% of HIV diagnoses, but in 2008 that was 37%. then, as HIV/AIDS is a global pandemic, the eradication of this health issue represents one of humanitys grea sort challenges one that requires co-operation and cosmopolitan collaboration between scientific disciplines, governments, social institutions, the media, social work and health feel for professionals, and the general public (IFSW, 2009). Social workers, by virtue of their training, their commitment to human rights, and the fact that they are uniquely placed within a wide variety of health and wel outlying(prenominal)e settings, can play a very effective piece in the global effort to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic (IFSW, 2009).1. CHAPTER 11.1 OVERVIEW OF GENDER AND VULNERABILITY TO HI V/AIDSWhile women are battling for equal rights without the international community, the existing great tycoon imbalance between men and women renders women pickyly vulnerable to contracting HIV. Womens chasten position places them at a considerable disadvantage with respect to their thorough human right to control their own sexuality, and to access pr level offtion, care, treatment, and support improvements and information. This subordination of women is mainly caused by the socially-constructed relations between men and women or, in former(a) nomenclature, the patriarchal structure which is oppressive to women. (Walby, 1990, cited in Richardson, 2000) defines patriarchy as the system of social structures and practices that men use to dominate, oppress and exploit women, consequently giving them greater opportunities to access services compared to females. Although the terra firma Health institution (WHO) and umpteen governments are implementing pedagogicsal programm es to teach women about protecting their health, conventional and cultural practices extend to perpetuate discrimination against women, in turn forcing women into regretful situations. Un slight pro sprightly human-rights policies are enacted to empower, educate, and protect women with regard to their sexual autonomy, HIV/AIDS will continue to spread at an alarming rate and will brook a devastating impact on all aspects of society. pose overthrow though the root of womens vulnerability lies in the imbalance in power between men and women, biological and sexual practices brace an important role to play and mean that HIV transmission is unfortunately much than(prenominal) efficient in women than in men.1.2 WOMENS BIOLOGICAL VULNERABILITY TO HIV/AIDSWomen are much biologically vulnerable to HIV than men research has shown that women are at greater chance than men of contracting HIV both from an exclusive act of intercourse and from each sexual partnership. This biologica l sexism applies non only to HIV but to most other sexually contagious diseases (Hatcher, et al, 1989). A woman has a 50 per cent chance of getting gonorrhoea from an infected male partner while a man has a 25 per cent chance if he has sex with an infected woman (Doyal et al., 1994). This is because the vaginal tissue absorbs fluids more(prenominal) easily, including the sperm, which has a higher submergence of the HIV virus than female vaginal secretions and may go forward in the vagina for hours following intercourse, thus increasing womens vulnerability to infection.Not only are women more vulnerable to STIs than men, but untreated venereal infections, especially genital ulcer disease, lues and genital herpes, all predispose to HIV infection (Doyal, 1994). While STDs are not necessarily sexuality specific, it is likely that women with STDs will await undiagnosed and untreated for protracted, increasing their luck of infection (Finnegan, et al, 1993). This is by and lar ge because women tend to remain symptomless for longer than men (Doyal, 1994). Even though much is kip downn about the transmission of HIV to women through unshielded sex with men, less is known about the manifestations, progression, treatment and care of HIV/AIDS in women. Due to the lack of research we can at best speculate on the reasons for this. One reason may be the failure of medical checkup professionals to pick up on possible symptoms which are often present in womenexisting diagnostic guidelines pay small(a) attention to symptoms such as thrush, herpes, menstrual problems and cervical cell abnormalities that count to characterise the early stages of the disease performance in numerous women. t hence a significant number are diagnosed only during pregnancy or when their child is found to be HIV positive. (Doyal, 1994, p13)Therefore, if researchers persist in ignoring the biological differences, then the realities of the stakes of infection and the disease progressi on in women will remain unacknowledged. As a consequence of this, women will continue to be diagnosed later than men, which ultimately leads to an earlier death. (Gorst, 2001,) Further research into biological differences and the personal effects of HIV on womens bodies is urgently needed.1.3 TRADITIONAL AND CULTURAL FACTORSTraditional and familiar practices play a part in the vulnerability of women to HIV infection. Practices such as early marriage and the payment of lobola in marriages make women and girls more vulnerable to HIV infection. Marriages among black women in Zimbabwe include bride wealth lobola if the check is to be socially approved. Bride wealth is increasingly be approach path big melodic line in Zimbabwe, with few parents charging as much as US$2,500 incontrovertible five or more cattle for an educated girl. (IRIN NEWS, 2009) The insistence on bride wealth as the basis of vali date a marriage makes female sexuality a commodity and reduces women to sexual objec ts, with limited rights and privileges compared to their husbands, who pay in order to marry them, thus leaving them without a say in their relationship.Patriarchal attitudes are also found in Christianity and these have modify the traditional usage that men use to control womens sexuality. (Human Rights Monitor, 2001) For example, Eves alleged design from Adams rib has made women occupy a subordinate position in the Church as well(p) as in the family. Women are thereof viewed merely as second-class citizens who were constraind as an afterthought. This is to say that if God had seen it go over for Adam to stay alone, then Eve would never have been created and hence women would not exist in this world. Such patriarchal attitudes have seen women being compel to be submissive to males. To make matters worse, once Eve was created she wreaked havoc by giving in to the Devils temptation and pulling Adam into sin. This personation of women as the weaker sex has made men treat wo men as people who have to be kept nether constant supervision. St Pauls letter to the Colossians is one example of the letters which Zimbabwean men quote as a justification of their control over women. The woman is expected to submit to her husband (Colossians 318) whilst the husband has to love his wife (Colossians 319). Therefore, because of these beliefs, women will remain passive and powerless in relation to sexual health, making them more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.1.4 CONFLICT AND CIVIL UNRESTMigration or faulting as a result of civil strife, natural disasters, drought, famine and political oppression has a greater impact on womens vulnerability to HIV infection compared to men. About 75 per cent of all refugees and displaced people are women and children. The political and economic crisis in umpteen African and Asian countries has caused many women to come to the UK in search of safer lives and employment (Freedman, 2003).The World Health arrangement (WHO, 2003) states that f emale immigrant workers are more vulnerable to sexual barter as they try to do for necessary documentation, employment and housing, which further increases their hazard of HIV/AIDS infection. In addition, because of the lack of well-grounded documentation these women will produce limited options, pick up low status, receive low pay and are often isolated in their work, including marriage, domestic, factory and sex work. These situations place women in vulnerable and powerless positions, with little ability to refuse or negotiate safe sex, thereby increasing their risk to HIV/AIDS.Despite the risks associated with the migration process it is important to recognise the right to freedom of movement and travel disregardless of HIV status (ICW 12 Statement and the Barcelona Bill of Rights, 2002). This was a focal point during the Barcelona HIV/AIDS conference in 2002, because the Spanish politics denied visas to numerous people from the South many of whom were open about their HI V status. Some countries do have discriminatory policies regarding travel of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) and others are instituting stricter controls. For example, pileada has recently introduced the need for an HIV test for people emigrating to Canada and Australia. Whilst they say it will not affect the final closing it is not gull why they need the information (Tallis, 2002).1.5 POVERTY AND inequalityWomen and men experience poorness differently because of gender inequalityThe causes and outcomes of beggary are heavily engendered and yet traditional conceptualisations consistently fail to string scantinesss gender dimensions resulting in policies and programmes which fail to improve the lives of poor women and their families (Beneria and Bisnath, 1998).Despite widely distributed attention to existing inequalities and the elan these violate a socially-just society, there is no society in the world in which women are treated as equals with men (Doyal, 2001). Major inequalities between men and women still exist in many places from opportunities in education and employment to choices in relationships. Gender and social inequalities make women more vulnerable to HIV infection, especially in societies which give in women a lower status than men.Worldwide, women and girls are disproportionately impacted by mendicancy, representing 70 per cent of the 1.2 billion people who live in poverty worldwide (Amnesty International, 2005), a phenomenon commonly referred to as the feminisation of poverty. Worldwide, women receive an average of 30-40 per cent less pay than men for the same work (Card et al, 2007). This economic inequality may influence womens ability to control the clock and safety of sexual intercourse. Specifically, economic dependence on men, especially those who are not educated and do not have good jobs, forces women to remain silent about HIV risk issues and to stay with partners who refuse to draw in safe-sex practices.Poverty also l eads to greater HIV risk among women by leading them to barter sex for economic gain or extract (Weiss et al, 1996). Commercial sex work is the most well-known way for women to give-and- read sex for money, food, shelter or other necessities. Most of this sex will be unsafe as women will be at risk of losing economic support from men by insisting on safer sex. Where philia abuse is a factor, the means for obtaining clean needles may be traded for other essentials. Trading or sharing needles is a way to reduce drug-addiction costs. guess behaviors and disease potential are predictable under such compromised fate (Albertyn, 2000, cited in Card, 2007).Educational inequality also contributes to a womans HIV risk directly, by making information on HIV/AIDS less accessible to her, and indirectly, by increasing her economic dependence on a male partner. In particular, studies show that more-educated women are more likely to know how to prevent HIV transmission, delay sexual activity, use healthcare services, and take other steps to prevent the spread of HIV (UNIFEM, 2004). Because many cultures apprise ignorance about sex as a feature of femininity, many green women are prevented by husbands, fathers, or other family members from obtaining information about HIV/AIDS. Others decline to seek such information out of fear for their re poseations. leave out of education about the causes, prevention, and treatment of HIV/AIDS will increase these womens vulnerability to infection.Legal systems and cultural norms in many countries reinforce gender inequality by giving men control over productive resources such as land, through marriage laws that subordinate wives to their husbands and inheritance customs that make males the principal beneficiaries of family property (Baylies, 2000). For example, Zimbabwe has a dual legal system, recognising both common and customary law in marriage. This creates inequalities for many women upon divorce or their husbands death. Wome n in customary marriages, especially those who are not educated and who live in rural areas, make up approximately 80% of marriages in Zimbabwe, and are not entitled to the same rights as those married under common law this means that they are often barred from get property and land, or getting custody of their children, thus making them more vulnerable to male dominance and increasing their risk of getting infected with STIs (Womankind, 2002).1.6 CONCLUSIONPower inequalities at social, economic, biological, political and cultural levels mean that women continue to be increasingly more at risk from HIV infection. It is therefore critical that social workers and other healthcare professionals make sure that HIV/AIDS prevention and care programmes address the most immediate comprehend barriers to accessing HIV/AIDS prevention and care services. Measures could include vocational training, employment, micro-finance programmes, legal support, safe housing and childcare services. Such m easures would empower these women to have options and to take voluntary and informed decisions regarding the adoption of safer practices to prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS (UNODC, 2006). There is also the need for a female-controlled form of protection which women can use to protect themselves, for example microbicides, which women can use without the consent or even the knowledge of their partner, thus enabling them to protect themselves if they are forced to engage in unprotected sex.2. CHAPTER 22.1 HIGH-RISK GROUPS OF WOMENAlthough there is a vast literature on HIV/AIDS, relatively little has been create verbally about how HIV/AIDS affects women, and what constitutes a high-risk assort. In part, this reflects the way AIDS was initially perceived in the West as a mens disease, so much so that until a few years ago a common response to the topic of women and AIDS was Do women get AIDS?, the assumption being that women were at little or no risk (Doyal, et al, 1994). This has never been true of Africa, where the appallingly pervasive epidemic has always been a heterosexual disease and where 55 per cent of those who have been infected were women. In recent years it has become increasingly clear that women can both become infected with HIV and transmit the virus. A train conducted by AWARE (Association for Womens AIDS Research and Education) in the States found that women who inject and share needles, have sexual radio link with or are artificially inseminated by a man, lesbians, sex workers and those from an ethnic minority, especially black women, were at increased risk of HIV infection (Richardson, 1987). The study also found that most people in these groups are underrepresented in prevention or treatment interventions, and often suffer social stigma, isolation, poverty and marginalisation, which place them at higher risk. Therefore, in this chapter I am departure to discuss how some of these groups are vulnerable to infection, and what can be do to prevent and treat infection in these vulnerable groups without inadvertently increasing their stigmatisation.2.2 PROSTITUTESThere is a substantial body of research on the correlation coefficient between HIV/AIDS infection and female harlotry. Studies worldwide have revealed cause-and-effect relationships between AIDS and prostitution in a number of areas, including the use of alcohol and/or psychoactive drugs, and have revealed variance in the rate and circumstance of infection from one country to another (OLeary et al, 1996). For example, researchers have found the high rate of AIDS in Africa to be largely a reflection of exposure through sexual activity only, while in the US and Europe, transmission of the AIDS virus is more likely to come from prostitutes or customers who are also IV drug users.Many writers have pointed out that real social concern about HIV infection did not materialise until its potential spread to heterosexuals was recognised. What is less often pointed out is that concern for the spread to heterosexuals has mostly been manifest in concern for the spread to heterosexual men, not heterosexual women (Flowers, 1998). The expressed fear is that HIV will spread from women to men, allegedly through prostitution. In the press and the international scientific literature on AIDS, often the light cast upon Women in whoredom (WIP) has been a harsh one. WIP have been identified as a risk group, a reservoir of infection, and a bridge for the HIV epidemic. Such technical, epidemiological language has depicted WIP as vectors of HIV infection (Scharf and Toole, 1992). Rather than presenting WIP as links in broader networks of heterosexual HIV transmission, women categorised as prostitutes have been described as infecting their unborn infants, their clients and indirectly their clients other female sexual partners, as though HIV originated among WIP (Scharf and Toole, 1992). Like posters from WWI and WWII which aimed to caution armed servicemen in Eu rope of the danger of contracting gonorrhoea and syphilis (Brandt, 1985, cited in Flowers et al, 1998), some AIDS-prevention posters have caricatured WIP as evil sirens ready to influence men to their deaths (New African, 1987, cited in Larson, 1988). Interestingly, there is evidence that some HIV-positive men may be inclined to claim that their infection came from a female prostitute, in order to cover up its real origins sex with a man, or IV drug use.2.3 PROSTITUTION IN ZIMBABWEThere are many reasons why women engage in prostitution in Zimbabwe. Studies show that poverty and deviance are the main causes. Other studies have shown that many women engage themselves in prostitution by their own choice and see it as a career path whilst others might be forced into it (Chudakov, 1995). In Zimbabwe prostitution is illegal, and many women and young girls, especially orphans who engage in prostitution, are driven to it by poverty and economic dislocation, which is being caused by the c urrent economic and political crisis the country is experiencing. According to the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), the thirst and disease-ridden conditions in much of Zimbabwe have forced many children into prostitution in order to feed themselves (UNICEF, 2008). Save the Children, a non-governmental organisation operative to create positive changes for disadvantaged children in the country, estimate that girls as young as 12 are now selling their bodies for even the most measly of meals, such as biscuits and chips. They also state that the issue is further complicated by the ontogenesis presence of child traffickers in the region, looking for young girls to abduct and take to South Africa for the use of potential clients at the 2010 World Cup (Mediaglobal, 2009).Combating child prostitution and trafficking is complicated, but prioritising the alleviation of poverty with particular emphasis on fighting poverty from a childs perspective prioritising education for all, with emphasis on improving access for girls and provision of information to victims and survivors of child prostitution and/or trafficking, including information about available counselling and legislative services would be helpful (WHO, 2003).2.4 PROSTITUTION IN THE UKProstitution in the UK is different from that in Zimbabwe. The laws around prostitution in England and Wales are far from straight-forward. The act of prostitution is not in itself illegal but a string of laws criminalises activities around it. Under the familiar Offences Act 2003, it is an offence to cause or incite prostitution or control it for personal gain. The 1956 Sexual Offences Act bans running a brothel and its against the law to loiter or solicit sex on the street. Kerb-crawling is also banned, providing it can be shown that the individual was causing a persistent annoyance (BBC NEWS, 2008).Though actual s are scarce, it has been estimated that at least 2 million women are selling sexual favours in Brit ain. The bulk of these are brothel prostitutes working in parlours, saunas or insular health clubs. According to The First Post make on 18/08/08, prostitution was viewed as the new profession. The condition stated that prostitution in Britain is booming, and that thousands of young women have chosen prostitution for independence and financial security. The key factor which has led to a extensive rise in this kind of prostitution is the influx of girls from Poland and other east European countries which acceded to the EU in 2000.A strong relationship also exists between UK prostitutes and substance abuse, which drives many into the sex business. Intravenous-drug-using prostitutes are particularly big(a) in Scottish cities such as Glasgow (OLeary et al, 1996). According to researchers, 70 per cent of the citys streetwalkers are IV drug addicts, injecting heroin, temazepam and tengesic. In Edinburgh, which has the highest rate of HIV-seropositive IV drug addicts of all cities in Britain, a significant number of those addicts scrutiny HIV positive have been identified as prostitutes.Even though sex workers can transmit HIV/AIDS, blaming them encourages stigma and discrimination against all women. It allows the men who infect sex workers and their own wives to deny that they are infecting others. Wives alike can infect their husbands, who can in turn infect sex workers. It is therefore important to note that sex workers and their clients are not constituent as a bridge for HIV transmission into the rest of the population.2.4 LESBIANSCan women transmit the disease to other women through sexual activity? The firmness to this question is crucial for a community that knows that HIV is within it even though the question might be difficult to answer as there is very little information on this subject (Richardson, 1987). Lesbians were seen as least likely to be infected, as there was an understand of HIV as a disease which existed in specific groups of people, for example brave males and intravenous-drug users. Because of these biased attitudes toward people, rather than risk behaviours, no data was systematically gathered. This understanding prevented the healthcare system from defining sexual risk behaviours it stressed people, not sexual behaviours.It has therefore been say that most lesbians have been in risk situations or engaged in what would be considered as risky behaviour at some stage. Some lesbians inject drugs and may share needles. Also, a significant number of lesbians have had sex with men before coming out, and many will have had unprotected vaginal or anal intercourse Some may still have sex with men for reproductive purposes (Gorna, 1996). Some may be prostitutes who, for economic reasons or through pressure from a pimp, may have had unprotected sex with clients (Richardson, 1989). According to records from a London sexual health clinic for lesbians, 35 per cent of the lesbians who tended to(p) had had sex with a man in the previous six months (Gorna, 1996). As Gorna puts it, this emphasises the fact that activity is not always consistent with identity. In other words, we are put at risk by what we do, not by how we define ourselves or who we are (Bury, 1994, p32).Although the risk of HIV infection from sex between women is very small, it is important for lesbians to look at what they do, how they do it and with whom they do it, just like everyone else, as, Low risk isnt no risk (Richardson, D, 2004). However, they may find it difficult to access services and, if they become ill, they may experience special problems, given that the healthcare system is designed for and administered by a predominantly heterosexual population. There may be a lack of recognition of their relationships, which could lead to isolation and depression. For example in Zimbabwe homosexuality is illegal and punishable by imprisonment of up to 10 years. The President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, views lesbians and gays as sexual perverts who are lower than dogs and pigs (BBC NEWS, 1998). In 1995 he consistent the Zimbabwe International Book Fair to ban an exhibit by the civil-rights group Gays and Lesbians in Zimbabwe (GALZ). He followed this ban with warnings that homosexuals should leave the country voluntarily or face dire consequences. Soon afterwards Mugabe urged the public to track down and arrest lesbians and gays. Since these incitements, homosexuals have been fire-bombed, arrested, interrogated and threatened with death (Tatchell, 2001). This makes it difficult for lesbians in Zimbabwe to access information and other services, thus increasing their vulnerability to HIV infection.2.5 immemorial WOMENThe number of sometime(a) people ( sure-enough(a) than 50 years) with HIV/AIDS is growing fast. Older adults are infected through the same high-risk behaviours as young adults, though they may be unaware that they are at risk of HIV/AIDS. However, when assessing the impact of the HIV/AIDS epide mic upon the worlds population, older people are often overlooked. HIV-prevention measures rarely target the older generation, notwithstanding the fact that many older people are sexually active and therefore still at risk of being exposed to HIV. The older population is steadily growing larger with the maturing of the baby-boomer generation as well as the availability of antiretroviral drugs which extend peoples life expectancy. Social norms about divorce, sex, and dating are ever- changing, and drugs such as Viagra are facilitating a more active sex life for older adults (NAHOF, 2007, cited in Lundy et al, 2009). Heterosexual women aged 50 and older are most in need of the HIV-prevention message.The juncture United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS, 2006) estimates that around 2.8 million adults aged 50 years and over are living with HIV, representing 7 per cent of all cases. In the UK, the Health Protection Agency describe that almost 4,000 HIV-infected people who were ac cessing care in 2006 were aged 55 years or over. Data on this subject from low-income countries like Zimbabwe is fairly patchy. This is because HIV/AIDS surveillance is commonly conducted in antenatal clinics, as many people have little other direct contact with medical services. Data from antenatal clinics does not provide information about people who are above child-bearing age, thus making it difficult for healthcare and service providers to make policies that will impact on the senile who are infected.Firstly, it has been noted that elderly women can be exposed to HIV via non-consensual sexual contact or rape. Research has shown that some criminals appear to target older women for sexual crimes because they appear to be, and often are, vulnerable to attack (Muram et al, 1992). Elderly women in institutional settings such as nursing homes may also be at greater risk. Some estimates suggest that up to 15 per cent of elderly nursing-home residents have been victims of either sexua l or physical abuse, thus increasing their vulnerability to HIV infection (Collins, 2002).Exposure to blood tainted with HIV may also occur when an older woman provides care to adult children who may be suffering from AIDS (Levine-Perkell, 1996). Allers (1990) revealed that more than one-third of all adults who contract AOrganisational tractableness Definition and BenefitsOrganisational Flexibility Definition and BenefitsHow can we define organizational tractableness? There are many definitions for flexibility. In the sense of managing human resources, flexibility can be defined as the organisation adapting to size, composition, responsiveness and the people . their inputs and costs required to achieved organisational objectives and goals. Organisational flexibility can also be defined when work gets done, where it gets done and how work gets done.Organisational Flexibility includesHaving flex time, so the employee chooses the start of their day and the end of their day,Being ab le to take off time through the day to take care of family issues, for example an employee being able to go everyday to fetch their children from inculcate and take them home then returning to work,Taking a few days off in order to take care of family matters and not losing any leave days or pay. So an example would be taking days off in order to go look after a sick family member or to go to a funeral or something,An employee working some of their daily work hours at home, so an employee either coming into work late due working at home in the morning, or leaving work early and working at home a few hours,Working shifts, this means employees working different times. Maybe working day shift one week and night shift the other week. Some people might take this as it would be more predictable. Therefore they can plan lives,When people choose when they want to work, the hours they want to work, knowing when they can take time off each day. Employees will generally have control over th eir work day or schedule,Employees can sometimes work longer hours during some days of the week in order to get some days off they have compressed their work week. Which allows them to have more time for themselves,In some cases employees can advance, go up in their jobs even of they choose their work hours or compress their weeksThe need for flexibility in the workplaceThe need for organisational flexibility is very important. When looking at why there is a need a for flexibility there are factors that are creating the need for flexibility in the workplace. Things are changing all the time, which means an organisation, must be able to take on these changes. Aspects such as social, technological, economical, legal, political and other global factors in which a business operate within are changing all the time, so organisations should be able to adapt when these changes happen. So in other words they need to be flexible. As it says there is a need for flexibility in the workplace, bu t there is also a need for flexibility in the workforce, meaning the staff. As change happens, how work gets done similarly changes therefore the workforce should also be flexible.Those aspects I mentioned above, I find is not the factor of change that requires the workplace to be flexible. Another factor I find to be important is the employees. People are changing. Their call for and wants are changing, their ways are changing, how they live is changing and how they work is changing too. Therefore some people are not wanting to work normally, having a Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 job. People are wanting to be more flexible with their time, therefore wanting to work less hours, certain(a) days of the week, have time off or whatever it may be. Therefore some of the workplaces might benefit if they make themselves flexible in the sense of offering these things to employees. So the workplace should be flexible with that factor too.There are some aspects that have allowed flexibility to be put in place in the workplace* The biggest asset to an organisation is the people who work there, therefore this can create competitive advantage through people. Its best if the organisation is flexible in the number of people and the skills in the workplace* Organisation are becoming more flexible in specialization production, so making specialized goods. And shifting from mass productions. fashioning goods of the same in bulk* There are changes in life-style, private and work life balance and social changes* There are constant technological changes. Therefore HR services are becoming wider organisations are doing things differently in the sense of technology. E working and so onI suppose in the past organisations were very merged, rigid. And today there still has to be structure in the workplace, as an organisation custom work if there wasnt some form of structure. In todays workplace, heavily structured organisations, with rigid job specifications, with strict management st yles wont work. The workplace is changing due the ever changing and not predictable environments. Therefore that is why there is a need for organisational flexibility.Types of Organisational FlexibilityThere are a number of different types of organisational flexibility. They areFunctional Flexibility- Functional flexibility basically states that employees will do jobs that go beyond what they are actually there to do. So they will perform jobs that they werent originally specified to do. So employees should be able to do different jobs but still do their own. So the organisation will require multi-skilled employees. So for example would be in an organisation, a debtors clerk doing their own job, which is debtors, but also being able to do creditors when required.Numerical Flexibility- This basically involves an organisation bring labour in or taking labour out in accordance service or product demand. The state of the economy can also be a factor for the organisation to bring in or go without labour. They can control this by the number of employees they need at the time. Therefore they will hire as they need. They can do this by hiring casuals or part time workers.Financial Flexibility-Procedural Flexibility-Skills Flexibility-Attitudinal Flexibility-Structural Flexibility-