The HIV virus is a retrovirus, meaning it can copy itself from RNA into DNA after infecting a cell. This virus contains single-stranded RNA in its core and surrounded by membrane-bound proteins, some of which is capable of binding to a particular protein on the surface of T-cells. After binding, the virus is brought into the cell and its outer membrane is removed by protein, exposing the RNA; the T-cell is now exposed to the virus’s genetic material. An enzyme known as reverse transcriptase attach to the RNA and turn it into a single strand DNA, which is then copied into a double-stranded DNA. This DNA then finds shelter in the nucleus of our cells, where replication continues. It then infects the helper T-cells, which is necessary to activate the immune responses of both B-cell and T-cell. Without helper T-cells, the body cannot make antibodies properly, which is also why infected cells containing HIV cannot be eliminated. Consequently, the virus can: multiply, kill the helper T-cell in which it lives, infect adjacent helper T-cells, repeat the cycle, and on and on, until eventually there is a substantial loss of helper T-cells.

At this stage, the HIV infection has developed into AIDS. Since AIDS is a syndrome, meaning a collection of symtoms (not a disease), people do not die directly from AIDS. Instead, they die from other diseases that has infected your body but your immune system cannot protect you because it is also infected. People can contract HIV via bodily fluids: blood, semen, vaginal fluids, breast milk, and possibly saliva.

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AIDS in Brazil

In Brazil, the first case of AIDS was recorded in 1982. Surely it has existed in the country for longer than that; however, Brazilian dictatorships have closed up debate in the country regarding the syndrome. It was the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that pushed for a change and the issue is eventually brought out in the open in Brazil. In 1985, the government formed the National AIDS Program (NAP) with many partner organizations to help spread the awareness among AIDS and reaching out to the public to inform them of the condition and how to prevent it. At the beginning of the Brazilian AIDS epidemic, most of the people becoming infected with HIV were homosexual men, who lived mainly in big cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. As the epidemic progressed, increasing numbers of people became infected through heterosexual sex and injecting drug use. Brazil is the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South America and accounts for 57 percent of all AIDS cases in Latin America and the Caribbean. Between 1983 and 2002, the Ministry of Health had reported nearly 240,000 cumulative cases. The graph below shows the trend in AIDS developments in the population over 20 years. AIDS cases experienced a spiking increase up until 1998, then gradually decreases from there.

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This chart shows the AIDS trend in more recent times. With the exception of the increase from 1994 to 1995, the spread of AIDS has steadily decreases over the years from 1995 to 1997, and this decline continues to take place from there on.

Brazil’s Social Policies

In response to the AIDS epidemic, Brazil joined the universal campaign to distribute anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) to its citizens free of charge. They also implemented needles exchange programs to eliminate HIV contraction through blood transfusions. The government also launched programs that would decrease the price and increase the availability of condoms, as well as preaching its people to practice safe sex. However, Brazil refuses to denounce prostitution. Also, “despite the fact that Brazil has the largest population of Roman Catholics in the world, the Brazilian Roman Catholic Church has not demanded the abstinence-only prevention strategies, voicing only intermittent mild complaints about government programs which refuse to acknowledge moral or religious issues.” Overall, Brazil has employed many basic HIV-prevention measures that are being implemented worldwide (or at least the nations that can afford to implement them). However, for a country like Brazil, with a HDI (Human Development Index) score of 0.8 (which is considered to be high), Brazil have some room to expand regarding methods for AIDS prevention. But nevertheless, HIV prevalence in Brazil is still higher than almost all of its neighboring countries.