Global Disparity

From what I have learned in class and from readings, I believe that socioeconomic status is the most influential factor in the spread of diseases like STIs. A person's ability to protect their own safety and to acquire medical care is directly related to their income and class. For example, women in Sub-Saharan Africa are more at risk of acquiring AIDS because they often do not have the power to demand condom use from their partners or to seek the healthcare they need. In many low-income coutnries, healthcare is very limited and difficult to obtain, again placing those with a low socioeconomic status at a serious disadvantage. From the videos we have watched in class and from the textbook, it seems like the best way to combat the spread of STIs and other diseases is to reduce poverty and empower women, thereby raising individuals' socioeconomic status and thus their ability to protect themselves and improve their access to necessary healthcare.
As an American, I think it is difficult for us to imagine living in a world in which high-quality healthcare is not readily available. I think that as Americans, we tend to make ethnocentric judments about people from other countries and the diseases they are burdened with, without considering the reality of socioeconomic disparity. The relatively low cost of vaccines and prophylactics here in America is often unimaginably expensive for much of the rest of the world. Here in America, we hardly ever hear about diseases related to poor sanitary conditions or unsafe drinking water, let alone rampant STIs that have vaccines and treatments. The rest of the world is not so lucky, especially those living in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, where the highest disease burdens are found. It bothered me to hear in Wednesday's video about perceptions of AIDS victims in Africa being "sexually promiscuous" because it is such a hypocritical, baseless judgement, especially when considering that many of those victims acquired the disease in-utero.
Problems associated with global disparities cannot be solved by just handing out condoms and vaccines. Issues of women's rights and high rates of poverty must also be addressed. Only through a comprehensive, cooperative approach to global disparity will solutions be found.