Band Played On

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In the film And the Band Played On by Roger Spottiswoode, the major themes revealed throughout the film is the lack of participation from the governments behalf on this epidemic, divisional of private and public sectors and medical dominance between medical researchers. In this epidemic outbreak the government showed a lack of insensitivity towards the CDC when they wanted a way to test the blood that was being donated but the government felt as it was not cost-efficient (And the Brand Played On, 1993). This prevented the CDC from coming to conclusions that this virus AIDs may have been transmitted between homosexual men at bathhouses but it was spreading because of blood transfusion. The government emphasized that publicly ran services such…show more content…
The federal government agreed to the course that AIDS would be considered their top priority but failed to understand why it doesn’t require funding. For example in the film it was shown that CDC introduced the idea of testing blood with the Hepatitis B test, which was statistically said that is was 88% effective in detecting a unknown disease (And the Band Played On, 1993). It may not have been 100% effective in detecting any unknown disease but yet this test would have saved a few lives but the American government did on release the funds since it was not cost-efficient. By watching the film it is clear that reform is needed to ensure the sustainability of Medicare in America because the government is less focused towards the experiences of patients but more on cost. American government lack the leadership it needed to provide to ensure citizens that they were well educated regarding the outbreak. American public had a lack of interest in the virus that is spreading around because the publicity of the virus was targeted towards homosexuals which didn’t concern the heterosexuals. Basically, the government states individuals can have all the health care they want but in order for that to occur an increase in tax must occur. Obviously the heterosexuals would disagree because they believe this virus does…show more content…
In Canada, in the 1980s Canadians were infected through the blood supply before the testing of HIV was being introduced. The approach the Canadian Red Cross Society decided to do regarding healthcare delivery was to exclude all men who have had sex with a man even once since 1977 (Canadian Blood Services, 2015). In more recent encounters as of 2013, the Canadian Blood Services reviewed their donor eligibility which now modifies and does not segregate homosexual individuals that do have sexual interactions with other men. The new policy suggest that men who have sex with men are eligible to donate blood as long as they meet the criteria in which if it has been at least five year since he last had intercourse with another man (Canadian Blood Services, 2015). This five-year deferral period sanctions time for any upcoming infectious diseases that may be found that can also be treated. The goal that the Canadian Blood Services have is to prioritize the patient’s safety and be more inclusive of certain groups of individuals that may be minorities which minimizes social impact. Technology advancement was clearly a big issue back than because screening was very limited, obviously not detecting viruses 100% to where in modern time screening is more

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