NEWSLETTER PUBLIC HEALTh
Effects of HIV as a Communicable Disease
HIV also Human Immunodeficiency Virus is a communicable disease that is spread through blood and sexual body fluids. It destroys white blood cells in the body which are responsible for immunity (Gulick & Flexner, 2019). If the HIV patient does not take the required medication, the disease progresses to AIDS which leads to death. HIV is mostly spread through unprotected sex with an infected partner. However, other forms of contraction include, coming into contact with infected blood through sharing needles, and also during
childbirth. Environmental factors related to HIV include poor hygiene and a high prevalence of alcohol and drug abuse. These factors increase the rate of HIV infections. In my community, efforts to control it include proper sexual education especially in schools. Public health specialists and community programs have ensured that they have regular visits in schools where they teach students about HIV. The classes have been made compulsory for all students and all local schools have enrolled in this program
HIV AIDS CONTROL
Another effort of control made by our community is the use of local campaigns that involve the local people (Gulick & Flexner, 2019). In addition, these campaigns offer testing kits, treatment plans, and counselling for patients and families living with individuals living with HIV. The campaigns and community education programs are set to reduce
the stigmatization that is often associated with the disease which causes victims to often feel secluded. Also, the efforts are meant to create proper awareness on HIV, and ways to reduce rates of infection and spread.
Status and Disease Management
In areas with low socioeconomic status, the people have little or no access to quality treatment and insurance plans that avail affordable treatment to them. In addition, socioeconomic status is directly linked to the level of literacy within a community. Regions associated with low incomes are also low in health literacy levels and this means that they are unaware and misinformed on HIV treatment plans, care, forms of prevention and also have the highest rates of HIV stigmatization. These households struggle with managing HIV and its spread and often face high levels of mortality and progression to AIDS.
They are also unaware of the use of condoms as measures of control and they do not keep up with regular medical intake. Within the community, regions with promiscuous lifestyles and regular the regular drugs and alcohol have much higher rates of infection than other regions (Gulick & Flexner, 2019). This lifestyle is associated with unprotected sex because the individuals are often careless with their actions when under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
This lifestyle also trickles down to younger generations who are sexually active and this further accelerates the rate of HIV infections.
COMMUNITY AND HIV AWARENESS
Gaps in my community include the low numbers of regular testing of HIV as compared to the total population. There are still a large number of people within the community who might be living with HIV/AIDS and are unaware, stigmatized, and continue to spread the virus. Connecting the community with more information from national public health agencies on ways and options of testing will help to encourage more people to get tested. These resources will help to inform people on
ways they can test and seek treatment privately. This is not available locally, and all local forms of testing and treatment plans involve face to face consultations with healthcare providers. Recommendations to expand the local programs include working in closer contact with the state health agency and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase the rate of HIV testing. The local officials and health managers being more proactive with the national officials will create a good rapport for the community. This will increase the CDC being more proactive in increasing the rate of testing, care, and also tracking the HIV trends within the community. This will help to increase the capacity of the programs already in place in terms of their scope (Phanuphak, & Gulick, 2020).
Public Health Efforts
The public health department is currently investing in more educational programs in schools to help educate more adolescents on HIV, and overall increase their awareness. The public health department is also financially funding local community projects that help to educate medical experts, nurses, and public health speakers.
The increased funding is meant to impact quality knowledge on the medical experts in HIV thus increasing the quality of information they deliver in schools and also within community forums. The funding has also increased the number and quality of equipment required for successful forums and school HIV learning programs such as projectors, testing kits, speakers, videos, and specified halls. This has ensured that the rate of new infections has been substantially reduced and also those already infected have gained back their health thus reducing the overall mortality rate associated with AIDS. Approximately 44% of youth living with HIV were unaware of their condition, and an evidence-based intervention known as the Community Promise is seek to be adopted within the community.
The Community Promise is an intervention that uses role models within the community to help reduce risky behaviors amongst youth, and help create public awareness and reduce spread through actions such as distribution of condoms (Sherman & Hunter, 2018). The plan to ensure quality health in my community is to carry out regular testing by offering subsidized rates and also through creating awareness through HIV intervention programs like the Community Promise. Also, offering HIV medication at affordable and more accessible rates within the community will help patients to better care for their health and also improve the overall quality of health within the community. A healthy community is a result of combined stakeholder efforts.
References
Gulick, R. M., & Flexner, C. (2019). Long-acting HIV drugs for treatment and prevention. Annual review of medicine, 70, 137-150.
Phanuphak, N., & Gulick, R. M. (2020). HIV treatment and prevention 2019: current standards of care. Current Opinion in HIV and AIDS, 15(1), 4-12.
Sherman, S., & Hunter, K. (2018). Evidence-Based Structural Interventions for HIV Prevention. Structural Interventions for HIV Prevention: Optimizing Strategies for Reducing New Infections and Improving Care, 179.
What Students Are Saying About Us
.......... Customer ID: 12*** | Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐"Honestly, I was afraid to send my paper to you, but splendidwritings.com proved they are a trustworthy service. My essay was done in less than a day, and I received a brilliant piece. I didn’t even believe it was my essay at first 🙂 Great job, thank you!"
.......... Customer ID: 14***| Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
"The company has some nice prices and good content. I ordered a term paper here and got a very good one. I'll keep ordering from this website."
