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Determinants Of The Disease / Health Condition

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1. Describe two determinants of the disease/health condition discussed in the article (2 points)

Two main determinants of health in this article are behaviors of the community and socioeconomic status of the community. The behaviors include injection drug use and needles because theses actions bring about a change in health for the user (Friis & Sellers, 2014). Many drug users were sharing needles spreading diseases such as AIDS and causing the largest HIV outbreak that Indiana had ever experienced (Harper, 2015). Another determinant would be the socioeconomic status of the population at risk. A poor socioeconomic status is a social determinant of their disease because it gave them fewer options with less accessibility to health care and …show more content…

The populations under surveillance are those that are using injection drugs and needles and those that have tested HIV positive due to drug use. This is a great way to track the users and to follow up to make sure that the users are coming back each week to exchange their needles. If users stop coming in for exchanges, the public health nurses can follow up with those individuals. The article did not go into great detail with statistics or if they collected data from any systematic collections within the population. It would be interesting to see real data for systematic reviews of the program to see if the number of HIV infected individuals is staying the same and not increasing. This would show proof that the needle exchange program is working.

3. List and describe how at least two of the seven uses of epidemiology are applicable to the public health topic(s) presented in the story. (2 points)

Of the seven uses of epidemiology, the following are applicable to the public health topic presented in the needle exchange story: diagnosing the health of the community, studying the working of health services, and estimating the individual risks of disease. By diagnosing the health of the community, the needle exchange program is able to measure the incidence and prevalence of disease, as well as identify the groups that they will be working with (Friis & Sellers, 2014). Harper (2015) reported that the needle exchange program is part of an

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