Developing A Health Advocacy Campaign

On August 19, 1992, a woman named Mary Fisher spoke on a rather sensitive topic in an attempt to change the world. In an address to the Republican National Convention, Fisher lectured on a subject close to her heart, HIV and AIDS. Mary Fisher is an artist, author, and of course political activist. She contracted HIV from her second husband and has since been on a mission to educate people about prevention of the disease and the treatment of people that have HIV or AIDS. Fisher was speaking at the convention in Houston, Texas in an attempt to get people to take action. Fisher wanted people to be informed about the diseases and have a genuine care about those infected. I found her speech exceedingly compelling as well as an exceptional display

Developing a health advocacy campaign entails advocating for policies and laws to protect a population. The process of creating policies and laws can involve many steps. Milstead (2013) explains four major stages of policymaking, agenda setting, legislation and regulation, implementation, and evaluation. Agenda setting is the stage at which a problem is identified and brought to the attention of government officials; legislation and regulation is the point at which government officials respond to the problem; implementation is the process of setting policies in motion and enforcing them; and evaluation is the reassessment of how well the policy is working to solve the problem (Milstead, 2013).

To protect the health, safety and wellbeing of everyone I care for. By ensuring that I identify health issues early I am able to inform the relevant people quickly and that will hopefully prevent the health issues getting worse, meaning that their health, safety, wellbeing and quality of life is improved and maintained as much as possible. It is also important to raise awareness to comply with company policies and legislation.

Advocacy is a term that get used to defining a political process through which an individual or group aims at influencing decisions within economic, political and social systems within an institution. It includes a lot of activities ranging from people or organizations undertaking massive media campaigns, publishing research, commissioning or conducting exit polls. Or the filing of an amicus brief as well as public speaking (Daly, 2011). Also, advocacy can get defined as taking actions with an aim of helping people say what they want, represent their interests and secure their rights and above all to obtain services they need. As well as entering into partnerships with support groups in the promotion of social inclusion, social justice, and

Education of HIV/AIDS is very important to help prevent from becoming infected with this deadly disease. There are many factors that are being looked at that may be associated with the affect of the transmission of HIV such as, gender relationships, social exclusion and poverty, etc. These issues happen every day and health care providers must help those infected with HIV/AIDS to start treatment right away (Mayo Group, 2010). A national health policy must formulate different guidelines what will enable the policy to help the government govern the public. This stage is really important to help bring health care policies together.

The purpose of this dissertation isto assess the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) care continuum. This dissertationwill focuson addressing the gap in current research by improving understanding of the impacts of the ACA on care for individuals living with HIV. It is estimated that over 1 million Americans live with HIV (Kates, 2012). Though the number of HIV infections has stabilized at around 50,000 annually, there are reports of new strains of HIV arising among homosexuals (Kates, 2012). People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) are less likely to be insured due to low socio-economic status (SES), therefore, rely on Medicaid for insurance coverage. Statistics indicate that only 25% of PLWHA are virally

Due to gaps in policy oversight, the percentage of minorities living with HIV and AIDS in the United States remains high. It has remained high due in part to policies that were implemented during the early 90’s, emblematically The Ryan White Care Act, along with in policy makers for their failure to recognize the special needs and factors that pertain to minority groups, specifically African Americans and Non-white Hispanics. The racial disparities that have historically plagued these minority groups were initially overlooked in the policy making and implementation process. In turn, it is no disheartening wonder that certain figures and data are now representative of the minority demographic; example:

In addition, the schools that takes part in the project avails a controlled setting in which the manipulation of the environment is possible.

According to recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 1.2 million individuals in the United States have HIV (about 14 percent of which are unaware of their infection and another 1.1 million have progressed to AIDS. Over the past decade, the number of HIV cases in the US has increased, however, the annual number of cases remains stable at about 50, 000 new cases per year. Within these estimates, certain groups tend to carry the burden of these disease, particularly the gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men (MSM) and among race/ethnic groups, Blacks/African American males remain disproportionately affected. (CDC)

With the help of government programs such as the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) as well as multiple other methods of sociological research and social justice work, there have been shifts toward better understanding this disease, those which are living with it, and the societal impact one’s own prejudices can make toward an individual living with AIDS. However, discrepancies still exist within how to properly educate others on the disease, how to recognize it as a disability within the context of our society, and how we must reconcile stigmas that play a role in plaguing any sort of positive conversation on the topic. With well-informed citizens on the issues of HIV and AIDS patients, not only can we reduce the stigma associated with the illness, but also work toward medical advancements that assist those living with HIV in a nondiscriminatory manner.

These community’s views changed, when role model individuals like Magic Johnson came forward to declare his HIV status. The society as a whole came to the realization that the disease is an epidemic. The disease has now turn into an epidemic within the African American community, infection rate has gone up twice the amount when compared to other groups, white and Latinos. The United States is the highest fundraiser for HIV/AIDS globally, but the U.S is facing a major ongoing HIV epidemic, the society is less educated, struggled from societal pressure due to stigmatization, health disparities, and poverty. The shame and discrimination continue to hinder people's access to HIV prevention, testing and treatment services, driving the cycle of new infections. Social, economic, and legal barriers all contributed to prevention of

HIV is highly prevalent among the United States population, primarily affecting African Americans of all economic levels and age groups. HIV is transmissible through sexual contact and damages the immune system as it interferes with the individual’s capability to fight off any infections or illnesses. Health inequalities that greatly affect the high rates of HIV include but are not limited to: higher rates of poverty, lack of awareness, intercourse within the same sex, having anxiety towards getting tested for STD’s or HIV, as well as being fearful of “coming out”. Local, state, and nationwide organizations are designed to inform and provide assistance to those who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. S.A.A.F. (Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation)

The most common vector for the virus to enter the body is through sexual transmission, either by anal, oral, or vaginal sex. The highest risk activity is anal sex, as the mucous membrane inflammation facilitates HIV transmission (McCutchan, 2013). However, other modes such as sharing needles when injecting drugs, tiny cuts or sores on a person’s vagina, mouth, or penis, or simply the birth of a child by an infected mother, can all spread the disease to other

Just as clearly, experience shows that the right approaches, applied quickly enough with courage and resolve, can and do result in lower HIV infection rates and less suffering for those affected by the epidemic. An ever-growing AIDS epidemic is not inevitable; yet, unless action against the epidemic is scaled up drastically, the damage already done will seem minor compared with what lies ahead. This may sound dramatic, but it is hard to play down the effects of a disease that stands to kill more than half of the young adults in the countries where it has its firmest hold—most of them before they finish the work of caring for their children or providing for their elderly parents. Already, 18.8 million people around the world have died of AIDS, 3.8 million of them children. Nearly twice that many—34.3 million—are now living with HIV, the virus [9].

The health behavior that was chosen to promote during our campaign was yoga. We encouraged students, staff, and faculty members at Knox College to partake in yoga classes offered by the school in order to reduce stress and target a particular health/illness outcome. The main physical health/illness outcome targeted in this campaign was reduced blood pressure. Yoga is also seen to improve cardiovascular health. We chose to focus on the benefits of yoga to improve blood pressure and cardiovascular health instead of just one or the other because most of the studies that we found while researching mentioned both decreased blood pressure and improved cardiovascular health occurring from practicing yoga.