Essay On Health Advocacy Campaign

Heart disease is the number on killer in the United States. Nearly 787,000 people in the U.S. died from heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular diseases in 2011. That’s about one of every three deaths in America. About 2,150 Americans die each day from these diseases.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of death and disability in the United States among adults. More than one-half of all deaths were caused by heart disease, cancer or

High blood pressure (hypertension) is a major health condition which affects many Americans. This health condition may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. A normal blood pressure consists of systolic blood pressure divided by diastolic blood pressure, 120/80mmHg (millimeters of mercury). High blood pressure is defined as systolic pressure which is greater than 140mm Hg, and diastolic pressure which is over 90mm Hg. Hypertension influences the health outcomes of black Americans more than other races in the United States. Racial discrimination and socioeconomic status are two major factors which influence the rate of high blood pressure in the black American population.

* The U.S. High Blood Pressure Education Program is a public-private cooperative effort formed to help reduce death and disability related to hypertension, which is at the root of 50% of those suffering heart attacks and two-thirds of those suffering strokes. Using a campaign that integrates social marketing to first build awareness of the “silent killer,” and then encourage action, awareness of the problem more than tripled to over 90% and those seeking treatment more than doubled within a single decade.

United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Healthy People 2020 (2018) recognizes cardiovascular disease as one of the most widespread and costly health problems in the United States, accounting approximately $320 billion in health care expenditures and related expenses annually. Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) identifies prevention of cardiovascular disease as one of the priorities and includes an objective “to increase overall cardiovascular health and quality of life for US population." (HHS, Healthy People 2020, 2018)

The risks of getting those diseases are even higher for African Americans.” (American Heart Association). High blood pressure and obesity are the common conditions that increase a heart disease. High blood pressure is a condition in which the blood flow is abnormally higher than usual in the arteries. “Nearly 42% percent black men and 45% black women of twenty years and older have high blood pressure” (DeNoon). Researchers may have found a gene in blacks that make them more sensitive to salt, which in the long run increases the risk of high blood pressure. Obesity in african americans is more common as well, which increases the risk of heart disease. 63% of black men and 77% of black women are overweight or obese. A solution for high blood pressure and obesity is a healthy diet and exercise. It won’t only reduce the chances of getting these conditions but also reduce the chances of a heart disease or a

Hypertension is a developing problem worldwide associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. In 2020, the world population will be approximately 7.8 billion people, and there will be 1 billon people who may be affected by hypertension (Tomson & Lip, 2005). One in three adults in the United States has high blood pressure. According to the report “Health, United States, 2010 with Special Feature on Death and Dying,” the prevalence of hypertension among adults 20 years old or older increased from 24% to 32% during 1988-1994 and 2005-2008. The African-American population has a higher prevalence of this health condition than white Americans do. In 2005 to 2008, the prevalence of hypertension among black males (41.4%) was more than 10%,

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines High Blood Pressure as the force of blood pushing against the walls of your arteries, which carry blood from your heart to other parts of your body. Blood pressure normally rises and falls throughout the day. But if it stays high for a long time, it can damage your heart and lead to health problems. High blood pressure raises your risk for heart disease and stroke, which are leading causes of death in the United States. One out of every three adults over the age of twenty- that’s nearly eighty million Americans have high blood pressure. What’s more interesting is that nearly twenty percent don’t even know they don’t have it. Consequently, African American suffer more from this disease than any other race. According to the American Heart Association, forty percent of African American men and women have high blood pressure (AHA, 2016). Notably, adults twenty years and older consist of 42.6 percent are men and 47.0 percent are women that have this illness. For years’ researchers, have tried to understand why High Blood Pressure affect the African American at a higher rate than others. As a

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the world, responsible for 30% of all deaths globally (WHO) 1 -3 deaths in the U .S. (CDC).

Encourage physicians to pay more attention to hypertension, as well as seek solutions to this problem by cooperating together and teaming with national programs.

Atherosclerosis is almost worldwide. Although it is hard to estimate how common atherosclerosis is, almost all adults have various parts of the illness. Cardiovascular disease is the single most common cause of illness and death in the developed country accounting for one in three of all deaths! Heart attacks due to coronary artery disease and strokes due to carotid artery disease are responsible for more deaths than all other causes combined. According to statics more than 80,000 people with cardiovascular disease died in 2005, making it the No.1 killer in America. Not only that, but each year in England and Wales, an estimated 124,000 deaths are caused by CVD, where about 39,000 of them occur in people under the age of 75. Due to the continuing obesity prevalent, it is predicted that atherosclerosis will continue to be a major health problem in this country.

Blood pressure of young adults (20-39) in my community was first assessed as I completed a windshield survey in Brockway PA. Blood Pressure is something we all have, but I found that we as a community often times neglect it until we start having symptoms. Nursing has taught me that preventative measures are cheaper and healthier than hypertension.

The program should be applied to different levels of preventions based on short term or long term needs in the community. Primary prevention approach is required to promote and maximize health and wellness in the community before injury or illness occurs (Vollman et al., 2017). Therefore, the program focuses its attention on providing the community with information on cardiovascular health, nutrition, exercise and stress management (Harkness & DeMarco, 2012). The first idea for primary intervention is providing the community with free blood pressuring and heart rate screenings to recognize the population in risk. The information about this part will be provided to the community from different sources such as news, healthcare facilities, schools, community association, and churches. The monitoring will be done through the family physicians, nurses and different stands that will be set up in different locations of the community such as pharmacies, shopping malls, churches and health facilities. All the resident of age forty-five

Approximately one in every three adult’s ages 20 years old and older are diagnosed with high blood pressure or hypertension. Hypertension affects 78 million people in the United States and is equally prevalent in both men and woman (Crabtree et al., 2013). Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (Hajjar & Kotchen, 2003). It can lead to stroke, myocardial infarction, renal failure, heart failure, neurological issues, and death if not detected early and not treated properly (James, Oparil, Carter, & et al., 2014). Approximately 9.4 million deaths in 2010 were attributed to high blood pressure (Angell, De Cock, & Frieden, 2015). About 54% of strokes, 47% of coronary heart disease, and 25 % of other cardiovascular diseases are attributed to high blood pressure (Arima, Barzi, & Chalmers, 2011).

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.