Health Promotion: STIs and Community Resources According to www.healthypeople.gov/2020 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that there are approximately 19 million new sexually transmitted infections (STIs) every year with almost half of them being diagnosed among young adults ages 15 to 24. The financial impact of these commonly transmitted diseases on the healthcare system is estimated to be as high as sixteen billion dollars annually. Often times these cases of sexually transmitted diseases go unreported and undiagnosed. For example, the cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis that are reported may only represent a small part of the true influence these infections truly have on our nation’s healthcare system …show more content…
The tool will also be directed to at risk patients who may be seeking information after a possible exposure to an STI. The projected outcome of this project will be to better educate this at risk age group of young individuals about the dangers of unsafe sexual practices as well as provide them with the necessary resources to treat these infections and prevent them from spreading. Finally, this tool will provide resources to help prevent the contraction or spread of STIs. According to healthypeople.gov/2020, the spread of STIs in a community can be directly attributed to social, economic, and behavioral factors. Such factors may cause serious obstacles to STI prevention due to their influence on social and sexual networks, access to and delivery of care, willingness to seek care, and social norms regarding sexuality. Among certain vulnerable populations, historical experience with segregation and discrimination exacerbates the influence of these factors (Healthy People 2020, n.d.). Peoria County, where my hospital is located has a large population of low socio economic patients, which are at a greater risk of contracting STIs through risky sexual behavior and lower educational awareness of these diseases. In 2013, the rate of Chlamydia in Peoria County was 1.7 times greater than the rate of Chlamydia in the United States with some zip codes within the county being 4.9 times greater than the
Health care is extremely important, but one form which is overlooked or often not talked about often is sexual healthcare. Did you know these facts? Over 25 million people have died from AIDS since 1981. STDs often cause death, infertility, chronic pain, birth defects, & miscarriages. Everyday 12,000 American teens contract an STD. 1 in 5 Americans have genital herpes. 90% don’t know it and don’t show signs. There are 750,000 teen pregnancies in the U.S. a year (2,000 a day). About 80% of teen fathers don’t stay with the mom. Every 45 seconds someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted. How can we prevent these numbers and statistics? We can with Planned Parenthood.
The challenges that this population faces are directly related to psychosocial, physiological, economic and behavioral factors. Challenges such as these can cause serious obstacles for the prevention of STDs due to their influence on access to care, willingness to seek treatment, and social behaviors regarding sexuality. Often older adults are looked at as
Sexually transmitted infections are a very current, modern day health care issue. These infections are passed during unprotected genital, anal or oral sex. There are sometimes symptoms of the various infections however there are some infections that can also be symptom free and therefore can go undetected for quite some time. Young people in the UK typically aged 15-24 have the highest rates of sexually transmitted infections. There is a link between this age group and those living in socioeconomically deprived areas, suggesting these particular regions need better and easier access to healthcare services in order to detect, treat and avoid further spreading and damage caused by the infections. Raising awareness of the causes of each infection and symptoms is vital. The most common types of infections are: Chlamydia, Genital herpes and warts, gonorrhea,
Over one million cases of Chlamydia were reported to the CDC in 2013. Despite this large number of reports it actually was a decrease by 1.5% since 2012 (CDC, 2014). Epidemiology statistics showed an increase in reported syphilis, including congenital. Other sexually transmitted diseases can pose higher risks for acquiring HIV. According to new studies, HIV is growing faster in populations that are over 50 versus 40 years and younger (BenRose, 2014). Factors may play a role in this such as higher divorce rates, new medications, and safe sex measures. Therefore, it is important for the healthcare provider screen for sexual activity and any change in sexual partners to provide routine testing when necessary and education on preventive
This journal evaluates the epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases disparities of African-American in the united states in comparison to white communities. This study focuses on disparities for African American because of the massive diseases of bacterial sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis that the African American communities face. Most of the US population is either white or African American. This journal focuses on African American communities instead of African Americans because of the many diversities in the US African American population. Studies took from the Northeast, South, West and Midwest
Wysocki, 2015 estimated that half of all people in the United States will have contracted a sexually transmitted disease in their lifetime. Numerous young women under age 25 haven’t been screened and are asymptotic. Infections impact individuals of all economic levels and backgrounds. Three sexually transmitted diseases are required to be reported by physicians to public health officials. These three are syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia. African American and Latinos have barriers which increase rates of sexually transmitted diseases (Sutton, 2012).
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) continue to compromise the health of thousands of Americans daily, predominantly adolescents. According to the World Health Organization (2013), approximately one million Americans acquire an STD every day. Although the percentage of adolescents who have had sexual intercourse has declined since the 1990’s, those who have had sex are less likely to use any form of contraception, thus placing them at greater risk of acquiring an STD (Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 2015). Of the many STDs that are prevalent in the United States, chlamydia is one of the most commonly reported STDs (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2011). Undiagnosed or untreated chlamydia can cause many health problems including cervicitis, urethritis, and can advance to severe health issues such as pelvic inflammatory disease, infertility, and ectopic pregnancy (CDC, 2011).
Unfortunately, many young people face barriers preventing them from accessing recommended and necessary sexual health services. Stigma, discrimination, lack of knowledge, cost, transportation, and perceived lack of confidentiality all pose substantial obstacles to the services capable of providing the healthcare and education needed to help prevent STIs and other issues such as unwanted pregnancies. This paper aims to investigate a current piece of legislation addressing this issue, the Youth Access to Sexual Health Services Act (YASHSA) of 2016 (H.R. 4475, S. 3360, 2016). In 2016 Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) and Congresswoman Alma Adams (D-NC-12) introduced this bill and if enacted, the YASHSA would provide grants to specific qualifying entities to increase and improve access and pathways for marginalized youth to obtain their sexual and reproductive health care services.
The possibility of sexually transmitted diseases and infections poses a huge risk to all those who are sexually active. Without proper diagnosis and treatment, STDs and STIs such as Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, HIV/Aids, and HPV may leave permanent damage to one’s body and increase the likeliness of cervical cancer, infertility, ectopic pregnancy, and more. Planned Parenthood offers extensive testing for patients upon every visit to decrease the spread and damage of any and all diseases. According to Sonfield’s research, “Nearly half of female family planning clients receive chlamydia and gonorrhea tests, and 19% receive an HIV test… Without access to these services, in 2010, an estimated 3.6 million women and men would have forgone chlamydia or gonorrhea testing, which would have resulted in tens of thousands of undetected and untreated STIs. By reducing transmission to partners, these testing services helped prevent an estimated 99,000 chlamydia infections, 16,000 gonorrhea infections and 410 HIV infections that year” (Sonfield). The great amount of transferable diseases requires the counteractive services of Planned Parenthood to provide treatment and prevent the further spread of disease. Patients are offered and encouraged to receive testing to maintain sexual health. In the event of an issue, full treatment options are presented at low or no cost and
Currently, in our nation, there is a nationwide epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases(STD) caused by a lack of carefulness and overall disregard for general health and sexual standards. Americans have been engaged in premarital sex at an increasing rate since 2004 with 94% of the interviewed population stating they have had sex before marriage. This increase in “pleasure sex” has exposed much of America to STD’s and the resulting outbreak has been catastrophic. With an average of one out of four people carrying an STD even though they may not possess the symptoms, they pass it on through the increase in sexual behavior. If we as a nation work together to increase sexual standards and promote safe sex, then we can control this outbreak
In addition, there are gaps in the interpretation of notification data. Social stigma, discrimination against those affected by sexually transmitted infections and human rights abuse limit access to the available prevention and treatment strategies, and identifying the burden of the consequence from the STI on fertility.
To achieve these goals individuals must be educated and provided with information that will assist with making better choices and providing individuals with the resources that will allow them to seek appropriate care. According to the World Health Organization, public health programs that has encompasses these factors has been successful with reducing the number of cases of sexually transmitted disease that are reported each year. For example a study conducted in Norway where there was a decrease of approximately 10,000 for new cases of sexually transmitted diseases once an effective public health program was established within the community. The program was able to improve the prevention and treatment of citizens within the community. To achieve this results worldwide primary and secondary prevention programs need to be enhanced and integrated into community health care systems that will be accessible to everyone within the
For this health promotion assignment, the subject I have chosen to discuss is sexually transmitted infections (STI’s). STIs are spread from one person to another through intimate sexual contact but can also spread through non-sexual means such as via the blood or from mother to child during pregnancy (World health organisation (WHO), 2016). According to Mudhar (2013) groups that are particularly at a higher risk are young adults, men who have sex with men (MSM), black African and Caribbean communities. With more than one million STI’s acquired everyday worldwide, it is a major public health issue within society (WHO, 2016). Even though the overall health of the population in England has significantly improved over the past 50 years because of the highly valued NHS, health inequalities are still a dominant feature of health across all regions in England and many people still find it hard to accept that serious health inequalities still exist (Marmot, 2010).
The more frequent occurrence of STDs in the younger generations are also based upon the multiple barriers in retrieving the benefits in STD prevention services which includes the lack of health insurance or inability to pay, no transportation, embarrassment of the services in the facilities, and worries of discretion. (STDs) According to the US Department of Health and Human Service, twenty five percent of sexually active adolescents have already obtained an STD. (Parillo) The severity of the issue is approached with the control strategies and educational strategies. In which these educational strategies are more effective when it involves a big health educational program that is provided to our minors. The young populations that are particularly affected by STDs are the young women with a low income for it is easier for a female to receive an STD compared to men. And with those women having a low income, they are not able to access the services that are being provided to them. Today, four in ten sexually active adolescent girls have obtained an STD that can cause infertility and death; also two thirds of adolescent boys have HIV diagnoses.
Young adults easily make an assumption that getting a sexually transmitted disease will never happen to them. Except they are wrong, in most cases these infections do not discriminate against race, gender, or age. Unfortunately anyone who has had a STD is at greater risk for acquiring one again. Sexually transmitted diseases are infections that can be transferred from one person to another through any type of sexual contact. The current state of this issue is estimated every year having over twenty million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia and gonorrhea. Sexually transmitted diseases affects society and becomes a burden for the public health systems throughout the world. The reason why sexually transmitted disease is the topic I’m interesting in talking about is because adolescents and young adults, age’s fifth teen through twenty-four are the most at risk for obtaining an STD. This is an issue that needs to be addressed more in the public’s eyes and made an upmost priority. Personally this topic bothers me knowing college students are at high risk and if not taking into serious measures these infections can lead to further lifelong diseases or illnesses such as HIV. Healthy People 2020 strives to improve overall health nationwide through increasing public awareness while understanding the determinants of health, disease, and disability. Following under the Healthy People 2020 overall goal; sexually