The United States Center for Disease Control recommends deferrals for several group of people based on various criteria. One of the group subjected to a deferral are men who have sex with men, referred to hereafter as MSM, and women who have sex with MSM. In November of 2014, a twelve-month deferral period replaced a lifetime ban on MSM donating blood. The basis for these deferral policies is preventing the spread of infectious diseases, particularly Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), through blood transfusions. While the goal of the policy is well-intentioned, it possesses serious flaws and shortcomings. There are many ways in which the current blood donation policy is inadequate. From a medical perspective, there are better indicators …show more content…
For example, the use of illegal injection drugs is by far the biggest indicator of HIV risk. The deferral policy does consider injection drug use. (“Advisory Committee”) Conversely, many risk factors are not considered in the policy. The majority of HIV infections are the result of unprotected sex, which is not included in the policy. (“HIV Among Gay”) Another unconsidered factor is testing positive for other STIs. Having an STI can put someone at a higher risk for getting another STI because the immune system can be compromised and open sores outbreaks can ask as pathways for infection disease. (“HIV Among Gay”) Likewise, a record of frequent STIs can indicate that a person is more susceptible to sexually transmission of infections due to their reproductive anatomy. (“Love”) Just as there are risk factors, there are many ways to decrease that risk. Proper condom use decreases the risk of HIV infection by 98-99% and using a medication called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, before sexual contact can reduce the risk by 92-99%. (“Love”) Knowing the HIV status of an individual’s partner or partners can also greatly reduce the change of HIV transmission. After all, the only way to become infected with HIV is to come into contact with a person who is HIV positive. The CDC justifies the deferral policy with the higher rates of HIV among gay and bisexual men. (“Revised Recommendations”) This is not to be disregarded. In 2014, the
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
The Chicago Department of Public health exemplifies a public health department that is extremely proactive and supportive of initiatives to eradicate or significantly decreasing the incidence of STI/HIV /AIDS in the City of Chicago. To this end, the Chicago Department of Health monitors the incidences of new cases in the city, while constantly monitoring the progression or regression of the conditions of patients already affected by the HIV virus. Statistical data is collected through the avenue set up for health care providers to report all pertinent information about newly diagnosed HIV or an unusual turn of events with old HIV cases. furthermore, the Chicago Department of Public health ( CDPH) through it monitoring programs is able identify threats, determine which health care services is need by a community and the target population. For example in the month of November their target segments were gays and bisexual African American men, because both groups were disproportionately impacted by the HIV outbreak during the previous summer,
PrEP is most effective when taken consistently each day. According to CDC, by using PrEP every day, you can lower your risk of getting HIV from sex by more than 90% and from injection drug use by more than 70%. Adding other strategies, such as condom use, along with PrEP can reduce a person’s risk even further.
There are many health problems that we face globally and each of them are important for us to be aware of and to take precautions and measures to prevent and treat such diseases that affect our global population. HIV/AIDS is a disease that is spread through direct contact with body fluids from a person who is infected with the virus, these fluids include blood, semen, rectal fluid, vaginal fluids and breast milk. There are an approximate 35 million people living with the disease globally as of 2015 and about 1 million of those people are children under the age of 15 (Aids.gov, 2016). There are approximately 1.2 million people in the U.S. living with the disease and of those individuals many became infected with HIV by needle or syringe sharing,
Some 110 million Americans have an STD at any given time. With 50 percent of new STD cases involving persons aged 15-24(CDC), it's clear to see that there is a problem with prevention of these Infections. With having an STD, it puts people at more risk to get the HIV virus, which is not curable at this time (STD Facts). Showing that people who haven't contracted an STD are less likely to preform risky sex behavior.
This shows that this is important for the public health system to represent diseases to direct relation to different groups of people who are particularly vulnerable. The public health system has a political obligation to represent sex related diseases in a way that the gay community can engage and understand how they can prevent themselves from contracting these
When looking at the current organ donation system, one can see it’s obvious flaws. Yet, there doesn't seem to be a way to solve the problems without wandering into ethically murky water. However there is a solution that avoids these problems. An opt-out system has various benefits which would make great progress to eliminating the organ shortage. Because of the massive organ shortage, which has resulted in death, the federal government ought to implement an opt-out organ donation system.
The appointed epidemiologist fulfilled these functions by collecting data, providing risk factors, and providing recommendations about the cause of disease to the public. The World Health Organization (2015) states, “A risk factor is any attribute, characteristic or exposure of an individual that increases the likelihood of developing a disease or injury.” (World Health Organization, 2015) There are several risk factors associated with the spread of HIV which include, the practice of engaging in vaginal, anal, or oral sex in conjunction with having numerous and unspecified partners, while not using a condom. If people have a
Women bear the greatest burden of STDs, suffering more serious health complications than men do. In addition, existing infrastructure for the provision of family planning and prenatal care may permit efficient integration of STD screening for women. Although interventions with women have played significant role in the decline of STDs within the United States and continued efforts need to be direct3ed at sustaining these behavioral changes, studies designed to better understand heterosexual men attitudes and practices regarding STD prevention and particularly warranted. This lack emphasis on heterosexual men, the “forgotten group” is troublesome given their obvious contribution to continuing STD transmission. Research has shown that a man infected with the pathogens causing gonorrhea, chlamydia, hepatitis B, and cancroid can readily infect a woman through a single sexual encounter (Grimley 2004). Men unknowing effect women with greater compilation so with the helpful prevention and the use of condom the rates could drop significantly and better the chance of a healthier community and public
The Center for Disease Control (CDC), is the main government body tracking, preventing, and evaluating the spread of risky and common diseases throughout the United States. In some cases, some diseases are not being reported by local and state governments making it hard for the CDC to track down the origin of the outbreak or behavior pattern of people involved. The authority requiring notification of cases or laboratories’ results referring to sexual transmitted diseases (STDs) such as Syphilis, HIV, or communicable diseases resides in the respective state legislatures. In many cases, local government health care departments provide epidemiologic services encouraging health care providers to facilitate the findings with the intent to
Duval County has the highest percentage of population of HIV mostly affected by risky sexual behavior (FDOH, n.d.). In this paper, I will discuss HIV tests and mortality rate among African American male less than 65 years of age in Duval County.
The CDC is a worldwide resource for control of diseases. While the Georgia Composite Medical Board is an agency that licenses anyone in a healthcare job an example would be physicians. This board investigates healthcare professionals complaints. They also discipline the healthcare professionals who violate the Medical Practice Act. They can violate other laws though.
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) is a part of the Department of Health and Human Services. It is most widely known for its study and tracking of diseases. It actually does much more than that. One category of information available from the CDC includes injury, violence and safety. The CDC in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) collects data on violence that is directly related to the fields of criminal justice and criminology. The CDC is often overlooked as a source of information in the study of criminology, but it has a lot of relevant information. For this report I will use information from the World Report on Violence and Health obtained from the CDC website to discuss youth violence and sexual violence. I will
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that total cost in fall-related injuries will exceed over 30 billion by the year 2020 (Bonuel, Manjos, Lockett, & Gray-Becknell, 2011, p. 156). Reducing the risk of patient falls will minimize patient injuries and reduce financial constraints placed on hospitals. According to the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) the risk of patient falls is a nursing-sensitive indicator (ANA Indicator History, 2015). As a way to subside their anxiety in waiting for assistants the patient makes the decision to attempt moving on their own, a large percentage are related to restroom or bedpan usage an there is a need for physical and emotional care to diminish the risk of fall. The author explains that once a patient is found on the floor (observed or unobserved) or is lowered to the floor this constitutes a fall (Goldsack, Bergey, Mascioli, & Cunningham, 2015, p. 6). In severe cases death can occur do to falls, in minor occurrences bruising, fractures and reopening of wounds can lead to longer hospitalization that can be a financial burden to the patient and hospital. Patient can experiences an array of emotions while hospitalized such as lack of independence fear of repeated falls, embarrassment and anxiety.
An individual’s sexual orientation is also a factor because although heterosexual men and women are overwhelmingly affected and hence represented in health reports, homosexual male youth (referred by the acronym of men who have sex with men, MSM, in some reports) have a higher risk of infection; large heterosexual figures may be due to a larger heterosexual population overall. The heightened risk associated with MSM populations can be attributed to unprotected anal intercourse, an increased number of sexual partners, as well as co-infection