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The most important objective related to infectious diseases in my community is to reduce the rates of gonorrhea. Infections resulting in the sexual transmission of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (gonorrhea) and Chlamydia trachomatis (chlamydia) remain high burdens among adolescents and young adults (Myers, A., 2017). In the area of Kansas that I live in there are 3 community colleges all within about 60 miles of each other. These college age students frequently congregate together which has been a known reason for the increased Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD) rates.
This subject is important to me because STDs are fully preventable. There is a clear need for education regarding the importance of prevention, but also it is important to provide information to the students on low income services. Many of the college student come from other areas on sports scholarships. They are unfamiliar with the area, and therefore unfamiliar with the services offered or even the locations of where to find those services. Outreach has been an effective way to combat this problem. Going out to the schools and providing informational pamphlets and free condoms has been a great tool in reducing those rates, but more needs to be done to reduce these numbers.
Reference:
Myers, A., McCaskill, S., & VanRavenstein, K. (2017). Improving STD Screening Rates on a University Campus. Journal of Community Health, 42(6), 1247–1254. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10900-017-0377-9
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Post #2
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According to the Nies & McEwen (2015) the rate of STDs in the United States is some of the highest in the industrialized world and is catching up to the rates in some developing countries. In Pennsylvania between 2003 and 2018 the rate of primary and secondary syphilis rose by nearly 400%. In 2003 to 2017 the rate of chlamydia increased 59% and Gonorrhea increased by 34%. (PA Department of Health 2021). Pennsylvania has other problems with infectious disease as well. Pennsylvania ranks 26 in childhood immunizations. In 2017 only 70% of children aged 19 to 35 months had been vaccinated. This is below the Healthy People 2020 (HP2020) goal of 80%. Pertussis (whooping cough) is highly contagious and can be prevented with a vaccine. In the two years 2016 to 2018 there were 3,038 new pertussis cases in PA. Of those cases, 263 were children who were less than one year old (PA Department of Health 2021). According to the Healthy People 2020 website 42,000 adults and 300 children die each year from vaccine preventable diseases (HealthyPeople.gov 2021). Pennsylvania also has a unique problem with
Lyme disease. This is a bacterial infection that is spread through tick bites. It caused more than 30,000 illnesses in the past three years in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is one of the highest ranked states for Lyme Disease and cases have more than doubled in the past 15 years. 30% of all the cases of Lyme Disease in the United States were in Pennsylvania.
References:
https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/immunization-and-infectious-diseases/
Nies, M.A., McEwen, M. (2019). Community/public health nursing: Promoting the health of populations (7th ed.) Elsevier.
The State of Our Health (2021). Pennsylvania Department of Health. https:// health www..pa.gov/Topics/Documets/Health%20Planning/SHA-Key-Health-Findings_%202-18.pdf
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