Measles Outbreak Among Somali Community in Minneapolis

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Short Essay
Social Determinants
Literacy, language, health provider availability, support systems, and the scope of social integration are among the most influential social determinants of health that influence health behaviors observed among the Somali Community in Minneapolis. First, the risk hesitancy manifesting in the Minneapolis case study is born from factors directly related to the racial and ethnic status of the community. For instance, income is a major factor in the health behaviors that play out in the case. Specifically, there is a wealth of research that demonstrates that inequalities in income adversely affect vaccine impact and vaccination dropout (Viswanath et al., 2021). On a closely related note, literacy and language are other factors closely associated with racial and ethnic status which affect vaccination uptake. Literacy and language impact the perceptions of people are the level of trust that they have in the public health system.
Second, provider availability and social integration are other critical factors that shape vaccination outcomes for the Minneapolis Somali-American community. A review of the case study indicates that the community demonstrates a substantial lack of trust in the public health system. Part of the reason for this mistrust is the fact that these communities may have impaired access to health resources and health information (Hall et al., 2017). These access inadequacies mean that the community may have poor perceptions of the system. Most importantly, the reality of existing and unresolved conditions such as autism also contributes to the misinformation that defines the community’s understanding of vaccine safety.
Proposed Intervention
A vaccine communication campaign directly targeting the Somali-American community in Minneapolis could help to address the vaccine hesitancy that characterizes the population group. Communication campaigns essentially take the form of community-level interventions that seek to provide accurate information that not only promotes a certain public health intervention but also seeks to address existing misconceptions (Henderson et al., 2020). In the present case, such an information campaign would target the myths about the safety of vaccines while providing opportunities for interaction between public health professionals and the target community. This intervention is especially appropriate because it would eliminate associated social determinants such as low literacy, linguistic challenges, and impaired interactions with health providers. Overall, such an intervention would provide opportunities to build trust in the public health system and interventions such as vaccines.
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