Developing an Advocacy Campaign

Application Assignment 2: Part 2 - Developing an Advocacy Campaign To prepare: -Review Chapter 3 of Milstead, J. A. (2012). Health policy and politics: A nurse's guide (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers -In the first assignment, you reflected on whether the policy you would like to promote could best be achieved through the development of new legislation, or a change in an existing law or regulation. Refine as necessary using any feedback from your first paper. -Contemplate how existing laws or regulations may affect how you proceed in advocating for your proposed policy. -Consider how you could influence legislators or other policymakers to enact the policy you propose. -Think about the obstacles of the legislative process that may prevent your proposed policy from being implemented as intended. To complete: Part Two will have approximately 3–4 pages of content plus a title page and references. Part Two will address the following: -Explain whether your proposed policy could be enacted through a modification of existing law or regulation or the creation of new legislation/regulation. -Explain how existing laws or regulations could affect your advocacy efforts. Be sure to cite and reference the laws and regulations using primary sources. -Provide an analysis of the methods you could use to influence legislators or other policymakers to support your policy. In particular, explain how you would use the “three legs” of lobbying in your advocacy efforts. -Summarize obstacles that could arise in the legislative process and how to overcome these hurdles. -Paste the rubric at the end of your paper. Here is Part 1 essay to use as a reference: HPV Awareness Campaign Among the common sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S is human papillomavirus (HPV) (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014c). Preventive vaccines for this virus have been developed but exposure to its strands is a possibility among the U.S residents. Despite all the efforts of increasing awareness of the disease in the country, lack of education and administration has proved to be the major factors that are hindering creation of awareness among the citizens of U.S.A. This paper will discuss the possible policy that will help in the administration HPV preventive vaccine in the country. Population HPV is a sexually transmitted disease that has infected almost 25 million people in the U.S (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014c). The disease can lead to cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancer in women and mouth, throat, and anal cancer in both genders (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014c). Survey has revealed that almost 12,000 women in the United States get diagnosed with cervical cancer that is a progress of HPV and third of the infected population is presumed to die making it a critical health issue that demands for an immediate attention (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014c). A preventive vaccine that covered strands of 6, 11, 16, and 18 which is the cause of 75% and 90% of cervical cancer and genital warts respectively was introduced in the United States (Merck Vaccines, 2014). The administration of the vaccine was approved in both genders of ages between 9-13 years olds (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014c). Awareness and education should be given a priority while administering the vaccine. HPV Awareness Campaign HPV Advocacy Campaigns Lack of education and access to the necessary resources for the administration of HPV vaccines seem to be the major factors that are hindering the success of the campaigns. Medicaid and public assistance programs, being among the costliest state programs, tend to garner most of a governor's attention, this can and will affect the quality of public health services (Jonas&Kovner,2015). The advocacy campaigns are supporting the education and awareness in increasing the administration of the vaccines. Patient-centered and individualized care campaigns are effective in educating and creating awareness (Ladner et al., 2012). The Gardasil Access Program (GAP) The program provided free school based administration of Human Papillomavirus vaccinations to the low-income counties in the country (Ladner et al., 2012). Female students of the ages 9-13 were given packets that highlighted the importance of being vaccinated as they went to their homes to get consent from their guardians to be vaccinated during school hours (Ladner et al., 2012). The consented children were the only ones who were vaccinated. Higher completion of HPV vaccination was witnessed in school-based programs as compared to heath facility based campaigns (Ladner, et al., 2012). The program depends on the location and the school was considered as the ideal location since it does not disrupt any routine in the students' schedule and takes them away from the class for few minutes. Also, the parents do not have to take off from the schedules to keep an appointment with the doctors and the students do not miss any significant activity in the school. Administration of the vaccines was ensured by the school nurses and aided the campaign to be a success since they acted as education resources to both parents and students. The Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services Campaign (CBCHS) The program was based out of Africa received funding for vaccinating and educating people on HPV (Wamai et al., 2012). The campaign saw health care providers visiting churches, schools, and local clinics to educate the locals and offer consent for HPV vaccinations (Wamai et al., 2012). Also, the campaign was done through advertisements on television and radio stations for those who cannot get a face-to-face education from the health care workers (Wamai et al., 2012). Those who offered consent for the administration of HPV vaccines, mobile and local health clinics acted as the locations of the campaign. After the completion of the program, a survey was done to evaluate its success where 350 of those who participated admitted to be aware of the preventive vaccine (Wamai et al., 2012). The campaign used the person-centered approach in creating awareness of the HPV preventive vaccine. Also, the program was successful because it was promoted through the local television and radio stations. The health care workers also played a role in education the local residents through the frequent visits to the local churches, schools, and clinics without disrupting the schedules. The mobile and stationer local clinics also contributed to the success of the campaign since they provided chances of compliance with the required instructions and conditions. HPV Policy Plan HPV prevention campaigns are important in educating, screening, and vaccinating the local residents against the virus. The low compliance rates with the HPV prevention vaccines raise the alarm for a need of urgency (Russell, Raheja, & Jaiyesimi, 2013). There are preventive vaccines that have been approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) and are available for preventing HPV (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014b). However, the vaccine is not effective in preventing every strand of the disease. It does not cover strands for 6, 11, 16 and 18 that may progress to cervical cancer (Centers for Disease Control and prevention, 2014b). Many states have put efforts that will ensure compliance by requiring all clinics to administer the vaccines to children who are entering the sixth grade. With all these efforts, still refusal remains the main challenge (Russell, Raheja, & Jaiyesimi, 2013). The proposed policy of mandatory administration of all sixth graders will increase compliance to prevent HPV. Specifics of the Policy Governments create public policy by making decisions regarding a health issue, such as requiring children to be immunized before entering school (Milstead, 2013.p.139). Under the proposed, the doses of HPV preventive vaccines will be administered into middle school levels where the initial dose of Tetanus Diphtheria and Pertissis (Tdap) will be administered to children prior to entering their six grade. The remaining two doses will be administered with a period of six months which is the recommended time frame through school clinics or primary clinics. The children are supposed to have been completed the dose before entering into the seventh grade. There will be exceptions for religious purposes and medically diagnosed contradictions. Supportive Evidence With almost 25 million people being infected with HPV in a year, statistical data proves to be strong in influencing the policy makers to adopt the proposed policy (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014c). The needle exchange program in Baltimore, Maryland provides a hard evidence that may influence the legislators (Laureate Education, 2012b). The continuous collection of data in specified states, the policy makers will realize the need for attention to the issue (Laureate Education, 2012b). The policy is also supported by the Affordable Care Act that promotes the wellbeing of all people with preventive care. The new policy plan has free HPV vaccinations according to the Affordable Care Act that advocates for free preventive care for all (U.S. Department of Health and Human services, 2014). References Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014b). Human papillomavirus: HPV vaccines. Retrieved from http://www(dot)cdc(dot)gov/hpv/vaccine.html Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014c). Human papillomavirus: What is HPV? Retrieved from http://www(dot)cdc(dot)gov/hpv/whatishpv.html Knickman, J. R., & Kovner, A. R. (Eds.). (2015). Health care delivery in the united states (11th ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing. Ladner, J., Besson, M., Hampshire, R., Tapert, L., Chirenje, M., & Saba, J. (2012). Assessment of eight HPV vaccination programs implemented in lowest income countries. BMC Public Health, 12, 370. doi:http://dx(dot)doi(dot)org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-370 Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2012b). The needle exchange program. Baltimore, MD: Author. Merck Vaccines. (2014). Gadasil: Indications. Retrieved from https://www(dot)merckvaccines(dot)com/Products/Gardasil/Pages/indications U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2014). Preventive services covered under the affordable care act. Retrieved from http://www(dot)hhs(dot)gov/healthcare/facts/factsheets/2010/07/preventive-services list.html#CoveredPreventiveServicesforWomenIncludingPregnantWomen Wamai, R. G., Ayissi, C. A., Oduwo, G. O., Perlman, S., Welty, E., Manga, S., & Ogembo, J. G. (2012). Assessing the effectiveness of a community-based sensitization strategy in creating awareness about HPV, cervical cancer and HPV vaccine among parents in north west cameroon. Journal of Community Health, 37(5), 917-26. doi:http://dx(dot)doi(dot)org/10.1007/s10900-012-9540-5 Milstead,A.Jeri. Health Policy and Politics.Burlington,MA:Jones & Barlett Learning,2013.