Disease Control and Education Plan: HIV/AIDS

Disease Control and Education Plan
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What percentage of population was affected by the disease?
HIV/AIDs constitute a persistent public health issue in the United States (U.S.). According to the most recently available information, approximately 1,189,700 individuals in the U.S. had the disease at the culmination of 2019. Out of these individuals, an estimated 87 percent were aware of their positive HIV status. Based on racial demographics of HIV diagnoses, African Americans are the most impacted by the disease, accounting for 12,827 (42%) of all new diagnoses. In addition, the Latino/Hispanic population is also significantly affected as they accounted for 8,285 or 27 percent of all newly recorded HIV diagnoses (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022a). This is a feasible component of the public awareness and HIV control plan because numbers do not lie. Therefore, policymakers and healthcare stakeholders can leverage these statistics to design and implement community health awareness programs and regulations tailored to prevent new infections.
Have there been instances of any historical outbreaks of the disease? How was the disease handled and controlled in your community?
The initial HIV cases were recorded in June 1981 in the U.S. Today, over 1.2 million individuals live with the virus in America, with over 35,000 new infections recorded yearly (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2021). Accordingly, over 700,000 persons have died from HIV-associated complications in the U.S (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2021). In order to handle and control the HIV epidemic in the community, it is crucial to implement an initiative emphasizing four primary strategies that can end the disease when executed together: diagnose, treat, prevent, and respond. The first strategy entails diagnosing all individuals with HIV earlier before the disease progresses. Second, all individuals with HIV should be treated appropriately and rapidly to achieve sustained viral load suppression. The third control strategy is to prevent new infections using evidence-based interventions such as syringe services programs (SSPs) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Lastly, community programs should rapidly respond to possible HIV outbreaks to deliver the necessary preventive and treatment services to individuals that require them (Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy, 2022).
What were the objectives and goals of your public education plan to control this disease?
The goals of the public education plan to control HIV include preventing new infections, improving HIV-associated health outcomes of individuals living with the virus, and mitigating HIV-associated disparities and wellbeing inequities. With respect to the objectives, the education plan will prevent new HIV infections by increasing awareness of the disease, sharing knowledge about HIV status, and improving the execution of effective prevention interventions such as PrEP and SSPs. The education plan would improve HIV-associated health outcomes of HIV-positive people by linking them to care after diagnosis and reducing barriers to HIV treatment access. The program will also establish, engage, and reengage that i...