Healthy People 2020 is a prevention agenda of the federal government of the US for the development of a healthier nation. According to its website, Healthy People 2020 is a statement of the health objectives of the nation that are developed to identify the most critical preventable health threats as well as to develop national goals that would help in reducing the identified threats (Healthy People 2020, 2019). The agenda’s vision is to have an American society whose people live long and healthy lives. Consequently, the overarching Healthy People 2020 goals are to achieve health equity, long lives that are free of premature death, injury, disability, and preventable disease, improve the health status of all groups, promote the quality of life of individual, and healthy development among others. The Healthy People 2020 plan has forty-two topical areas that allow it to meet all the objectives identified.
In line with the objectives of the Healthy people 2020, this paper identifies three population and community based problems from the plan’s website and discusses the manner in which they affect the Healthy People 2020: An Analysis of Three Public Health Issues Related to Miami Dade County community in Florida, furthermore, the paper describes how the health issues were identified and a plan of action to deal with them according to the directions of the Health People 2020 website.
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Choice of Population and Community Based Problems from the Healthy People 2020 Website
The geographic location and demographic characteristics of Miami, FL give an insight into population and community based health issues and threats that are chosen for this paper. First, it should be understood that the position of the state of Florida in the South close to the Gulf of Mexico places it in the hurricane prone regions of the US. Consequently, the natural environment is one of the most significant community health threats. The frequency of the natural threats makes necessary to review the preparedness topic of the Healthy People 2020 in this paper. Secondly, Miami has one of the largest African American populations around the state, which makes it important to review a population based health problem, such as sexual transmitted diseases for this group. Lastly, adolescent health is one of the most important health issues in the US, which is why it would be useful to analyze the topic is another population based public health agenda.
How the Conditions Affect the Miami Dade County Community in Florida
Emergency Public Health Preparedness
How Public Health Emergencies Affect the Miami Dade Community
The State of Florida and the City of Miami, especially the Miami Dade County region, has a history of natural disasters, which range from hurricanes to fires, to tropical storms, to floods, and others. Apart from loss of life, the natural disasters result in massive loss of property of the communities affected. From a public health perspective, natural disasters have both long and short-term effects on communities. For instance, according to Barbeau et al. (2010), in the short-run the flooding that results from hurricanes could lead to drowning and injuries that could potentially threaten life. The cited literature further indicates that flood waters have been associated with higher exposures to disease because of the spread of sewage, which could contaminate drinking water supplies. When people are evacuated and sheltered in temporary shelters, the spread of communicable diseases is always a possibility, which risks the health of the affected persons. The fact that most of the natural disasters have destructive effects on property suggests that they affect the abilities of people to access healthcare services, which could lead to adverse health outcomes for people in need of urgent medical care. Furthermore, severe weather conditions could also leave a significant proportion of the population without basic necessities, which include food and electricity, which have negative outcomes on their health.
In the long-run, studies, such as Barbeau et al. (2010) report that natural disasters could have psychological effects on victims. Most of the survivors of natural disasters report a range of psychological problems, include depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and a collection of other psychiatric conditions. The conditions report result from memories of the loss of the lives of friends and family as well as property. Some of the survivors also report troubles with sleeping, confusion, withdrawal, and other issues that have adverse effects on their health and wellbeing. The identified public health effects of natural disasters in the Miami Dade region indicate that when they happen, they affect the quality of life of community members. According to Health People 2020, indicators of quality of life include education, material living condition, productivity, physical safety, and others (Healthy People 2020, 2019).
How the Issues are identified in the Miami Dade County Community
The Miami Dade Office of Emergency Management is in charge of monitoring public health disasters within the study region and coordinating with the rest of emergency preparedness and management agencies at the state and national level to ensure the provision of real time data on public health emergencies (The Office of Emergency Management, 2019). Usually, the emergency management agencies strive to reduce the magnitude of effects of emergencies through the issuance of early warning signs to residents in the region as well as coordinating response operations that would maximize the positive public health outcomes.
Plan of Action to Contain Public Health Emergencies
Preparedness, according to the Healthy People 2020, entails three primary objectives that would improve the public health outcomes for the Miami Dade County community. First, preparation ensures reduced time required for the issuance of official information to the public concerning public health emergencies (Healthy People 2020). The second objective is to lower the average time that is required to activate designated professionals in response to public health emergencies while the third is to bolster the number of laboratory response network laboratories that meet the standards of proficiency needed to provide emergency services with the objective of improving public health. When they happen, the Health People 2020 website provides a range of resources that would be used to improve the rate at which affected individuals are attended to persons of urgent medical care.
Adolescent Health
How Adolescent Health Influences the Miami Dade Community
The US Census Bureau (2019) reports that the Miami Dade County of Miami has a significant 20.3% of its population under the age of 18 years, which means that its teenage population is substantially large. Because of the developmental challenges that people meet during this stage, it is always critical that they receive the required physical and mental health support services. Notably, adolescent health is critical in ensuring that people belonging to the targeted age bracket have access to effective reproductive health care services. In Miami Dade county, as it is the case with other regions in Florida and the country, has been committed to improving adolescent reproductive healthcare because of its contributions to combating teenage pregnancies and associated sexually transmitted infections (Ghaddar et al., 2012). While teenage birth rate in the study region has been reducing since 2014, the current 15.1 live births for every a thousand females aged between 15 and 19 is considered high (Miami Matters, 2019). Adolescent health is also an important approach to maximizing the mental health status of teenagers in the Miami Dade region considering the range of emotional challenges that they experience during the developmental stage. Adolescent health is also important for the teenage persons in Miami Dade county because of its implications on substance abuse, which is the second most important issue associated with the youth in the region and the rest of the US.
How the Issues are identified within the Miami Dade County Community
The Miami Dade County Department of Health is concerned with tracking the public health indicators among teenagers. Among the other roles that that the Department plays, adolescent health is among its priorities. The Department collects data, which it analyzes and coordinates with the rest of the health departments in the state of Florida to develop strategies that would combat the issues.
Plan of Action to Address Adolescent Health in Miami Dade
According to the Healthy People 2020, adolescent health has many objectives devised to deal with the public health issue, but three of the primary ones are described subsequently. The first one is to ensure an increase in the number of adolescents who undergo wellness checkups over the past 12 months. The second is to increase the number of adolescents who engage in extracurricular and other out-of-school activities while the third is to raise the proportion of adolescents who are connected to positive adult caregivers, including their parents. The website also describes a rage of evidence-based practices that could be employed by professionals to address adolescent health needs, including screening techniques and others.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
How Sexually Transmitted Infections Affect Miami Dade
In Miami Dade, fifty percent of female adolescents who reported with HIV between 2012 and 2014 had been infected through high-risk heterosexual contact while the remaining were infected through perinatal exposure. Furthermore, four percent of the new infections during the period were adolescents below the age of twenty years, the same study reports. Out of the numbers, it is reported that African Americans living in the region were almost thrice more likely to be infected with HIV than Hispanics and more than 7.5 times more likely than the Whites. Consequently, the cited literature points at disparities in the rate of infection with sexually transmitted infections in the region, which calls for a population-based strategy for combating the effects of the infections.
How the Issues are identified within the Miami Dade County Region
The Department of Health in the region has the responsibility of tracking sexually transmitted infections among the population in partnership with the Florida State Department of Health. The collected data is reported at the national level with the objective of coordinating the national fight against sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS and other diseases.
Plan of Action to Address Sexually Transmitted Diseases in the County
The top three objectives of the Healthy People 2020 in reducing the incidence of sexually transmitted infections include the reduction of the number of adolescents living with Chlamydia trachomatis, reduce the incidence of Chlamydia trachomatis among females aged between fifteen and forty-four years, and to improve the number of sexually active people enrolled in Medicaid and who seek screening for Chlamydia trachomatis. Alongside the objectives, the Miami Dade County Department of Health relies on best practices provided by the Healthy People 2020 to address the dangers and incidence of sexually transmitted infections.
References
Barbeau, D. N., Grimsley, L. F., White, L. E., El-Dahr, J. M., & Lichtveld, M. (2010). Mold exposure and health effects following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Annual review of public health , 31 , 165-178.
Ghaddar, S. F., Valerio, M. A., Garcia, C. M., & Hansen, L. (2012). Adolescent health literacy: the importance of credible sources for online health information. Journal of school health , 82 (1), 28-36.
Healthy People 2020. (2019). Healthypeople.gov . Retrieved 26 January 2019, from https://www.healthypeople.gov/
Miami Matters (2019). Indicators: Teen Birth Rate: 15-19: County: Miami-Dade . Miamidadematters.org . Retrieved 26 January 2019, from http://www.miamidadematters.org/indicators/index/view?indicatorId=430&localeId=414
The Office of Emergency Management (2019). Emergency Management . Retrieved 26 January 2019, from https://www8.miamidade.gov/global/emergency/home.page
U.S. Census Bureau (2019). QuickFacts: Miami-Dade County, Florida . Retrieved 26 January 2019, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/miamidadecountyflorida
