African Americans account for approximately 13 percent of the total US population (Card & Baden, 2018). One major characteristic of the African Africans is spirituality which in some cases influences their health. Some African Americans believe that God will cure all their diseases and illnesses. Others believe that roots and spells will perform the same healing miracle. Such beliefs are accompanied by poor medical compliance which worsens their health condition. Research shows that, belief that God will heal all ailments without treatment increases the risk of breast cancer fourfold (Eiser & Ellis, 2017). Generally, religion plays a huge role at establishing healthcare practices and attitudes among African Americans (Eiser & Ellis, 2017). African Americans, in most instances experience a disproportionate health burden compared to the white natives. The major cause of health disparities in the US could be attributed to the underuse of health services among the African Americans. Perceived discrimination, poor communication, race discordance and mistrust affect the relationship between care providers and the African Americans (Cuevas, 2013). In 2017, 43 percent of the individuals newly diagnosed with HIV were African Americans (Card & Baden, 2018). Notably, 60 percent of the HIV diagnosed African Americans were gay and bisexual men. In 2016, 6804 deaths among HIV positive African Americans were reported (Card & Baden, 2018). The cause of these deaths could be attributed to lack of awareness (1 in 7 people were unware of their condition), high rates of sexually transmitted infections, stigmatization/fear, and high rates of poverty (Card & Baden, 2018). Clearly, African Americans have a negative relationship with healthcare and prevention which makes it important to implement a prevention plan for this culture.
Implementing a practical and meaningful HIV prevention plan among African Americans could reduce the high rates of HIV. The major purpose of the plan is to educate or rather to create awareness of the disease. This will ensure that every person from the community clearly apprehends the risk factors and understands the steps they are supposed to undertake should they be diagnosed with HIV. The prevention plan would also effectively reduce the high rates of HIV among the African Americans. Compared to all other races and communities, the health issues faced by African Americans require an immediate solution. There are a few gaps such unawareness, risk factors incomprehension, and discrimination that need to be addressed to ensure that HIV rates are significantly reduced. I particularly chose the African American Culture due the alarming rates of HIV and challenges experienced by this culture in prevention of diseases including HIV.
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Successful involvements directing African Americans should enhance strategies that incorporate socio-cultural influences and addresses historical and barriers that obstruct or aid HIV risk decline. Education would be the first facet of the HIV prevention plan because it would help create awareness and address the religious and cultural beliefs. Evidently 14.3 percent of the individuals diagnosed with HIV are not aware that they are infected (Card & Baden, 2018). Awareness ensures that HIV positive individuals seek medical care as soon as possible to ensure their viral load is suppressed considerably. This would consequently reduce chances of HIV transmission and also the number of deaths due to HIV. Secondly, education would ensure that African Americans clearly understand that some religious and cultural beliefs affect their health. Third, individuals will The exposition should be done in a factual way that makes them understand that beliefs without treatment are ineffective and should not be relied upon.
The second facet of the prevention plan is ensuring that a significant proportion of African Americans are able to access quality health care. Improving access of healthcare services to the African American would eliminate the health disparities in the USA (Copeland, 2016). Notably, irrespective of the social status and location, African Americans are less likely to receive quality care compared to their white counterparts (Copeland, 2016). Addressing barriers such as poor transportation, few health practitioners and inconvenient location of healthcare facilities would significantly solve the access problem (Copeland, 2016). However, the prevention plan would focus more on inadequate medical insurance due to poverty or ignorance. The plan would ensure that 75 percent of the African Americans have medical insurance and can access quality care and consultation.
The third facet of the prevention plan should address actual and perceived discrimination. Discrimination plays a great role on patient satisfaction and recovery. Patient who receive poor quality care due to cultural and/or language differences are likely to halt their health plan (Mays, Cochran, & Barnes, 2015). The prevention plan would be more focused on addressing perceived discrimination. Evidently some African Americans fail to attend to some healthcare facilities due to fear of discrimination. It is not obvious that blacks receive poor care but in most cases, the perception is obvious to them. Studies show that perceived discrimination impacts health outcomes. Ensuring that all the prevention propositions are correctly and logically implemented would reduce the HIV rates significantly.
Specific strategies could be used to ensure that the plan is successful and impacts the culture positively. In the past few years, HIV education seminars focus on the ways of preventing HIV such as use of condoms and other personal care strategies. However the educating strategy in the prevention plan would focus mainly on culture and awareness. The prevention plan will ensure that the targeted individuals are aware of their HIV status and initiate medication. In addition, exposition on viral load suppression should be incorporated in the education plan which will probably ensure that individuals adhere to the medical instructions. To ensure cultural exposition is done without negative critics, an African American medical practitioner should be part of the training team.
Statistics shows that the higher percentage of individuals diagnosed with HIV are bisexual and gay men between the age of 14 and 35 (Card & Baden, 2018). Education will therefore target more men compared to women. On the other hand, medical insurance coverage will focus on poor African Americans who cannot afford quality care even when access is improved. Interventions from healthcare organizations and the federal government will however, be required (Fauci et al., 2019). The issue of perceived discrimination is more common among older women and men compared to the youths. The plan focuses on addressing three issues: unawareness, inadequate insurance and discrimination. The prevention plan is however, different since it addresses the root cause rather that the general rule of HIV prevention. The plan focuses on making it easier to prevent HIV. Specific people are targeted which makes the plan logical and achievable.
There are several anticipated hindrances in the implementation of the plan some of which could be solved. First, it is difficult to personally provide medical insurance to poor persons and intervention from the federal government and healthcare organization is not guaranteed. Second, it might be a tough role to challenge religious and cultural beliefs of African Americans, particularly older persons. Ensuring that African American medical practitioners or religious leaders are part of the team would help to effectively convince the individuals. If correctly implemented, the challenges will affect not more than 15 percent of the expected outcome.
Evidently, HIV prevention is more than addressing the ways in which people could protect themselves from getting infected. Provision of medical insurance and addressing the issue of perceived discrimination are strategies that could ensure that African Americans have access to quality healthcare services. Creating awareness among the infected and uninfected persons would reduce further transmission of HIV.
References
Card, J. J., & Baden, L. (2018). An Online Library of Science-Based HIV Prevention Resources. World Journal of AIDS , 8 (4), 119-136.
Copeland, V. C. (2016). African Americans: Disparities in health care access and utilization. Health & Social Work , 30 (3), 265-270.
Cuevas, A. G. (2013). Exploring four barriers experienced by African Americans in healthcare: Perceived discrimination, medical mistrust, race discordance, and poor communication.
Eiser, A. R., & Ellis, G. (2017). Cultural competence and the African American experience with health care: The case for specific content in cross-cultural education. Academic Medicine , 82 (2), 176-183.
Fauci, A. S., Redfield, R. R., Sigounas, G., Weahkee, M. D., & Giroir, B. P. (2019). Ending the HIV epidemic: a plan for the United States. Jama , 321 (9), 844-845.
Mays, V. M., Cochran, S. D., & Barnes, N. W. (2015). Race, race-based discrimination, and health outcomes among African Americans. Annu. Rev. Psychol. , 58 , 201-225.
