Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), also known as sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are infections or diseases that are passed from one individual to another through sexual contact. The infections can also be passed through oral sex, anal sex, and vaginal intercourse. Other types of venereal diseases (VD) or infections can be transmitted through the use of unsterilized drug needles, from mother to child during childbirth or breastfeeding as well as blood transfusions (Hambrick, 2016). Sexually transmitted diseases have been around for thousands of years, and because of the warm and moist environment at the genital areas, this makes it ideal for the growth of bacteria, yeasts, and virus (Hambrick, 2016). The microorganisms that can be found in the skin or mucous membranes of the male and female genital areas can be transmitted through vaginal secretions, blood during sexual intercourse or also through vaginal secretions. There are more than 20 types of STIs including hepatitis B, chlamydia, human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV and Aids), gonorrhea, trichomoniasis, syphilis and the human papillomavirus (Hambrick, 2016).
According to the CDC, there have been more than 2 million cases of syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea that were reported in the United States in 2016, which is the highest number ever to be reported according to the annual Sexually Transmitted Diseases Surveillance Report (Pirani, 2017). According to the report, there are 1.6 million new cases of chlamydia, 280,00 cases of primary and secondary syphilis as well as 470,000 cases of gonorrhea (Pirani, 2017). According to the CDC, there are over 20 million new cases of STDs reported in the United States each year and half of these cases involve young people of aged 15 to 24 years old (Pirani, 2017). These infections could lead to long-term health consequences such as facilitating the transmission of HIV, infertility, and stigma. Atlanta has been reported as the fifth-highest city in the United States for new HIV diagnoses, and one in four of the new infections are among 13-24-year-olds, half of which do not know how they were infected (Pirani, 2017).
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Summary of the Teaching Plan
The primary focus of the teaching plan will be on the primary prevention and health promotion on sexually transmitted infections with an emphasis s on HIV and Aids. The teaching plan will be conducted at the St. Mary’s Public Health Clinic in Atlanta Georgia. The teaching plan will focus on the strategies that can be employed maximize the long-term population impact by reducing incidences of STD while at the same time promoting maternal, sexual, reproductive and infant health (Castel, Magnus, and Greenberg, 2015). There have been reports on the deteriorating cases of public health intrastate as well as the lack of access to health care facilities which is exposing fragile and hidden populations that do not have access to health care and preventive services.
This teaching plan will also highlight the actions that the federal and state governments should take in the promotion of health care and preventive services to these populations as well as list healthcare facilities in Atlanta, Georgia that the teens can visit confidently without the fear of stigmatization to get tested and effectively treated for any case of STDs. It is imperative for the healthcare action and the public health to represent the real issues that people are facing and not just the numbers. Many deaths have been reported among young African-Americans who are diagnosed late and do not have access to routine health care. The teaching plan will also center on the access to Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act which will increase the chances of young adults getting tested for STDs and also promote routine checkups (Castel, Magnus, and Greenberg, 2015). For those who will have been found to be already infected with HIV, the teaching plan will highlight the importance of the Ryan White Care Act which is available to people who do not have any health coverage and are HIV positive.
Epidemiological Rationale for Topic
Atlanta is a city that is leading the way with African-American businesses, politics, entertainment, and philanthropy but the HIV and Aids epidemic is what is tearing the city down hence it is a public health emergency. According to the reports by the CDC, the state of HIV/AIDs rates in the downtown Atlanta area can be compared to some third-world African countries (Castel, Magnus, and Greenberg, 2015). In 2014, Atlanta was reported to have the fifth highest of new HIV infections. The Atlanta region in the United States represents the highest risk of individuals contracting HIV and AIDS where 1 in 6 of men who have sex with men risk getting the disease while 1 in 473 of heterosexual men possesses that risk. The HIV prevalence in Atlanta, Georgia is estimated at 46 percent in black men who have sex with men which is three times higher than in white men who have sex with men (Castel, Magnus, and Greenberg, 2015). HIV is a parentally and sexually transmitted disease hence there are a few prevention methods that are available. The transmission of HIB through sexual intercourse could only be prevented largely through condom use, fidelity and abstinence. The transmission of HIV via idoxuridine (IDU) could be prevented through the changing of addiction behaviors (Castel, Magnus, and Greenberg, 2015). Behavioral interventions and prevention methods could also be used as they largely focus on individual level behaviors so as to reduce the risks associated in the acquiring of HIV which are without side effects and are less expensive.
Evaluation of the Teaching Experience
Course Preparation and Organization – The teaching plan was prepared and organized to drive what the young adults learned about the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and the promotion of good health practices to avoid being infected with HIV and AIDs. The outcomes of the plan were directly connected with the specific outcomes such as the promotion of behavioral change and the biomedical approaches that can be used for the prevention of STDs. The primary purpose of the teaching plan was also to stimulate the enjoyment of learning as well as intellectual growth for the young adults on the importance of their health and the lifestyle choices that they make.
Identification of the purpose of evaluation - The overall purpose of the evaluation was to assess what the participants had learned. I employed the use of summative and formative evaluation. The formative evaluation method was used because there was an ongoing assessment of the participants understanding on what was being taught so that it could make it possible for the necessary adjustments for individual participants or for the entire class. Formative evaluation method was used because of the need to test the level of competency of the participants and to also measure the level of understanding gained to judge the effectiveness of the teaching program as an outcome of my teaching to make the necessary adjustments in an attempt to improve the teaching methods.
Community Response to Teaching
The effective prevention and the care of sexually transmitted diseases largely depends on the ability of the community to promote good health practices and behaviors. The community was eager to learn about the ways in which they could promote and also contribute to ways of alleviating sexually transmitted diseases. They responded positively to all the objectives of the teaching plan as well as they put forward some of the ways in which contributes to having unprotected sex. The community gave an assurance that they would promote safer sex and health-care-seeking behaviors to effectively manage and reduce the transmission of STDs in the community. Other comprehensive management practices of STDs that were part of the teaching plan that the community promised to practice comprised of the following:
Identification of the syndrome through laboratory tests or diagnosis.
Condom programming
Early detection of symptomatic and asymptomatic infections.
The St. Mary’s Public Health Clinic agreed to champion for the integration of STDs control in primary health care and reproductive health care to other public hospitals.
Areas Of Strengths And Areas For Improvement
The community recognized that indeed STDs were negatively affecting their lives and were affecting families as well as young adults. They were willing to apply the behavioral approaches to the prevention of STDs and HIV through abstinence, the use of condoms and practice fidelity with their partners in order to reduce the risks of acquiring HIV. The maintenance of behavioral strategies at times becomes difficult maintaining them for a lifetime , there is a need to employ the use of biomedical approaches to the prevention of HIV. Approaches such as the use of biomedical modalities that could be used to interrupt mother-to-child HIV transmission through the provision of antiretroviral therapy to pregnant women as well as their newborn has a significant impact on the prevention of HIV.
Areas of improvement include the government’s inability to release the Medicare and Medicaid funds to the community members in time so that they could seek regular medical health and checkups. There is also need to increase the access to health care to marginalized populations by the federal government as well as measure and monitor the adverse effects of STDs such as ectopic pregnancies, neonatal herpes, and congenital syphilis.
References
Castel, A., Magnus, M. and Greenberg, A. (2015). Update on the Epidemiology and Prevention of HIV/AIDS in the USA. Current Epidemiology Reports, 2(2), pp.110-119.
Hambrick, G. (2016, October 21). Record-High STD Rates in US; Atlanta Metro Syphilis Rates Among Worst. Patch. Retrieved from https://patch.com/georgia/cumming/record-high-std-rates-us-atlanta-metro-syphilis-rates-among-worst .
Pirani, F. (2017, October 11). Georgia among worst states for chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis rates, CDC report says. Atlanta Journal-Constitution . Retrieved from http://www.ajc.com/news/local/georgia-among-most-sexually-diseased-for-chlamydia-gonorrhea-and-syphilis-rates-cdc-report-says/ledXHEcQiTm5Jj3IRQGxuJ/
