While the utilization of healthcare services is seen as a reflection of the need for healthcare services to different population, this does not always work for different reasons. Need is generally considered as the main determinant of care utilization even though other factors such as sex, race and ethnicity, disability status, language spoken and area of residence also play a role ( Elshaug et al., 2017). The underutilization and over-utilization of healthcare services come about as a result of different problems which affect different population groups. The problems of underutilization include an increase in risk factors which is linked to poor health in areas where access to healthcare services is a problem. For example, obesity rates in the United States are high in rural areas because the area residents underutilize healthcare services ( Elshaug et al., 2017). Overutilization of healthcare services, on the other hand, comes with different problems such as abuse of healthcare services with undesired care outcomes. High volumes of procedures, tests, hospitalizations, and prescriptions may sometimes be too costly but unnecessary. According to statistics, the United States spends more on an individual's healthcare than most of the developed countries and yet their outcomes are either similar or worse than these countries ( Elshaug et al., 2017).
There are three levels of prevention which significantly contribute to the low prevalence of HIV/AIDS. The three prevention levels include primary, secondary and tertiary levels of prevention. Primary prevention involves the prevention of disease before its occurrence. This can be achieved by preventing several exposures to different hazards which can lead to diseases. With regards to HIV/AIDS, there have been legislation and enforcement which help in the control of the spread of HIV/AIDS. Also, governments and NGOs conduct education and awareness programs which help people to keep safe from HIV/AIDS. This includes using condoms and getting tested on a frequent basis to know one's status. The primary level of prevention has highly helped in reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS amongst populations.
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Secondary prevention involves reducing the impact of a disease which has already occurred ( Landovitz, Desmond, Gildner & Leibowitz, 2016). With regards to HIV/AIDS, this involves early detection of the disease to either slow or halt the progress as well as strategies on dieting and healthy living. Tertiary prevention involves softening the effect of an ongoing illness which has long term effects for improvements on their ability to work or function with their condition as well as their life quality and life expectancy ( Landovitz, Desmond, Gildner & Leibowitz, 2016). All three levels of prevention help in reducing the prevalence of the disease amongst populations.
References
Elshaug, A. G., Rosenthal, M. B., Lavis, J. N., Brownlee, S., Schmidt, H., Nagpal, S., ... & Saini, V. (2017). Levers for addressing medical underuse and overuse: achieving high-value health care. The Lancet , 390 (10090), 191-202.
Landovitz, R. J., Desmond, K. A., Gildner, J. L., & Leibowitz, A. A. (2016). Quality of care for HIV/AIDS and for primary prevention by HIV specialists and nonspecialists. AIDS patient care and STDs , 30 (9), 395-408.
