Sexually transmitted diseases refer to infectious organisms that are spread through intimate contact with an infected partner. Some STIs get treated easily, while others do not heal completely, thus creating considerable differences in the number of Americans detected to have them at any one time (Levay et al., 2019). The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that approximately 20 million new STD infections are detected annually (“Special Focus Profiles - 2018 Sexually Transmitted Diseases Surveillance”, 2018). Young African American adults have a higher prevalence of STDs than the national average for their age group (Hollander, 2007). This paper aims to look into the causes of STIs among young African American adults, their health needs, and how STIs can be prevented and treated in that community.
Reasons Why the Community Has Higher STI Rates
Several personal and social factors contribute to the disproportionately high rate of STIs among young black adults. The factors include having multiple sexual partners compared to the youth of other ethnicities, limited access to sexual health education and promotion resources, inconsistent condom use, and most of them making an early sexual debut compared to different races (Teadt et al., 2020). The imbalance of the prevalence of HIV and other STIs among black people in the United States is attributed to the inequitable social and economic environments they have historically experienced.
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Although significant public health and medical organizations advocate for an exhaustive sex education program for African American teenagers, there are numerous obstacles to traditional or formal sex education in structured settings such as schools and youth centers. Sex education is primarily a requirement in high school and given little attention in middle or elementary school. The information is provided too late as most youths have already become sexually active.
African American adults face various obstacles to active engagement in healthcare, such as expensive health services with minimal income, conflicting work or school schedules, rooted community distrust in the healthcare system, provider bias, and discrimination. This community has a hard time navigating the American health system, which has systemically favored the affluent. Most black young adults cannot afford quality sexual health services compared to their white counterparts.
Economic inequality increases their level of risk of African American youth to the disease. It is estimated that around 25% of African Americans come from poor economic backgrounds. Low-income earners are concentrated in some geographic regions, which can elevate the risk of STI infection as they are limited to clusters with a high infection rate. The impoverished environment makes it difficult to access the proper resources to protect themselves from STIs when engaging in sex.
Specific Health Needs Of This Community
The African American remains the least healthy ethnic population. Racism is the most critical factor in creating health disparities for African Americans. It exerts harmful effects through institutionalized, systemic stigma, and exclusion. Most health policies are made by a white majority who rarely address the social, institutional, and organizational factors that make it hard for African Americans to access healthcare. Inadequate resources to black communities also play a significant role in the health disparities experienced by young black people.
Poverty is a key predictor of lacking bare human essentials. It is highly correlated with poor health outcomes and increased morbidity and mortality, especially in the African American community (Noonan et al., 2016). Illnesses such as heart problems, sexually transmitted infections, obesity, diabetes, elevated blood lead levels, and abnormally low birth weight are more prevalent.
Methods for STI education and treatment to be better met
Using social networking sites promotes safe sex and STI prevention to reduce young black adults’ high-risk sexual behavior and fill in the knowledge gap. This method would be effective as African American adults use mobile phones and the internet at a higher rate, giving them the convenience of receiving a wide range of information and accessibility (Teadt et al., 2020).
Diversification of HIV/STI prevention strategies to prevent them from only focusing on sexual behavior and additional challenges that African American youth face (Shegog et al., 2010). The issues are racism, acculturation, and the lack of social and institutional support.
Increased prevention interventions such as skills-buildings programs to encourage safer sexual behaviors, reduce substance abuse, address improvement in social and communication skills and provide practice in assertiveness and coping skills (Wildsmith et al., 2010). The most successful programs have tailored intervention methods that focus on self-efficacy and psychological correlations of the risk.
Engaging African American student peers to convey messages with appropriate content and tone would be more effective in reaching out to the community.
References
Hollander, D. (2007). Many pediatricians are reluctant to vaccinate young females against Human Papillomavirus. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health , 39 (2), 121-122. https://doi.org/10.1363/3912307
LeVay, S., Baldwin, J., & Baldwin, J. (2019). Discovering human sexuality (4th ed., p. 469). Oxford University Press.
Noonan, A., Velasco-Mondragon, H., & Wagner, F. (2016). Improving the health of African Americans in the USA: an overdue opportunity for social justice. Public Health Reviews , 37 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40985-016-0025-4
Shegog, M., Lindley, L., Thompson-Robinson, M., Simmons, D., & Ritcher, D. (2010). HIV/STI risk factors among African-American students attending predominantly white universities. Journal Of Health Disparities Research And Practice , 4 (1).
Special Focus Profiles - 2018 Sexually transmitted diseases surveillance . Cdc.gov. (2018). Retrieved 19 April 2021, from https://www.cdc.gov/std/stats18/specprointro.htm .
Teadt, S., Burns, J., Montgomery, T., & Darbes, L. (2020). African American adolescents and young adults, new media, and sexual health: Scoping review. JMIR Mhealth And Uhealth , 8 (10), e19459. https://doi.org/10.2196/19459
Wildsmith, E., Schelar, E., Peterson, K., & Manlove, J. (2010). Sexually transmitted diseases among young adults: Prevalence, perceived risk, and risk-taking behaviors. Child Trends Research Brief , 1 (10). Retrieved 19 April 2021, from https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2010-10SexuallyTransmittedDisease.pdf
