Healthy People 2020' initiative (HP2020) greatly emphasizes social health determinants, health inequity factors, and income and educational goals. Further, it adopts a broader perspective of the health effects of natural and manmade environments. The National Prevention and Health Promotion Council, by building on this initiative, offers a new means to implement a government-wide 'health in every policy' approach. Several NPS (National Prevention Strategy) interventions will extend across sectors and departments, influencing various health results (Fielding, Teutsch, & Koh, 2012). Numerous HIV / AIDS-linked clinical characteristics may be attributed to the intense immune deficiency developing among infected individuals. Immune system breakdown by the human immune virus causes opportunistic infection, and greater vulnerability to malignancy and autoimmune diseases. Moreover, there may be HIV-connected disease manifestations; for instance, in the course of the primary ailment surfacing within a few weeks after the individual's first HIV exposure, clinical signs are seen in about half the patients, often as 'mononucleosis syndrome'. Complications associated with HIV are rare among individuals whose immunity is preserved (Lloyd, 1996).
Understanding HIV
HIV-affected persons are leading longer, more active and healthier lives in this age, where increasingly efficient HIV treatments exist. HIV-related deaths in America have decreased appreciably since the nineties. With growth in the share of HIV-affected individuals, increasing HIV care and prevention interventions is salient (healthypeople.gov, 2016). Fresh HIV cases reveal racial, sexual, and ethnic disparities:
• About three-quarters of newly-infected HIV patients are males.
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• Over 50% cases occur among bisexual and gay males, irrespective of ethnicity/race.
• Of the fresh HIV cases, 45% are witnessed among African-Americans, 35% among White population members, and 17% among Hispanics (healthypeople.gov, 2016).
Improved quality care access for groups that are highly susceptible to HIV (e.g., bisexual and gay males, non-Whites, etc.) represents an important HIV prevention-focused public health approach (healthypeople.gov, 2016). Individuals seeking HIV-related care may receive:
• HIV prevention services
• Antiretroviral therapy
• Mental healthcare
• Miscellaneous health services
• Sexually transmitted disease testing and treatment (healthypeople.gov, 2016)
Emerging Issues in HIV
With growth in the share of HIV-infected individuals who know of their HIV+ status, HIV-targeted prevention approaches are gaining importance (healthypeople.gov, 2016). HIV-related prevention efforts revolve around:
• Joining and continuing treatment.
• Providing HIV-affected individuals' partners with preventive services
• Increasing continuous HIV prevention intervention availability
• Fostering broader holistic service availability for HIV-affected persons and their spouses/partners via partnerships between health divisions, community-centered bodies, and social service and healthcare workers (healthypeople.gov, 2016)
US public perception regarding HIV's acuteness has recently deteriorated. Evidence exists of a rise in.....
Botros, D., Somarriba, G., Neri, D., & Miller, T. (2012). Interventions to Address Chronic Disease and HIV: Strategies to Promote Exercise and Nutrition Among HIV-Infected Individuals. Curr HIV / AIDS Rep., 351 -- 363.
Fielding, J., Teutsch, S., & Koh, H. (2012). Health Reform and Healthy People Initiative. Am J. Public Health, 30 -- 33.
healthypeople.gov. (2016, October 13). HIV. Retrieved from Healthy People: https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/hiv
Lloyd, A. (1996). HIV infection and AIDS Med J., 174-80.
Mahajan, A., Sayles, J., Patel, V., Remian, R., Ortiz, D., Szekeres, G., & Coates, T. (2010). Stigma in the HIV / AIDS epidemic: A review of the literature and recommendations for the way forward. AIDS, S67 -- S79.
