Developing a Health Advocacy Campaign for HIV Stigma...

My preparation for this assignment began with a review of the Healthy People initiative that was developed by the Department of Health and Human Services. There are many ongoing health issues that our healthcare system is currently dealing with. The Healthy People initiative is a set of goals and objectives designed to guide national health promotion and disease prevention to improve the health of all people in the United States (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). The population health issue I’ve chosen for my policy developing campaign is HIV stigma reduction. In this assignment I will illustrate the significant impact of the stigma towards the population infected with HIV/AIDS and suggest a potential advocacy campaign†¦show more content†¦At the time of the discovery of HIV globally, the overwhelming majority of infected individuals were homosexual men, intravenous drug users, and others that engaged in promiscuous or unprotected sexual activities. Shortly following the initial discovery of the virus, many more documented cases of the disease began to surface in the United States. â€Å"U. S. epidemiologists had documented the mysterious symptoms in heroin users, heterosexuals, newborns, people with hemophilia, and people who had received blood transfusions† (Poindexter, 2007, p. 6). As this newly documented disease made more and more persons dangerously ill, medical professionals found it began to be accompanied by an intensely isolating stigma. This HIV related stigma resulted in cruel discrimination toward infected individuals that lead to poor health outcomes, noncompliance with therapy, increased levels of depression and stress. Severe symptoms of HIV/AIDS began to appear sooner than expected which lead to poorer health and lower quality of life for infected individuals. The stigma and discrimination became a monumental issue for those found to be HIV positive, especially when compounded by the existing comorbidit ies in which they had to contend. Two existing advocacy programs I found for this assignment were specifically developed for HIV stigma reduction and for support of the infected population. One of the very first and most powerful organizations created to manageShow MoreRelatedDeveloping A Health Advocacy Campaign For Hiv Stigma Reduction899 Words   |  4 Pagesproject is developing a health advocacy campaign for HIV stigma reduction. In our project, we illustrate the significant impact of the stigma towards the population infected with HIV/AIDS and suggest a potential advocacy campaign to reduce the stigma and incidence of this epidemic. Through this project, I learned what a lot of people don’t understand, is that anyone can be affected at anytime if they put themselves in a situation where they could be at risk. 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