The HIV virus is a global pandemic affecting people of all ages. According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2008), it is important that all peoples of the world consider this problem a major pandemic, and devise methods of combating its spread. A conceptual frame work needs to be laid out in this kind of health promotion so as to come up with strategies of coming up with the target population as well as identify their specific needs (Gilks 2006). In the campaign against HIV and AIDS, it is recommended that the campaigners be familiar with basic human rights so as to preserve the dignity of the persons affected and those infected (United Nations (UN), 2012). In addition, familiarization with the cultural perceptions and the behavior of the targeted population towards the disease is important for the campaigners in order to achieve efficiency. Further, it is important to counsel people so as to eliminate stigma and also to encourage disclosure (Florida Health, 2013).

Theory and application to the health promotion problem: Health Belief Model

The health belief model is theory of health promotion that focuses on the individual (Green & Ottoson, 2006). The theory postulates that individuals act depending on their perceptions regarding the cost of the action, potential benefits, the expected consequences and severity of consequences. Owing to this definition and the subject of health promotion, which is in this case HIV/AIDS, an individual’s behavior patterns are very important in preventing their contracting the disease. In the spirit of this model, targeting individuals’ behavior in combating and curtailing the spread of HIV/AIDS will bring the best of results. This is because after the health promotion, individuals will be aware of the likely consequences if they involve in risky behaviors.

Intervention: Mass communication

Mass communication will reach many people. This is important because the target population for HIV is big. This can be achieved through airing health promotional messages through national radio stations and television stations. Print media can also be used to target the people who read newspapers. Since many people have access to radios and television sets, this will be a big catch.

Intervention plan

Setting:       The entire state

Audience:   Nationals in the state

Intervention criteria:

Radio- messages will be formulated and broadcast in national radio stations.

Television: audio/visual form of a message will be formulated and broadcast through

various television stations.

Print media: a page in the print media will be bought and devoted to passing the

Posters and brochures will be distributed in schools, markets, flats and other public

places.

Health workers will be engaged to address gatherings and spread the message.

Where appropriate, mega phones will be used where appropriate.

Mobile phone service providers will be contacted to provide short message services and

send a message to their subscribers.

A team will be selected to spread the message through social sites like twitter and

A2 size posters will be printed and distributed at strategic places. Banners of large sizes

that are conspicuous from a far place will also be printed.

After the spread of the message, an evaluation and monitoring team will assess the

effectiveness of the promotion and recommend further action.

Appropriateness of intervention.

Practice of nursing at an advanced level is important for the provision of evidence-based

care. At the same time, it is critical to provide care that is specific to the problem, and

further, to have a rationale for everything you do for the patient. Before using this

intervention method, an assessment was made that ascertained that it was the most

appropriate method to reach the targeted population.

References

Florida Health. (2013). HIV/AIDS. Retrieved from http://www.floridahealth.gov/diseases-and-conditions/aids/

Gilks C, F. (2006). The WHO public-health approach to antiretroviral therapy against HIV in resource limited settings. Lancet, 368: 9534, 505–510

Green, L.W., & Ottoson, J.M. (2006). Public health education and health promotion (2^nd ed). Gaithersburg, MD. Aspen Publishers.

United Nations. (2012). International human development indicators. Retrieved from http://hdrstats.undp.org/en

World Health Organization, (2008). Towards universal access: scaling up priority HIV/AIDS interventions in the health sector. Progress report. 2013 from http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/towards_universal_access_report_2008.pdf

Topic: Health Promotion

Order Description
ASSIGNMENT
Case study
A multitude of different social, economic and cultural factors determine a person’s health. This means that people living in the same community, or people of the same age, can have vastly different chances of good health.
Instinctively you might think that access to health services is the biggest factor in determining health. However, many other things significantly affect our likelihood of good health. It can also be easy to blame individuals for their poor health, or congratulate others for good health, yet in reality many of the determinants of health are out of our own personal control. Underlying these broad factors is a much deeper level of structural causes, which are more difficult to change.
John is 30 years old and has a history of asthma, diabetes, is a smoker and has been overweight for most of his adult life. He lives with his wife and 3 children on a council estate housing which is overcrowded. Often he is unable to pay for the electrical bill and provide food for his family. His wife and children are overweight and they suffer from asthma. John is due to go back to his country as his visa to remain in this country will expire soon. He recently went to the GP after not visiting the GP for 2 years about a minor complaint, and as a matter of course his blood pressure was taken. Much to his surprise, it was above what was considered acceptable. His doctor started him on medication because his high blood pressure was high enough to warrant immediate action.
His blood pressure dropped, but unfortunately he still did not change his lifestyle and did not take his medication as scheduled. John is unemployed for the past 2 years and receives unemployment benefits so he does not have very much disposable income. John subsequently became depressed and lacks energy. He returned to his GP, who sent him to a Health and Wellbeing Clinic to check his blood pressure and to seek advice from health professionals who would give him advice on how to better control his blood pressure, diabetes and overweight. At the clinic he was given advice on how to change his lifestyle, which included reducing salt in his diet. However, due to cultural factors, socioeconomic factors, he struggled to eat proper meals and he did not follow any of the advice given and his blood pressure and diabetes remained a cause for concern.

Department of Health and Social Care
A high blood pressure awareness campaign targeting Caribbean, West African and White middle-aged men living in his area tried to raise awareness to prompt positive behaviour change. However, in John’s community according to the Public Health England website, it showed even after the high blood pressure awareness campaign the level of high blood pressure in these group of men remained the same.
Task 1: LO1 Understand the socioeconomic influences on health
(up to 750 recommended words)
What you must do
Using the case study as a backdrop to your answers, create an information pack that addresses the following:

1.1 Explain the effects of socio-economic influences on health. [P1.1]

1.2 Asses the relevance of government resources in reporting on inequalities in health in relation to the case study. [P1.2, M2]

1.3 Discuss the reason for barriers to accessing health care. [P1.3]