Healthcare Advocacy

Healthcare Issues Affecting the Local Community

Teen Pregnancy

Although there is an overall decrease in the number of teen pregnancies in the U.S., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicates that it is still a serious issue in society. For instance, in 2017, 194,377 babies were born to young women between 15-19 years, which represented about 18.8% of every 1,000 females in this age group. This was a significant drop from the previous year. In 2016, the number of teen pregnancies was 7% higher compared to 2017, whereby there was a drop of 10% for women between 15-17 years and about 6% for those aged between 18-19 years.

Alcohol-related Harms

Since time immemorial, alcohol has been a significant contributor to the annual mortality rates. CDC stipulates that more than 95,000 people succumb to excessive consumption of alcohol in the United States of America every year. According to experts, excessive consumption of alcohol can either be spree drinking whereby the user consumes five or more drinks on a single occasion for males or four or more drinks for females. Heavy drinking also manifests when males drink 15 or more drinks in seven days or when females drink eight or more drinks in seven days. Such consumption is associated with numerous health problems, such as unintentional injuries and liver diseases. In a survey conducted by Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) in 2018, more than 50% of U.S. adults reported having consumed alcohol in the last 30 days (CDC, n.d). Besides, about 16% stated that they had had binge drinking while about 7% indicated that they had had heavy drinking.

Healthcare-associated Infections

These are the infections that happen in the process of treating a patient in a healthcare facility. Although significant strides have been taken towards alleviating this problem, more work has to be done. According to the CDC (n.d), on a daily basis, approximately one hospital patient in 31 patients has one or more health-associated infections. According to Septimus et al. (2014), this accounts for up to 15%, which is approximately 1.7 million patients annually. Up to 99,000 of that tally die annually.

Healthcare Advocacy Plan to Address the Issues

A Healthcare Advocacy Plan to Address Teen Pregnancy

Offering teens a wide array of birth control options, including long-acting reversible contraception (LARC), is a healthcare advocacy plan that could alleviate teen pregnancy concerns (CDC, n.d). Irrefutably, times have changed, and so has the raising of children. Due to changing economic trends, parents and guardians are mostly busy at work and businesses. As such, they do not have too much time to monitor their children’s behaviors. In most cases, they only find little time to advise them to avoid early sexual behaviors and other undesirable behaviors. This does not seem to yield much of the desired outcomes. Therefore, introducing LARC might be a better solution to this issue because, anyway, teenagers stand a high chance of giving in to the pressures of engaging in early sex.

A Healthcare Advocacy Plan to Address Alcohol-related Harms

There are several ways in which alcohol-related harms can be addressed. For instance, bolstering health and social welfare systems’ capacity to cater to treatment, prevention, and care for alcohol-related harms such as disorders induced by alcohol and co-morbid conditions. This advocacy aligns with the goals of the CDC.

A Healthcare Advocacy Plan to Address Healthcare-associated Infections

Undoubtedly, a significant percentage of healthcare-associated infections are preventable. For instance, rigorous and consistent guidance to patients on how to collaborate with healthcare workers on how to prevent healthcare-associated infections might prove resourceful on that course.

References

CDC (n.d). Reproductive Health: Teen Pregnancy. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/teenpregnancy/about/index.htm

CDC (n.d). Alcohol and Public Health. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/

Septimus, E., Yokoe, D. S., Weinstein, R. A., Perl, T. M., Maragakis, L. L., & Berenholtz, S. M. (2014). Maintaining the momentum of change: the role of the 2014 updates to the compendium in preventing healthcare-associated infections. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 35(5), 460-463.