The District of Columbia (D.C) is made up of 52.8% females, 54% African Americans, and 40.6% Caucasians. Of the roughly 600,000 living in D.C., 101,400 (or 16.9%) are living below the poverty line (US Census, 2009). Over the years, the poverty rate in D.C. has continued to grow. With this number growing, there is a profound need to learn more about the women that are being affected. That being said, it is important to learn more about sexual and reproductive health in low-income women. In the District of Columbia, many women are living below the poverty life and are thus unable to get the help that they need in regards to their sexual and reproductive health. As researchers, there is a need to investigate why this is and what can be done to fix it. Through this research paper, there will be a large focus on low income women, their rates of and what barriers they may face with regards to Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency (HIV/AIDS), Sexually Transmitted Disease’s (STD’s), Breast Cancer and Cervical Cancer.
As of December 31, 2008, there were 16,513 residents of DC living with HIV/AIDS. Of the residents, 75.6% were African American. This large number gets more devastating when it is seen that one in every 21 African Americans in D.C. has HIV/AIDS and African American women are 17 times more likely to have HIV/AIDS than a Caucasian women (DC Department of Health, 2009). When studying testing rates for HIV/AIDS, Medina (2009) found that most of the participants in the study were self-motivated to get tested. After the initial test, participants had a slightly higher chance of reducing risky sexual behavior. However, the study also found that testing was not a method that should be used to sustain consistent...
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...) set up free, easy to access care for low-income women. Even when the testing was free and easy to access, many women still did not participate. In addition, they found that less mammogram usage is associated with low income women, as 36.4% to 54% of the low income women that were seen had never had a mammogram.
The studies above have found three main points that will be used in the rest of this research article. First and foremost, DC has a high number of reproductive illnesses among women of low-income that need to be addressed. Secondly, there is a definite need to address the income barrier, as many studies show that income and insurance are high predictors of sexual health testing and treatment. Lastly, minority women are more likely to have reproductive diseases, and are also less likely to be diagnosed in a timely matter, and thus treated appropriately.
The focal point of this report is the Victorian Health and Wellbeing plan 2015 – 2019, created by the Victorian State Government after the imminent success of the original Victorian Health and Wellbeing plan allying the years of 2011 – 2015. The plan shares the ambitions of the World Health Organisation’s Global action plan on prevention and control of non-communicable disease. These ambitions of the distinct plan are “to reduce modifiable risk-factors and underlying social determinants by creating equitable health-promoting environments while aiming to strengthen and orient health systems for disease prevention and control through people-centred healthcare” (Department of Health, 2015). The report will tackle the priority area of Improving Sexual Health and Reproductive Health along with major components of the priority area such as the determinants of health and the at-risk groups affected by such an alteration. The determinants discussed are both biological and social, the biological; sex, the social; the social gradient, education and social support. The at-risk groups influenced by the priority area are; adolescents, pregnant women and new born children.
Cook, Selig, Wedge, and Gohn-Baube (1999) stated that an essential part of the country’s public health agenda is to improve access to prenatal care, particularly for economically disadvantaged women. I agree with this statement because access to care is very important for the outcome of a healthy mother and child. Improving access to prenatal care for disadvantaged women will not only save lives but also lighten the high financial, social, and emotional costs of caring for low weight babies. Some of the barriers that these women face are mainly structural where the availability of care is limited; the cost of care is a financial burden; and the time to seek care is problematic due to being single mothers working more than one job (Lia-Hoagberb, 1990). Additionally, there is the issue of prenatal care being delivered differently depending on one’s race. A study found that White mothers delivering ve...
In the United States about 1.6 million pregnancies end in abortion. Women with incomes under eleven thousand are over three times more likely to abort than those with incomes above twenty-five thousand. Unmarried women are four to five times more likely to abort than married and the abortion rate has doubled for 18 and 19 year olds. Recently the U.S. rate dropped 6 percent overall but the rate of abortion among girls younger than 15 jumped 18 percent. The rate among minority teens cli...
The author mentions a few key take away main points. First of all, solutions must address the underlying causes of HIV risk among women. This mainly includes poverty and disempowerment because women in lower living standar...
The District of Columbia is the 23rd most population city in the United States with a population of 658,893 (Census). According to UNICEF, teen pregnancy is defined as “A teenage girl, usually within the ages of 13-19, becoming pregnant” ((Link 1). Nationally in the United States, there has been a steady decline of teen pregnancy within the past decade. However, it is not occurring in the District of Columbia, specifically Southeast DC (Ward 7 and 8) which includes areas such as: Lincoln Heights, Twining, Anacostia and Woodland. As of 2011, DC was ranked number nine in the nation for the highest rate of teen pregnancy. For the total amount of births, only 908 were from young women who were below the age of 20 in Washington DC. About 879 were from young women that were around high school ages 15-19. Specifically, Southeast DC is a low-income area, with approximately ¼ of teen mothers going on welfare within three years after their child’s birth (Link 2). As of 2012, out of the 790 births from teenage mothers, more than half, or 457 of the births mainly occurred in the Southeast DC area (Link4). This area has been plagued through various social determinants of health. This includes having repeated cycles of poverty, lack of comprehensive sexual education, especially in regards to contraception and a lot of violence occurring as a result of crimes. Ward 7 has approximately 95% of its citizens being Black and 2.3% of their citizens are Hispanic(Link 5). While in Ward 8 have about 94% of their citizens that are Black and 1.8% are Hispanic. Between both wards, about 63% of households including both Blacks and Hispanics are living below the federal poverty line and about 37% of births from the 2010 census were from teenage mothers. Abo...
3. Chandra A; Martinez GM, Mosher WD, Abma JC, Jones J (November 2005). Fertility, Family Planning, and Reproductive Health of U.S.Women: Data From the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. Hyattsville, Maryland: US Department of Health and Human Services. pp. 17, 90. Retrieved February 27, 2012.
Breath-taking views, towering mountains, thick, green forests, and flowing rivers, disguise a life of extreme poverty in Southern Appalachia. Although Southern Appalachia is one of the most beautiful regions in the United States, it is also one of the most poverty-ridden (Dalton, 2012). The people of Appalachia face countless hardships everyday: poverty, mining disasters, pollution, poor living conditions, poor healthcare, drug abuse, and crime. These unfortunate conditions have a vast effect specifically on the young women of this region. With teen pregnancy rates at an abnormally high level in Southern Appalachia, it is captivating to discover what these young women hope to gain by becoming pregnant.
It is important to identify at risk populations who suffer from health care disparities in order to decrease these disparities. Health care disparities can result in negative health outcomes when at risk populations are not afforded proper health treatment. According to Ranji, Beamesderfer, Kates, and Salganicoff (2014) health concerns and risk factors affecting the LGBT community include HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), drug abuse, mental health issues, and sexual and physical violence. The LGBT community is an at risk population due to barriers in health care linked to discrimination, prejudice, social stigma, and lack of access to health insurance especially for same-sex couples. (Healthypeople.gov 2013). It is important to identify community resources in the city of Houston for LGBT people in order to improve the health, safety, and well-being of these individuals. In an effort to promote the health of LGBT people, a health and wellness plan should be targeted within the LGBT community in the city of Houston.
Even African Americans who are working, high poverty rates and high insurance rates continue to erode their access to care. Across all ages and notably by age 50, African Americans are living with higher rates of chronic diseases” (Scott, 2002). Because of their high poverty level, this population is faced with barriers such as availability of health service and acceptability. Some providers refused to see people on public assistance or who are uninsured. The geographic location of some of these health facilities causes accessibility problem. Some of these people with chronic diseases such as diabetes only have hospital care. Others refuse care because they believe lack of insurance will cause the physicians to use them for practice or experimentation
Over half of these centers are in areas of the country that are medically underserved and have the largest positive impact on minority communities or communities that are significantly distanced from main stream health care providers. In these instances, Planned Parenthood often serves as the communities’ only primary health care option providing treatment of acute and chronic disease, minor office procedures and health assessments, evaluations for referrals to specialists and authorization for hospital care. Patients living in remote rural areas can talk with Planned Parenthood providers through online services or through real time video technology. These innovations in using technology for providing healthcare have helped achieve a forty year low in teen pregnancy. Defunding Planned Parenthood will result in limiting or eliminating health care access to people in this country especially those in low income, predominantly minority areas or rural areas that are significantly geographically removed from main stream health care
The birth rate among teens in the United States has declined 9% from 2009 to 2010, a historic low among all racial and ethnic groups, with the least being born in 2010; and in 2011 the number of babies born to adolescents aged 15-19 years of age was 329,797 (“Birth Rates for U.S.”, 2012). Although the decline in unwanted and unplanned teen births is on the rise the United States continues to be among the highest of industrialized countries facing this problem. This is a prevailing social concern because of the health risks to these young mothers as well as their babies. Teens at higher risk of becoming pregnant are raised at or below the poverty level by single parents; live in environments that cause high levels of stress (i.e., divorce, sexual psychological and physical abuse); are influenced by peers or family members that are sexually active; and lack parental guidance that would direct them to be responsible and self-controlled.
Within broken barriers the three major steps that Healthcare 2020 Disease Prevention approached in attempting this goal was “gaining entry into the health care system (usually through insurance coverage), accessing a location where needed health care services are provided (geographic availability), and finding a health care provider whom the patient trusts and can communicate with (personal relationship)” (Access to Health Services, 2014). The first component is healthcare coverage. Healthcare coverage helps gain entry into the healthcare system. Patients that lack healthcare insurance are likely to have poor health status, less likely to receive health care, more likely to be diagnosed later, and likely to die prematurely. For example, health needs of women of different orientation are often overlook. Both lesbians and healthcare providers often believe that women who have sex with women do not need cervical cancer screening or routine gynecological care. Therefore, “barriers to health care may include homophobia among providers and a lack of health insurance coverage, because many lesbians are unable to share their partner’s benefits or are eligible for less complete benefit coverage than a spouse
Millett, G., et al. "Focusing “down low”: Bisexual black men, heterosexual black women, and HIV risk." Journal of the National Medical Association 97.7 (2005): 52S-59S.
During the 1980s, efforts increased to alert the public to the dangers of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and unintended pregnancy, yet these problems have increased. Adolescents and young adults have been especially hard hit. Pregnancy and birth rates among teenagers are at their highest levels in two decades.
Today it is no longer a novelty to hear that teenagers are having sex. However, while this “bedroom” activity may be fun, there are now ample reports indicating that rates of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in teenagers have skyrocketed. Current data reveal that nearly 25% of adolescent girls who have sex are infected with one of the four commonly sexually transmitted infections-namely gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes and HIV (Kann et al, 2015). Nationally, the prevalence of STDs account for 50% of cases in people under the age of 25. While every ethnic and race has been known to be affected, African American youth are disproportionately affected. These data are not a surprise to professionals who are engaged in adolescent sexual health because the numbers have been slowly creeping up over the decades, despite national educational policies to counter the threat of STDs (Sales & DiClemente, 2016). All the STDs have a significant impact on sexual and reproductive health, if they are mot promptly diagnosed and treated. Although many preventive strategies have been implemented in all communities, the rates of STDs are still increasing (Madkour et al, 2016).