Advocacy | Sharksavewriters

Advocacy

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Numerous chronic illnesses have ravaged through populations as they demand high maintenance in terms of drugs, systemic support, moral support from family, and periodic evaluation (King, Moreno, Coleman & Williams, 2018). Diabetes is top among these illnesses, gradually eating away at communities. According to the center for disease control, 55.3% of the population was battling the disease in 2017 (“Resources for African Americans and People of African Ancestry | African Americans | Communities | NDEP | Diabetes | CDC,” 2019). Of these, the highest affected were individuals of Asian origin, followed by African Americans at 12.1%.

The following paper will highlight health disparities affecting elderly African American men within the Mississippi area who have diabetes. Mississippi contains the most significant percentage of African Americans who make up about two-fifths of the total population (Meng et al., 2016). Medical reports also indicate that the state ranked first in 2016 for diabetic prevalence at 13.7%. The danger being that about half of this population was living undiagnosed and beginning to suffer eye and kidney damage etc. (Meng et al., 2016).

Previously, an education awareness program had been discussed as an easily attainable program to combat diabetes health disparity. It is inexpensive to conduct and impactful to the people that need it the most. The kinds of advocacy types used included social media, workshops, seminars, and public gatherings.

I’d recommend engaging individuals living with diabetes to perform ‘campaigns’ in Seminars at the grassroots level. The impact that translates to conscious action can be derived from getting the information from the horse’s mouth (Vedantam, 2019). The identified group can highlight the benefits they got from the health program while stressing the danger of staying undiagnosed. An additional strategy that can be used is to create and distribute meal plans to diabetic individuals. These meal cards could be hung in their homes to guide their families on how to take care of their kin better.

Once the changes are implemented, we can expect to see a healthier population overall. An interview conducted by the National Public radio indicated that African American men were less reluctant to visit a health center if the consulting physician was of African American descent as well (Vedantam, 2019).

I believe that having African American men living with diabetes drive grassroots campaigns is bound to be very forthcoming. The projected improvement in actively seeking out healthcare is by 50%. Human resource is one of the strengths of the health program. Engaging local people can be a buffer to political interference as long as they partner with NGO’s of Integrity. The stability and sustainability of the plan are assured because of the established trust. It is always easier to trust ‘your own’ (Vedantam, 2019).

The North Mississippi health service is a great organization to partner with to deliver health programs. Their organization is driven to improve the health of the people without ceasing (“About Us | North Mississippi Health Services,” n.d.). The core values of the organizations are also vital to the success of the program i.e., showing “empathy, practicing accountability, being friendly, and preserving the dignity for all.” They have a diverse workforce as well and incorporate a cooking class for diabetic individuals.

The first point of action is to approach the North Mississippi health center with the proposal to engage some of their African American specialists in the program. The individuals to pioneer this exercise will be the diabetes management and public communication department within the hospital.

Once the management gives the go-ahead, the specialists could scout/ involve patients known to them- after gaining consent. They could use the people who attend their cooking classes.

The next cause of action is to provide additional training to the subjects, including how to conduct seminars, what they need to know, the appropriate approach, etc. All training and workshops, including the results, should be documented. At this point, the stakeholders can move to pitch to NGO’s, etc. In the case of opposition from communities, the leaders of the program could incorporate the recognized lead figures within the communities to improve trust.

References

About Us | North Mississippi Health Services. Retrieved 17 October 2019, from https://www.nmhs.net/about-us/

King, C., Moreno, J., Coleman, S., & Williams, J. (2018). Diabetes mortality rates among African Americans: A descriptive analysis pre and post-Medicaid expansion. Preventive Medicine Reports, 12, 20-24. doi: 10.1016/j.pmedr.2018.08.001

Meng, Y., Diamant, A., Jones, J., Lin, W., Chen, X., & Wu, S. et al. (2016). Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Diabetes Care and Impact of Vendor-Based Disease Management Programs. Diabetes Care, 39(5), 743-749. doi: 10.2337/dc15-1323

Vedantam, S. (2019). NPR Choice page. Retrieved 17 October 2019, from https://www.npr.org/2019/06/13/732270787/researchers-may-have-found-a-way-to-improve-the-life-expectancy-of-black-men