Problems that Affect the People of Miami
Miami County is faced with various challenges such as the rise of high crime rates that are experienced in the county. Additionally, the residents of Miami live in fear due to fear of the high crime rates that threaten their peaceful co-existence and livelihood. Moreover, youths have indulged in criminal activities bringing about a rise in gun violence and general crimes. Furthermore, there is an increase in the number of people suffering from HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases that affect large populations. However, there are reforms set in place by the health care department in Miami and other departments are working hard to ensure that the health issues and various problems related to health are addressed.
Florida has the third-highest rates of new HIV/AIDS infection across all counties in the United States according to the Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC). Moreover, there were 27 969 cases recorded in 2017 of people infected with HIV/AIDS in Miami Dade county. 74% of the cases recorded were men totaling up to 24 610. Also, 84% of the men who were diagnosed to suffer from HIV/AIDS, they had a history of having sex with fellow men. Women in Miami accounted for approximately 20% of the cases that were recorded. However, out of the 20% cases, a high number of the people greatly affected by the pandemic were non- Hispanic black women(Tookes et al, 2020).
The Hispanic population had recorded 59% of cases that were recorded in 2017 that adds up to (37.8 per 100, 000). Besides, the non- Hispanic population had recorded a higher number of (55.1 per 100, 000) population, a number that is higher when compared to Hispanic population showing that there is need to mitigate the risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS in Miami through the incorporation of primary and secondary prevention skills. HIV/AIDS in Miami affects a large population in Miami county, in 2017 there had been a rise in the number of HIV/AIDS cases of recoded in Miami profiling at 42.9% out of every 100,000 residents of Miami. The infection rates are twice more than the cases that are experienced in various counties and cities that are found in the United States. People acquire HIV/AIDS through the sharing of needles by various gangs who carry out criminal activities. As a result, they transmit HIV/AIDS due to sharing syringes. Additionally, some people are heterosexual thus they transmit the disease among their partners. Furthermore, the transmission of HIV/AIDS occurs through the transmission of the disease amongst men who usually have sex with fellow men. The disease is influenced by racial, sexual, and ethnic diversities. The residents of Miami have not explored various preventive measures to eradicate HIV/AIDS transmission in Miami(Escudero et al, 2019).
There are high crime rates in Miami since many youths join gangs. The gangs in Miami carry out criminal activities such as rape, robbery with violence, murder, and gun violence. As a result of addiction due to the use of various drugs such as paraphernalia. The sharing of syringes while using drugs increases the risk of HIV transmissions and other dreadful diseases that cause death. As a result, there is need for the Florida Department of health to encourage health education that would train victims on behavioral change and intervention, provision of condoms, testing and screening and essential information about how to maintain the health and wellbeing of various individuals (Iyengar et al, 2019).
Additionally, residents of Miami who abuse drugs should be enrolled in rehabilitation centers in an attempt to reduce the high crime rates that cause death and drug dependency among the youths and elder generations. Substance abuse causes lung cancer, brain damage, stroke, memory issues, and mental confusion. Moreover, the use of drugs has brought about non- compliance of the use of PrEP and nPEP that is essential in helping individuals to prevent themselves against HIV/AIDS due to the use of drugs that impairs judgment that hinders individuals from taking preventive measures to take care of themselves (Tookes et al, 2020).
However, there are efforts by the Florida Department of Health to encourage people through health education to explore the secondary prevention methods such as the use of Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) to promote the availability of the secondary interventions even though there are limitations that are faced in Miami and other places. People have failed to adhere to the drugs and the instructions of use. Poor adherence to antiretrovirals leads to the advancement of HIV/AIDS to various stages that can be hard to manage. Therefore, to reduce the number of deaths that are caused by HIV/AIDS, the residents of Miami ought to practice adherence that would help reduce the number of deaths that are caused by HIV/AIDS (Iyengar et al, 2019).
Several intervention strategies have been set in place both on the individual and structural levels to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS by coming up with a well-structured program to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Miami. Miami came up with a Task Force that was set in place to ensure that Miami HIV/AIDS rates are minimized. The Task Force managed to come up with 29 leaders who do businesses, others carry out social services, various officers from the government and health care professionals that made various recommendations to the Mayor of Miami Dade County and various County Board Commissioners in regards to the endorsements they made for prevention of HIV/AIDS in Miami County (Escudero et al, 2019).
Also, several goals were set in place by the Florida Department of Health (FDOH). The first goal was to ensure that 90 % of the individuals living with HIV/AIDS in Miami Dade would be in a position to know their status by 2020. Additionally, people in Miami should be sensitized on getting tested in an attempt to reduce the number of new cases by 25% by 2020. Moreover, 90 % of the people living in Miami should receive the required treatment in an attempt to acquire viral load suppression by 2020 (Tookes et al, 2020).
Besides, the task force gave recommendations that there should be sex education incorporated into the curriculum that should be age-appropriate to help in the dissemination of information about preventive measures in curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS. Moreover, the Miami Dade County public and private schools, the county and the government level should ensure that the curriculum is set in place. The Florida Department of Health should ensure that there are enough PrEP and nPEP availability to ensure that the population at risk can utilize the drugs(Escudero et al, 2019).
Likewise, the residents of Miami are encouraged to take part in routine HIV/STI testing in various health centers. Also, there should be an HIV/AIDS communication toolbox that ought to be implemented by the AIDS central office and the Florida Department of Health. Moreover, the people of Miami Dade should come up with a Consortium of public health that provides the data that would be essential in researching about the spread of HIV/AIDS in Miami county. Besides, health care outcomes of people living with HIV/AIDS in Miami should be improved to promote the livelihood of people. Also, the number of people who inject themselves with drugs and have HIV/AIDS should have their viral load suppressed. Furthermore, the main healthy people 2020 initiative is to ensure that there is a reduction of death cases of people living with HIV (Tookes et al, 2020).
Miami faces traffic issues that affect the health and wellbeing of individuals that reside in Miami. As a result of the traffic jam, patients who critically ill fail to receive health care services in time due to the impending traffic issues that have not been resolved. The government ought to expand the roads and build modern roads that are effective in minimizing the traffic jam effects that have greatly affected the delivery of health services. As a result, more hospitals ought to be built to avoid the struggle of travel in an attempt to access well-equipped hospitals that are found in Miami Dade. The government ought to increase the transportation option in an attempt to minimize the use of private vehicles to reduce traffic jams in Miami because over five million people visit Miami daily (Fernandez, 2019).
In conclusion, there is a need for the Florida Department of Health to implement the objectives and goals that have mentioned above in an attempt to enhance the health and the well-being of the people who reside in Miami. Moreover, sharing of syringes and needles should be stopped in an attempt to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS through ensuring that the Miami community receives the required health education regarding the health issues that are related to sharing needles. Additionally, the HIV/AIDS pandemic’s main objectives and the healthy people 2020 initiatives should be incorporated in stopping the spreading the HIV through ensuring that people are practicing adherence of the Antiretroviral drugs, use of the PrEPS and nPEP. Moreover, it is important to teach the community that constant use of antiretroviral reduces the viral load, risk of new transmission and infections, and death due to the failure of an individual in adhering to taking antiretroviral.
References
Fernandez, D. (2019). ” Something Better Than This”: A Phenomenology of Unsheltered Homeless Adults in the Miami-Dade Health District (Doctoral dissertation, Barry University).
Escudero, D. J., Bennett, B., Suarez, S., Darrow, W. W., Mayer, K. H., & Seage III, G. R. (2019). Progress and Challenges in “Getting to Zero” New HIV Infections in Miami, Florida. Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (JIAPAC), 18, 2325958219852122. https://doi.org/10.1177/2325958219852122
Iyengar, S., Kravietz, A., Bartholomew, T. S., Forrest, D., & Tookes, H. E. (2019). Baseline differences in characteristics and risk behaviors among people who inject drugs by syringe exchange program modality: an analysis of the Miami IDEA syringe exchange. Harm reduction journal, 16(1), 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12954-019-0280-z
Tookes, H., Bartholomew, T. S., Geary, S., Matthias, J., Poschman, K., Blackmore, C., … & Kolber, M. A. (2020). Rapid identification and investigation of an HIV risk network among people who inject drugs–Miami, FL, 2018. AIDS and Behavior, 24(1), 246-256 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-019-02680-9
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