Individual, Interpersonal, Community, and Environmental Influences
The area we live in has a high rate of cultural diversity. As noted by Healthy People (2016), the Hispanic and Latino residents in Miami-Dade county estimates about 65.5% of the whole population, and African-American community occupies 19% of it. One of the main individual factors that impact the health of the population is the high percentage of people who do not have health insurance. The second individual factor is the personal choice of lifestyle and habits. Besides, the communities with lower English language proficiency also tend to have lower levels of health literacy and, due to that, are affected by such health issues as sexually transmitted diseases (such as HPV and syphilis)- this factor can be referred to as an interpersonal health risk as well. Another threat to the public health of families and groups of people is the low level of income that limits their access to healthcare (Healthy People, 2016). As for the second interpersonal factor, it is the social pressure to choose unhealthy lifestyle – early onset of sex life, teenage pregnancies, and smoking youth.
Health Indicators
The most influential factor is the lack of income and inability to afford insurance or get medical help when needed. In other words, being underserved is the major issue in this area. One more extremely important factor is presented by the unhealthy lifestyle choices dictated by the social pressure. While such challenges as child obesity and low rates of fruit and vegetable consumption among children and adolescents is addressed, the same habits among adults began to progress (Miami Matters, 2011). Unhealthy nutrition is just as dangerous as a habit to smoke or the decision to start active sex life at a very young age. Health literacy issues are losing their severity as the popularity of the internet, and its ubiquitous presence creates a benefit providing the communities with new sources of health-related information and improving their health literacy.
Promotion
As limited access to healthcare is one of the major public health issues in this area, Healthy People (2016) initiative employs special program designed to approach the underserved groups of the population engaging students from various educational facilities and specialties such as nursing, social work, education, law, and medicine. This program is called Neighborhood HELP. With the help of their mobile health centers, the participants perform mammograms, vaccinations, blood work, to name a few. They also provide educational assistance, promotional information, and legal advice.
The media that are used to promote health include programs conducted by healthcare organizations with the help of education, promotion of health literacy, free procedures (such as screening for various diseases). For instance, one of such initiatives is called Test Miami; it is directed at the monitoring and prevention of HIV in the community. The program was developed by Florida Department of Health and Miami-Dade County Health Department (About test Miami, 2016). It involves many different organizations (medical, faith-based, and educational) to promote testing among sexually active youth and deliver education necessary to guard healthy individuals from getting infected.
Another risk brought about by the unhealthy habits is childhood obesity. It is addressed by the program called Fit-to-Play that targets children and adolescents combining learning activities with physical exercise for the children to develop more healthy habits. All of the three programs (Neighborhood HELP, Test Miami, and Fit-to-Play) are very effective for their target audience attempting to generate immediate as well as long-term results.
Reference List
About Test Miami. (2016).
Healthy People. (2016). NeighborhoodHELP™ Engages Underserved Communities to Increase Health Care Access. Web.
Miami Matters (2011). Measuring What Matters in Miami-Dade County. Web.