Miami community is considered healthy, but there is a number of issues connected to the economy, poor infrastructure, and growing urbanization that influence the population as a whole. The community consists of several ethnicities, including White, African Americans, Latino, Asians, and Native Americans. People have varying access to health care, depending heavily on their income. Access to care, along with health care disparities, are the major issues and health priorities for the Miami community. The purpose of this paper is to identify and assess a vulnerable population in the Miami community located in Florida.
Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County provides a variety of healthcare services to the community. In 2012, the Health Council of South Florida collaborated with the Florida Department of Health in Miami-Date County to support the implementation of the tool “Mobilizing for Action through Partnerships and Planning (MAPP) for the 2013‐2018, five‐year term” (Health Council of South Florida, 2013, p. 2). The tool is designed to address the list of twenty existing health improvement strategies. Access to care and health care disparities are included in the top three priorities for 2013-2018 (Health Council of South Florida, 2013).
Different groups of the population have varying access to health care and unequal level of service. Impoverished members of the population suffer from the inaccessibility of health care. In the meantime, HIV, STDs, and infectious diseases are included in the top ten priorities in the MAPP plan. According to Sheehan et al. (2017), “disparities in retention in care and viral suppression persist and are not accounted for by differences in age, sex, transmission mode, AIDS diagnosis, neighborhood socioeconomic status, rural/urban residence, or neighborhood racial composition” (167). Therefore, the impoverished population with HIV, STDs, and infectious diseases can be considered a vulnerable group that needs closer attention to local healthcare authorities.
Several strategies and initiatives are employed to decrease HIV, STDs, and infectious diseases in the Miami community. One of the main hindrances to HIV testing is the necessity to obtain consent from people in the vulnerable group. Therefore, the majority of developed programs aim to increase the number of tests in non-clinical settings. Voluntary testing at public schools is implemented to give students profound information about HIV/AIDS and STDs and the possibility to check their HIV status. According to Health Council of South Florida (2013), “ECHPP supports the National HIV/AIDS Strategy goals by improving program planning and implementation to: reduce new HIV infections; link people with HIV to care and treatment and improve health outcomes; reduce HIV‐related health disparities, and achieve a more coordinated national response to the HIV epidemic.” (p. 14).
To increase the awareness of people about STDs, health care providers develop coalitions on a variety of diseases and organize condom distribution with informational support. According to the Health Council of South Florida. (2013), “Chlamydia/Gonorrhea screening program for young females 15 – 24 years of age involves memorandums of agreement with community partners to provide screening in non‐traditional locations during non‐traditional hours” (p. 15). Programs aiming at detection and prevention of tuberculosis pay special attention to risk groups of the population including homeless.
As it is mentioned before, one of the main challenges to the diagnosis and prevention of HIV is the necessity to obtain consent from people to be tested. The events in public schools have only limited success because there is not enough time and medical workers to meet the testing plans. According to Health Council of South Florida. (2013), “There is a need for more initiatives targeting the men who have sex with men (MSM) community as they are most affected by HIV in Miami‐Dade” (p. 14).
The Health Council of South Florida in collaboration with the Florida Department of Health provide numerous health resources for the HIV-positive population in Miami community including AIDS Insurance Continuation Program (Health Council of South Florida, 2013). This program helps people with AIDS or HIV to maintain their health insurance when they are unable to pay for it due to their illness. This program is crucial for the impoverished HIV-positive population in Miami community.
The lack of staff and funding is a major challenge for all current initiatives. Therefore, the percentage of HIV-positive individuals receiving care remains low in comparison to the number of newly diagnosed cases. Community health nurses can positively impact the situation providing tests for risk groups and taking care of HIV-positive people.
The rates of HIV, STDs and infectious diseases are one of the priority community health problems. Swan and Evans (2017) claim that “in 2015, Florida ranked first in the nation for the number of new HIV infections (4,868) and first in the nation for newly diagnosed AIDS cases (2,775)” (2). Miami-Dade is among five countries with the highest number of HIV cases. The statistics show significantly higher HIV case rates among African American men and women in Florida in comparison to white men and women (Swan & Evans, 2017). In 2015, blacks constituted nearly half of all newly registered HIV cases and the majority of HIV-related deaths. A community health nurse can positively influence the situation providing testing for risk groups and taking care of HIV-positive people.
References
Health Council of South Florida. (2013). MAPP Miami 2013-2018 community health priorities, goals & strategies. Miami, FL: Florida Department of Health in Miami-Dade County.
Swan, J., & Evans, N. (2017). HIV/AIDS for Florida Healthcare Professionals. Comptche, CA: Wild Iris Medical Education.
Sheehan, D. M., Fennie, K. P., Mauck, D. E., Maddox, L. M., Lieb, S., & Trepka, M. J. (2017). Retention in HIV care and viral suppression: individual-and neighborhood-level predictors of racial/ethnic differences, Florida, 2015. Aids Patient Care and Stds, 31(4), 167-175.