Community
“Prince George’s County continues to have the second-highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases in Maryland and the second-highest number of reported AIDS and HIV cases, according to the county’s top health official.” (Wiggins, 2009)
As it can be understood from the above statement this paper will focus on the county of Prince George, in Maryland. More specifically the community we will be diagnosing is that of Upper Marlboro City.
Demographic and Epidemiological data
Upper Marlboro is a community of around 35,414 inhabitants with 13,055 housing units, as of July 2007. They are spread out in an area of 37.2 square miles with a density of 517 people per square mile, which is considered a low-density urban zone. 49.3%, or 9,595, of them, were female, and 50.7% or 9,640 were males. The median resident age was of 34.2 years. In comparison, that of Maryland is of 36 years (US Census Bureau, 2010). Thus, the city has a younger population than that of the state.
In relation to race, the majority of the city is composed of a majority of black or Afro-American people, 22,155 (or 62.6%), by 11,604 white people (or 32.8%), 709 Hispanic or Latino (or 2%), 539 Asian (or 1.5%), 159 American Indian or Alaskan Native (or 0.4%) and 252 individuals (or 0.7%) of another ethnical background. There are a total of 12,521 occupied housing units, where 10,912 are owner-occupied and only 1,609 are renter-occupied. That is something characteristic of this county that differs from the national average. In fact, the national average for owned housing is 66.2% of the occupied housing, instead of in Upper Marlboro we have 87.1%.
Regarding the social statistics of the city, we find that the population of three years and over enrolled in school is about 10,515. Of them, 2543, or 24.3%, are in high school. There are 14,662 married persons and 8409 who were never married. This one is the group with a higher risk potential for HIV/Aids attacks.
In fact, the County health Office declares that there are 5240 HIV / Aids positive cases in the county. What is more important was that in the city district as much as 3% of the population is affected by HIV / Aids (Wiggins, 2009). Another crucial piece of epidemiological data is that syphilis has been ‘resurrecting’ in the country and city district area in particular.
Windshield Survey
The houses are aged from the 1950s to the current date. They are range from the colonial, ranch, Cape Cod and modern style. They are constructed of brick, shingles and stucco. They are all single-family homes. They all have landed in the front and back, most on ½ acre or more. Most have central heating/air and the entire community is on a water well system, not public water. There are several open lots where homes have not been built on. There is also a horse farm within the development. Unfortunately, there are really no neighborhood hangouts. You have to go about 2-3 miles away to get to the nearest schoolyard, park and convenience stores. The areas are open to strangers. To get out of the neighborhood, people ride bikes, walk and drive. There are no developed sidewalks in the neighborhood and you have to walk about ¾ mile out of the development to get to a limited county bus service. There are signs of activities at the local school buildings. They hold after-school activities, church services and community association meetings. In regard to stores, the closest shopping strip is about 4 miles away. You have to drive or take bus transportation to get to them.
As mentioned above, the neighborhood is mixed with all races/ethnic backgrounds to include Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics and Indian. Most of the residents are of the Christian faith and you will find many churches in and surrounding the neighborhood for all different denominations. In general, during election campaigns, there are political posters in some neighborhood yards. The neighborhood area is mostly Democratic. Also, there are television antennas and satellite dishes in the neighborhood. Some people subscribed to The Washington Post and there is a local weekly newspaper called the Gazette that is delivered to everyone.
Despite all the epidemiological data mentioned above, there is no evidence of chronic diseases, accidents, communicable diseases, drug abuse or mental illness in the neighborhood. The nearest hospital is about 10 miles away.
Problem
The problem is that the young and very sexually active population of the county, and especially the city district, is not Students are very sexually active, are neither using protection during their sexual relation nor are they having a responsible sexual behavior in general? This situation increases the risk potentials for HIV / Aids or other related disease infections.
Historical Significance
As health officials pointed out “in 1998 there were 6.6 cases of syphilis for every 100,000 residents, compared with 11.2 cases per 100,000 residents in 2007” (Wiggin, 2009).
Also, another important factor is that the teen pregnancy rate has doubled in the past 2 years. Furthermore, during the last seven years, the rate of infection from HIV / Aids has been rising dramatically (Wiggins, 2009). During the same period, the number of people with lack of health access has been also rising fast. This situation reached its peak in 2007 when 151,000 residents had no health coverage at all and around 102,000 were in Medicare. In comparison to the national rate of HIV / Aids infected, the rate of the county (and especially city district) is higher (Healthy People, 2010).
Natural History of the Disease
The history of HIV / Aids begins in 1981 when the first case was reported. Nevertheless, suspicions were that the disease had been spreading even many years before. Until that time there are more than 600,000 cases reported in the US alone. The World Health Organization declared it to be a world pandemic by the early 1990s.
The HIV virus binds to CD4 receptor permissive cells. The CD4 is present on monocytes, macrophages and dendritic cells. They are part of the G-protein coupled 7 trans-membrane receptor family. Then, the virus is stimulated by Tat (a Trans-acting activator of transcription) and cellular transcription factors.
Summary
The problem is that the young and very sexually active population of the county, and especially the city district, is not Students are very sexually active, are neither using protection during their sexual relation nor are they having a responsible sexual behavior? One of the main contributors to this problem is the disregard of advice from health experts and the lack of access to health care.
References
Healthy People (2010) “Leading health indicators”. Web.
United States Census Bureau (2010) “American FactFinder”. Web.
Wiggins, O. (2009). “County still no. 2 in md. for std’s, says officials”, The Washington Post. Web.