Memo

Infectious disease outbreak and epidemic control policy in the US From: A Senior Citizens forum CA, USA To: The Honourable Governor of California, USA Subject: Policy suggestions for controlling spread of AIDS in highly affected groups in the US Dear Governor Jerry Brown, Overview AIDS or Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome is a deadly disease which spread in the US as an epidemic in the 1980s. Different steps have been taken to control spread of this disease in the US. However despite the decline in number of cases where a patient is diagnosed HIV positive, policy changes are required to help certain ethnic, cultural and socio-economic groups which still have very high percentage of their population suffering from this grave health issue. One important issue is that ethnic groups like African Americans and especially those who are gays or bisexual people have higher percentage of people carrying HIV virus in comparison to other ethnic groups. It is alarming that at present, the number of people in the US who are HIV positive is above 1.2 million. A major problem is that 1 out of 8 of these does not know about his or her infection. We have a growing young population. Despite the efforts, the teenagers still get involved in drugs and unsafe sex. As a result, the chances of spreading AIDS or HIV virus through sexual contact or blood transfusion are still high. Although we have to admit that HIV diagnoses rate has declined by 19% in recent years, but this figure is true for the older lot of people. The youngsters are still as much at a danger of contracting this disease as ever. This discussion shows that people from various age groups, genders, ethnic backgrounds and socio-economic backgrounds have different probability of being diagnosed with HIV virus. Thus it is suggested that the policy for controlling HIV virus spread in these groups should be different and specific for each group. Background 83% of the men diagnosed with AIDS are homosexuals or bisexual. The number of black men of African descent having this virus is higher than any other group of people who were diagnosed with AIDS. Group specific epidemic control policy is suggested because bisexual or homosexuals African American men are getting AIDS more commonly even if the public administration policy is helping other ethnic groups to control the spread of this epidemic. According to Barr (2016) although on papers a lot of attention is being paid towards epidemics control, there are certain segments in our society which need more attention in this regard. Statistics show that for some medical or social reason, these people are more prone to contracting AIDS than other ethnic or socio-economic groups (Teitelbaum and Wilensky, 2016). AIDS control policy in the US is more focused on generalized control of this deadly disease. A policy change is suggested, where the ethnic groups can act as various tiers of the society, and policy for controlling AIDS epidemic can be designed specific to each of these tiers. For example, the white males who are not bisexual or homosexuals have lesser probability of getting AIDS in comparison to black males who are bisexual or homosexuals (Barr, 2016). The policy for containing AIDS remains same for both. This is what we suggest should change. Statistics show that black homosexual men of African American descent have more chances of getting this disease so they should be paid more attention in this regard. Recommendations It is suggested that patient-centric and disease –centric approach needs to be weighed and chosen to suit the situation best. Old policy being followed in the US is not effective as it is same for all ethnic and social groups. Policy change that we suggest is that at the national level, whole data about AIDS patients should be studied and target segments in the society should be identified. The segmentation should be done on the basis of age, gender, ethnic background and socio-economic background. After these segments are developed, specific policies for each of these groups should be developed. It is imperative that the Infection Control Breaches are minimised. It should be made imperative that the public administration machinery does not break. Again the lapses from the medical personnel on infection control should be kept at the lowest possible scale. The rate of hospitalisation and mortality rate shall have to be duly maintained. Even the Hospice records should be merged with the total data. Policy development for each segment identified should depend on this detailed data. To control AIDS epidemic further, it is important that a policy change is made. To have a more efficient system, the fund should not be an issue. A concentrated effort will bring in the best out of the dedicated team we already have. Wishing you all the best Truly yours For the Senior citizen forum. References Barr, D. (2016) Introduction to US health policy: The organization, financing and delivery of health care in America. Johns Hopkins University Press. Teitelbaum, J. and Wilensky, S. (2016) Essentials of health policy and law. Jones and Bartlett.