Policy and Advocacy for Improving Health

Patient advocacy is a crucial aspect of the nursing practice. Advocacy helps in promoting and safeguarding the health of patients. Since nurses advocate for the health of patients, they play an invaluable role in advocacy campaigns. Nurses have adopted a wide range of patient advocacy strategies including safeguarding the independence of patients, promoting social justice for all patient populations and standing up for the rights of patients. Studies have revealed that a significant proportion of people in the community suffer from HPV. This disease can, however, be prevented through vaccination. Unfortunately, poor administration of vaccines and limited awareness regarding HPV vaccines hinder the fight against this disease. This paper will highlight the advocacy campaign for individual suffering from human papillomavirus.

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Population Health Issue

HPV has become a public health concern due to its increased prevalence. Statistics have shown that more than 20 million people in the United States have HPV (Gottlieb, 2018). The disease subjects the people and the government to huge financial burdens. The main challenge associated with this disease is that some of its strands can progress to critical forms of cancer such as cervical and vaginal cancer (Gottlieb, 2018). It has also been revealed that HPV causes warts that affect various parts of the body. Women form the biggest proportion of those with HPV. It is regrettable that despite the presence of practical preventive measures such as vaccines and abstinence from sexual activities this disease continues affecting a large number of people (CDC, 2014). The CDC (2014) revealed that over 30% of those with HPV die from severe complications related to this disease. There is a need to promote the use of vaccines to ensure the risk of death due to HPV and its related complications is thwarted.

Human Papillomavirus Advocacy Programs

Various Advocacy campaign programs have been developed to improve the use of vaccines with the intent of reducing the number of people with this disease. However, minimal awareness, limited access to care and a lack of education are some of the key factors that reduce compliance with the HPV vaccines. Most patient advocacy campaigns employ patient-centred approaches to increase the knowledge of the people regarding certain health issues.

The Gardasil Access Program (GAP) is one of the advocacy campaigns that have achieved remarkable achievements in the fight against HPV. The fundamental aim of the GAP was to administer HPV to students at risk of HPV. Ladner et al. (2012) noted that before the students were administered with the vaccine, they were given brochures containing information on HPV to take to their parents. The parents were required to read the content and make a decision whether to have their children vaccinated or not. Eventually, HPV vaccines were administered to over 87% of the students. This success of this program was by far more than it was anticipated. Ladner et al. (2012) asserted that the school setting was selected since the risk of HPV is highest amongst young people aged 9-13 years.

The Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS) is the other advocacy program that was intended to increase the number of young females vaccinated against HPV. Wamai et al., (2012) noted that the CBCHS involved visiting learning and religious institutions, health care facilities and other places frequented by young people to sensitize them on the importance of HPV vaccine. The use of an effective advertising strategy is one of the factors that guaranteed the success of the CBCHS. Advertisement of this campaign was made through the mass media to ensure the information was passed to a large population.

The HPV Policy Plan

Programs that advocate for the implementation of HPV prevention strategies play a remarkable role in promoting screening, educating and vaccination of the people at risk. Low compliance with the prevention interventions including vaccination is a major impediment to the fight against diseases (Gottlieb, 2018). A practical advocacy program is necessary for the fight against HPV to ensure that the people at risk are properly enlightened. Two major types of HPV vaccines have been approved for use in the U.S. Unfortunately these vaccines do not offer protection for all strains of HPV. One of the key challenges in the HPV vaccination policy plan is the refusal of members of the community to have their children administered with the vaccine.

This policy plan proposes the administration of HPV vaccines for all students in the sixth grade. This plan would require all young people to be administered with the first HPV vaccine dose before being admitted into the middle school. However, religious principles and medically diagnosed contraindications should be put into consideration for purposes of exemption from the policy. The objective of this policy is to ensure that students are administered with all doses of the HPV before the seventh grade.

Conclusion

Patient advocacy is a crucial aspect of the nursing practice. Advocacy helps in promoting and safeguarding the health of patients. Various Advocacy campaign programs have been developed to improve the use of vaccines with the intent of reducing the number of people with HPV. The Gardasil Access Program (GAP) and the Cameroon Baptist Convention Health Services (CBCHS) constitute some of the Advocacy Programs that were conducted to promote the use of HPV vaccines.