Vulnerable Population: People Living with HIV

Vulnerable Population: People Living with HIV Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Instructor Due Date

People Living with HIV  The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) targets their immune system .  They have a weak immune system because the virus affects the CD4 cells.  They are susceptible to various infections.  38 million individuals were living with HIV in 2019 (World Health Organization (WHO), 2020).  690,000 people with HIV died in 2019 (WHO, 2020).  1.7 million people got infected with HIV in 2019.

Reasons for Vulnerability  Their weak immune systems puts them at risk for poor health outcomes.  They also face difficulties in accessing healthcare.  They experience major disparities in life expectancy, mortality, and morbidity.  They have complex health needs that intersect with their economic and social conditions.

Common Communicable Diseases  Tuberculosis  Pneumonia  Herpes simple virus  Candidiasis (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2020).

Barriers to Healthcare and Access to Care  Patient Barriers:  Negative cultural health beliefs  HIV stigma  Lack of social support systems  Unstable housing  Denial of HIV status (Mgbere et al., 2015).

Barriers to Healthcare and Access to Care  Patient Barriers cont’d:  Incarceration  Transportation problems  Drug and alcohol abuse problems  Inability to understand medical instructions  Mental health problems

Barriers to Healthcare and Access to Care  System Barriers:  High cost of HIV care  No insurance coverage  Inconvenience due to clinic location and inflexible hours of operation  Unavailability of child care at the clinic  Lack of translation services (Mgbere et al., 2015)  Length of time for scheduling appointments

How HIV Relates to Public Health Nursing HIV has impacted public health nursing through: Increased workload Ethical issues related to HIV in practice, such as confidentiality Stigma attached to HIV Fear of contracting HIV by the nurses Lack of support of employees affected by HIV (Bhengu & Ncama, 2015)

Evidence Based Practices That Improve Health Outcomes of People with HIV Linkage to care for individuals newly diagnosed with HIV Offering comprehensive and integrated care services, including: Clinical services Mental healthcare

Psychosocial services Housing support Financial support Addiction treatment (Maina et al., 2016)

Resources That Will Improve Health Outcomes of People with HIV Information technology offers resources that can be used to improve the outcomes of patients with HIV, including: Electronic health records M-health Telehealth Social media Big data Websites Gamification (Avert, 2020)

References  Avert. (2020). Technology, e-health, and HIV programming. https://www.avert.org/technology-e-health-and-hivprogramming  Bhengu, B. R. & Ncama, B. P. (2015). The impact of HIV/AIDS on the nursing profession in Sub-Saharan Africa.

In S. Breakey, I.B. Corless, N.L. Meedzan, & P.K. Nicholas (Eds.), Global health nursing in the 21st century.

Springer Publishing Company.  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2020). AIDS and opportunistic infections. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/livingwithhiv/opportunisticinfections.html  Maina, G., Mill, J., Chaw-Kant, J., & Caine, V. (2016). A systematic review of best practices in HIV care. Journal of HIV/AIDS & Social Services, 15(1), 114-126.  Mgbere, O., Khuwaja, S., Bell, T.K., Rodriguez-Barradas, M.C., Arafat, R., Essien, E.J., Singh, M., Aguilar, J. and Roland, E. (2015). System and patient barriers to care among people living with HIV/AIDS in Houston/Harris County, Texas: HIV Medical Care Providers’ Perspectives. Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care (JIAPAC), 14(6), 505-515.  World Health Organization (WHO). (2020). HIV/AIDS. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hiv-aids