Health promotion initiative Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Health promotion initiative - Essay Example It should be noted that the area is crime prone and incidences of drug abuse are very common. According to records, a portion of the population shared needles from intravenous drug use and there is widespread homosexual promiscuity. In the 1990s, the Belle Glade community had the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the United States. The AIDS scourge is widespread in the entire area cutting across all the major demographics of Hispanics and Black Americans. One of the reasons for the high AIDS prevalence rate is the sharing of needles used in intravenous drug injections. The high risk people include drug users who are also engaged in promiscuity. Lack of knowledge and information about AIDS contributes to the high prevalence rates in the region especially among the gay people. These high risk people are not equipped with the right information on AIDS and therefore inadvertently put themselves and the entire community at a high risk of infection. It is therefore important to undertake a health promotion initiative in Belle Glade community so as to curb the issue of HIV/AIDS. Notably, measures have to be put in place to ensure that new infection cases are eliminated and those that are infected get the right information to live in a healthy manner. It is also important to note that the use of drugs and high rates of promiscuity play a major role in the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Belle Glade community. Therefore, the health promotion is intended to cover the whole spectrum of HIV/AIDS spread and infection management. According to the Ottawa Charter (1986), health promotion is based on the social ecological factors that determine the health of the society. Health promotion initiatives aim at mobilizing resources for good health. It should be noted that health promotion is salute-genetic and it involves a multi sectoral approach. Based on the Ottawa