Influenza Is A Serious Illness

In this project women of childbearing age was largely the population of focus, with many social determinants of the health that made this already vulnerable population even more in need of assistance concerning possible Zika outbreaks, prenatal education, and family planning services. Social determinants of health may include a variety of non-medical variables such as socioeconomic status, education attainment, neighborhood factors, racial discrimination, access to resources, working environment, etc. (Braveman, Egerter, & Williams, 2011; Mendez, Hogan, & Culhane, 2013). Women of childbearing age in relation to Zika virus exposure risk may encounter institutionalized racism and various upstream determinants of health that may negatively impact their ability to obtain healthcare coverage, educational resources, and family planning services. The political trends in Texas towards defunding Planned Parenthood and not expanding Medicaid services has placed an enormous burden on the women of Texas who wish to plan or prevent pregnancy but do not have the financial means to do so (Darney, et al., 2017). In the wake of a possible endemic disease, such as Zika virus, the most vulnerable will be the most susceptible.

Social factors that can contribute to the development of the flu are income and education. People with limited income may not be able to afford healthy foods for their families. They also may be restricted in access to health care or may not have money for a doctor’s visit if they are ill. This affects access to preventative health screenings as well as immunizations for the flu. Education plays a role also. Uneducated people may not realize the importance of immunizing their family members. They may not understand that immunizations often prevent or reduce the severity of this illness.

Health disparities in populations and population subgroups deal with differences in overall health and the spread of disease and death (Almgren, 2013). There are several characteristics of a population or subgroup that make them more vulnerable to disparities in health and healthcare. These include race, ethnicity, sex, age, education, income, employment, and geographic location among other characteristics. Many of which are linked to social inequality within communities. On the other hand, healthcare disparities include access to care, quality of care, equity, and health care outcomes (Almgren, 2013, p.243). Disparities in both categories can be explained by the social determinants of health that affect many people’s health status and include environmental factors present in communities (Patel & Rushefsky,2014). All these factors are interrelated and seem to affect minority and low-income groups more disproportionately. Meyer et.al. (2013), use the World Health Organizations explanation of social determinants of health as being “mostly responsible for health inequities—the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries” (p. 3). This explanation is applicable to communities and population groups within the U.S. as

Vaccination rates among the general population in the United States is an important public health intervention aimed at preventing unnecessary hospitalizations and premature deaths related to influenza. Among these vaccinations is the influenza vaccination, in which our paper will primarily focus on the barriers which prevent vaccination and determine ways to reduce the number of reasons people choose not to be immunized. We will look at some of the determinants and how they affect vaccination rates. These determinants include looking at: age, gender, marital status, education, ethnicity, socio-economic status, social and cultural values, housing, behavioral beliefs, social influences, previous vaccine experiences, perceived susceptibility, sources of information, perceived health status, healthcare system accessibility, affordability, knowledge and attitudes about vaccination, and physicians’ advice. By looking at the impact of these determinants, we can draw conclusions on how decreasing these barriers will impact the vaccination rate for the influenza vaccine. We will focus on the general population as a whole and at risk populations including: the elderly over the age of 65, children younger than 6 years old and health care workers.

Illnesses, epidemics, and pandemics derive from the living conditions and the social stratification of a society. Poverty tends to increase an individual’s possibility of getting sick due to deficient housing conditions, malnutrition, pressure, etc. Research supports that impoverished individuals experience higher death rates due to the insufficient medical care and nutritious food available to them. “An estimated 25 million Americans do not have enough money to feed themselves adequately and, as a result, suffer from serious nutritional deficiencies that can lead to illness and death” (Tischler 383). In effect, this contributes to the overall high mortality rates among groups of social classes. Those that live in poverty experience high levels

Immunization rates still remain low and hospitals that have voluntary programs in place, are not seeing the results they would if mandatory vaccine programs were put in to place. A mandatory influenza vaccine policy is the best solution to this issue and long overdue. Health care-associated influenza occurrences are becoming more common as it contributes to patient mortality and morbidity (The American Academy of Pediatrics, 2010). Thus, proving even further the need to prevent and control influenza by putting the health and safety of our patients first.

Researchers proposed a predictive model of unequal levels of influenza and mortality during a pandemic would be influenced by social factors. These determinants included crowded households, reliance on public transportation, and the inability to request time off from work. It was hypothesized that greater levels of crowding and increased prevalence of various types of employment among distinct groups of the population could possibly lead to inequalities in exposure to the virus. Difficulty associated with avoiding shared means of transportation could be an additional inequality in relation to the causative agent. Missing work, if employed as a policy for social-distancing during the time of a pandemic, would very likely, present more challenges for lower income workers, as they would be less able to account for the ensuing loss of wages. At the start of the pandemic, the CDC recommended people with ILI stay

Healthcare plays a crucial part in our lives. Health disparities “phrase references black-white differences as well health disadvantages characteristic of other ethnic groups “of color,” such as Hispanics, Asians, and Native Americans” (Coreil, 2010 p. 167). Many socio-ecological factors that contribute to the existence of health disparities when it comes immunizations. An individual ability to have access to health care, insurance status, income level, provider and patient knowledge have a significant impact on vaccination rates.

In two years between 1918 and 1919, A pandemic of influenza swept mercilessly over the planet, killing millions which stood in its path. Miraculously, the exact origin of the pandemic is unclear. What is exceedingly clear, however, is that often the actions of man aided in the spread of the virus, whether due to inadvertent endangerment, close quarters, religious principles, or failure to recognize the true threat that influenza posed.

The World Health Organisation posits that the social determinants of health (SDoH) are the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age, and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life which are in turn responsible for health inequities, the unequal and preventable disparities in health within population groups and between countries (WHO 2015). This broadly means that a person’s health can be negatively impacted or enhanced depending on their social status, educational attainment, level of income, living conditions and access to resources and social support networks.

As a result, the burden placed on the health care system is significantly reduced. Therefore, people at a high risk of contracting influenza should seriously consider being vaccinated. Evidence suggests that educating high-risk people about the influenza vaccine is worthwhile. For example, during the influenza season of 2000-2001, 70% of adults 65 years of age and older received the flu shot. This suggests

Most people perceive “the flu” to be a common (not a big deal) illness, but they overlook the 20,000 deaths and over 100,000 hospitalizations nationwide.

Jason Haffizulla, Aaron Hartman, Melanie Hoppers, Harvey Resnick, Steve Samudrala, Christine Ginocchio, Matthew Bardin, Jean-François Rossignol. Effect of nitazoxanide in adults and adolescents with acute uncomplicated influenza: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, phase 2b/3 trial. Lancet Infect Dis2014; 14: 609–18.

The determinants of health are economic and social conditions that affect people’s health status. These influence the living and working conditions that impacts people’s everyday living condition. Factors such as the place and the environment we live in, genetics, educational level or work status and income, as well as friends and family are some of the aspects that affects our health condition. On the other hand, the people that have an access to good health care and have financial stability are less susceptible and are often less affected. (NANB, 2009)

According to Healthy People 2020 a goal of theirs is to “increase immunization rates and reduce preventable infections.” The influenza virus is one of these preventable infections, which can cause serious harm to patients. The influenza virus is known as the “flu.” Everyone in his or her life has had some experience with the flu, whether that is himself or herself or a family member. What if there was a way to ensure people from contracting a strain of the influenza virus? Well, thanks to technology and medical research there is.