Leadership:
Public Health Educator in Peru
Background:
As a Public Health major with ample amounts of experiences within and beyond the classroom, I plan to use my knowledge to positively change society. More specifically, as a Public Health Educator in Peru, I plan to help curb the epidemic of HIV/AIDS by addressing stigma and providing education on safe sex practices to members of rural villages.
The Peace Corps is a governmental program that former President John F. Kennedy founded in 1961. The Peace Corps is an opportunity for Americans to volunteer worldwide to promote world peace and mutual understanding between Americans and citizens of other nations. Peace Corps volunteers have been assigned to 140 different countries. According to their official website, "The Peace Corps is a service opportunity for motivated changemakers to immerse themselves in a community abroad, working side by side with local leaders to tackle the most pressing challenges of our generation."
As of 2016 in Peru, 2,700 new cases of HIV were contracted and there were over 2,000 AIDS-related deaths (UNAIDS, 2018). Instead of seeing a decrease in incidence rates- or new cases- like we see in the United States, since 2010 Peru has experienced an increase in HIV incidence by 24%. In addition to incidence, AIDS related deaths have increased by 14% (UNAIDS, 2018).
General Solutions:
As I mentioned in my Key Insight 2 Stigma of HIV/AIDS as a Global Problem, HIV/AIDS carries with it a lot of stigma. The first step in my intervention is to address stigma and denounce it. Once stigma has been addressed and tackled I believe that locals will be more willing to participate in educational studies about HIV/AIDS. In terms of education, I will provide knowledge on contracting HIV, preventing the virus, and how HIV affects our immune systems. Along with education, I plan to partner with local clinics to provide testing, contraception, counseling, and medication for the 27 months that I will be abroad- although the program will be expected to last for six years in total as new Peace Corps volunteers arrive.
Through courses that I have taken at the University of South Carolina, I believe that my course of action will be successful. As described in Key Insight 2 I have had practice developing interventions through courses including Health, Promotion, Education, Behavior 300 and HPEB 553. In addition, through my beyond the classroom experiences I have worked in clinics and other healthcare settings that deal with HIV/AIDS.
Volunteering in a developing country comes with its precautions and difficulties. I will have to be aware of the barriers to access that I am not accustomed to in the United States. As I mentioned in Key Insight 1 discussing pollution in India, income affects many factors in developing countries. It is important to be aware of this reality that income affects many other aspects- whether or not it be pollution specifically- because in Public Health everything is connected and relevant.
Third, as mentioned in Key Insight 3: Importance of Preventative Care as seen in Latino Communities, I am aware of the cultural barriers such as autotratamiento or self-medicating. Although in my Key Insight 3 I discuss Hispanics (Latinos who currently live in the USA) and local Peruvians are not technically “Hispanic” according to the definition, it is relevant to presume similar habits. It is important to communicate to the Peruvian patients that self-medication is not sufficient for a virus such as HIV. Introducing the biomedical model is therefore vitally important.
Detailed Plans:
Evaluation:
To evaluate my intervention, I will keep data throughout the 27 months including incidence and prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS in the communities in which I work in Peru in addition to other evaluation methods. I will gather baseline data at the beginning of my time in the particular rural communities I choose to work with then continue to track the data. I will begin with only one rural community before expanding the efforts. Through evaluation, after 27 months of program intervention, I expect to see a decrease in incidence of HIV meaning fewer diagnosis due to preventative methods and larger prevalence of HIV meaning that more people are living with the disease instead of dying of AIDS. Peace Corps programs typically last for six years meaning that three different Peace Corps Volunteers will work on the same program. In order to transition to the next Peace Corps Volunteer, I will train the incoming volunteers on the progress of the intervention and encourage them to use evaluation data to improve the intervention.
Sources:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Estimated HIV incidence and prevalence in the United States, 2010–2015. HIV Surveillance Supplemental Report 2018;23(No. 1). http://www.cdc.gov/ hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance.html. Published March 2018. Accessed April 04,2018. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/library/reports/surveillance/cdc-hiv-surveillance-supplemental-report-vol-23-1.pdf
Peace Corps. (n.d.). Peace Corps: About. Retrieved April 26, 2018, from https://www.peacecorps.gov/about/
UNAIDS. (2016, November 24). Peru. Retrieved April 04, 2018, from http://www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/peru
As a Public Health major with ample amounts of experiences within and beyond the classroom, I plan to use my knowledge to positively change society. More specifically, as a Public Health Educator in Peru, I plan to help curb the epidemic of HIV/AIDS by addressing stigma and providing education on safe sex practices to members of rural villages.
The Peace Corps is a governmental program that former President John F. Kennedy founded in 1961. The Peace Corps is an opportunity for Americans to volunteer worldwide to promote world peace and mutual understanding between Americans and citizens of other nations. Peace Corps volunteers have been assigned to 140 different countries. According to their official website, "The Peace Corps is a service opportunity for motivated changemakers to immerse themselves in a community abroad, working side by side with local leaders to tackle the most pressing challenges of our generation."
As of 2016 in Peru, 2,700 new cases of HIV were contracted and there were over 2,000 AIDS-related deaths (UNAIDS, 2018). Instead of seeing a decrease in incidence rates- or new cases- like we see in the United States, since 2010 Peru has experienced an increase in HIV incidence by 24%. In addition to incidence, AIDS related deaths have increased by 14% (UNAIDS, 2018).
General Solutions:
As I mentioned in my Key Insight 2 Stigma of HIV/AIDS as a Global Problem, HIV/AIDS carries with it a lot of stigma. The first step in my intervention is to address stigma and denounce it. Once stigma has been addressed and tackled I believe that locals will be more willing to participate in educational studies about HIV/AIDS. In terms of education, I will provide knowledge on contracting HIV, preventing the virus, and how HIV affects our immune systems. Along with education, I plan to partner with local clinics to provide testing, contraception, counseling, and medication for the 27 months that I will be abroad- although the program will be expected to last for six years in total as new Peace Corps volunteers arrive.
Through courses that I have taken at the University of South Carolina, I believe that my course of action will be successful. As described in Key Insight 2 I have had practice developing interventions through courses including Health, Promotion, Education, Behavior 300 and HPEB 553. In addition, through my beyond the classroom experiences I have worked in clinics and other healthcare settings that deal with HIV/AIDS.
Volunteering in a developing country comes with its precautions and difficulties. I will have to be aware of the barriers to access that I am not accustomed to in the United States. As I mentioned in Key Insight 1 discussing pollution in India, income affects many factors in developing countries. It is important to be aware of this reality that income affects many other aspects- whether or not it be pollution specifically- because in Public Health everything is connected and relevant.
Third, as mentioned in Key Insight 3: Importance of Preventative Care as seen in Latino Communities, I am aware of the cultural barriers such as autotratamiento or self-medicating. Although in my Key Insight 3 I discuss Hispanics (Latinos who currently live in the USA) and local Peruvians are not technically “Hispanic” according to the definition, it is relevant to presume similar habits. It is important to communicate to the Peruvian patients that self-medication is not sufficient for a virus such as HIV. Introducing the biomedical model is therefore vitally important.
Detailed Plans:
- Arrive in Peru and attend 3 month training with other Peace Corps volunteers
- Move into community and begin assignment as Public Health Educator
- Familiarize myself with the local community and people and built trust with the locals while planning the intervention
- Conduct surveys to gather data about general health concerns around the community
- Further conduct surveys and interviews specifically related to HIV/AIDS
- Ask about current knowledge of the disease- contracting it for example
- Ask about preventative techniques to evaluate current knowledge of contraception, etc.
- Evaluate stigma of HIV
- Conduct health classes with specific HIV-stigma-related content & Encourage and teach the importance of STI and HIV testing
- Expand health courses to include preventative methods
- Contraception
- Oral
- Anal
- Vaginal
- Injection Drug Usage
- Sharing needles or syringes
- Mother-to-child
- Breast Feeding
- Contraception
- Teach the specifics of how HIV can transition to AIDS and how it affects the immune system
- Throughout the intervention conduct surveys to evaluate the learning process.
- After 27 months have expired, evaluate and educate the future Peace Corps volunteers on the intervention.
Evaluation:
To evaluate my intervention, I will keep data throughout the 27 months including incidence and prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS in the communities in which I work in Peru in addition to other evaluation methods. I will gather baseline data at the beginning of my time in the particular rural communities I choose to work with then continue to track the data. I will begin with only one rural community before expanding the efforts. Through evaluation, after 27 months of program intervention, I expect to see a decrease in incidence of HIV meaning fewer diagnosis due to preventative methods and larger prevalence of HIV meaning that more people are living with the disease instead of dying of AIDS. Peace Corps programs typically last for six years meaning that three different Peace Corps Volunteers will work on the same program. In order to transition to the next Peace Corps Volunteer, I will train the incoming volunteers on the progress of the intervention and encourage them to use evaluation data to improve the intervention.
Sources:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Estimated HIV incidence and prevalence in the United States, 2010–2015. HIV Surveillance Supplemental Report 2018;23(No. 1). http://www.cdc.gov/ hiv/library/reports/hiv-surveillance.html. Published March 2018. Accessed April 04,2018. https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/pdf/library/reports/surveillance/cdc-hiv-surveillance-supplemental-report-vol-23-1.pdf
Peace Corps. (n.d.). Peace Corps: About. Retrieved April 26, 2018, from https://www.peacecorps.gov/about/
UNAIDS. (2016, November 24). Peru. Retrieved April 04, 2018, from http://www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/peru