THE HEALTH PROMOTION

Running Head: HEALTH PROMOTION
HEALTH PROMOTION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

HEALTH PROMOTION1
Introduction
Health promotion is an essential practice needed in several communities all around the
world. Due to the study of epidemiology, it is seen that few races and ethnicity are a bigger target
of life threatening diseases due to lifestyle implications or genetic factors. The purpose of this
paper is to discuss the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) in Chicago IL Austin
community in African American males between the ages of 18-30 and the importance of health
promotion in this target population. Health promotion is necessary for this target population
because they are unaware about the preventive measures of this disease due to illiteracy and
socioeconomic backwardness. It is essential for health educators to focus on African American
populated areas to decrease health disparities.
Discussion
Sexually transmitted diseases are passed through unprotected sexual contact with people
who have STD or when people have multiple sexual partners. It is also seen widely seen in
people who have sex with the same gender or homosexuality. Sexually transmitted disease are a
threat to the city of Chicago as it is seen in the statistics and surveillance reports. Men in the age
group of 18-30 are more susceptible to this disease because they are young and might be
interested in having unprotected sex with several partners or want to experience unprotected sex
and having same sex partners (McFadden et al., 2014). The IL Austin community in Chicago is
highly dominated by African Americans because Chicago has the third largest population of this
ethnic group after New York and Atlanta, which is making this city outpace the rate of STDs.
During 2015-2016, syphilis was on a high of 18% and it mostly included men such as bisexuals
and gays. The count of HIV cases in United States accounted for 40% and they were African

HEALTH PROMOTION2
American men in 2014. 78% of HIV diagnosed African American men contracted the disease
through male to male sexual contact and 15% was found to be infected due to heterosexual
exposure. The STDs also include Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, and Syphilis other than HIV. In 2016,
the rate of gonorrhea was highest in men, which was 22% and the majority of the cases were
found in bisexual and gay men between the ages of 18-30 years (Chicagotribune.com, 2017).
The project of health promotion relates to the STD infected African American male
population of Chicago because they require such interventions due to the health disparities they
have to go through. The major reason for this health inequity is socioeconomic backwardness
and illiteracy as they are a minority group in America. The awareness about the usage of condom
with same sex partners and various partners is not known to them (Lampkin et al., 2016). This
leads to the high prevalence of STDs in this ethnic group as 41% of African Americans were
reported to be infected with chlamydia, which was almost double the rate of Latinos and whites.
Similarly, the same ethnic group was reported of gonorrhea and that was 48%, which is the
double of Latinos and whites as well. The areas that had the highest case of gonorrhea and
chlamydia were North Lawndale, Riverdale, Englewood and West Garfield Park. The
contributing factors of this disease in this population group is education, housing, economic
opportunity or development (Chae et al., 2014).
The application of health promotion concepts are needed for this group such as
conducting events and workshops related to the prevention of the disease and explaining the
consequences if it is not stopped. Giving health education to people regarding the usage of
condoms because the reason of its transmission is unprotected sex (Woolf-King & Maisto,
2015). Men who are gay and bisexual should be specifically addressed regarding this issue as
they are at a higher risk than straight men. The public health promotional plans should include