HIV Prevention: Primary Healthcare Nursing for Aboriginal and Torres Islander People

This assignment discusses how primary healthcare nursing can help the aboriginal and Torres islander people overcome HIV and develop a safer community for the future generations to come.

Running head: HIV PREVENTION
HIV PREVENTION
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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HIV PREVENTION
Introduction:
HIV is one of the most dangerous viruses that is responsible for the occurrence of Acute
immune Deficiency syndrome, a disorder that is dreaded by every nation in the world. This virus
is mainly seen to target and alter the immune system in the affected individuals thereby
increasing the risk as well as the impact of other infections and the disorders (Bodenheimer &
Bauer, 2016). The virus is seen to pass through sexual contacts, blood transfusions, using of
infected syringes and similar others. Without treatment, the infection may be seen to progress to
a much advanced stage called the AIDS where even minute of any disorders and infections seem
to become threatening as the immune system of the body fails to protect the person from the
various germ and microorganisms. It is indeed very good news to know that Australia had
become successful in fighting with the disorder and emerged out victorious. Data reveals that
total number of HIV notifications of the newly diagnosed cases in the nation had fallen to that of
the lowest number of the diagnoses since the time of 2010 with only 963 notifications in the year
2017 (Relf & Harmon, 2016). Australia had been able to witness a 7% decrease in the number of
HIV diagnoses in the nation in that of the last five years. However, the prevalence of HIV among
the aboriginal and Torres Islander community of the nation reveals the fact that the nation had
yet a long mile to travel to develop a nation completely free from the dreadful disorder (Dawson
et al., 2017). This assignment will discuss how primary healthcare nursing can help the
aboriginal and Torres islander people overcome the disorder and develop a safer community for
the future generations to come.

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Prevalence of HIV among the Aboriginal and Torres Islander people:
A total of about 1081 notifications of newly diagnosed HIV infection had been found in
the year 2014 where about 33 cases were diagnosed among the indigenous people. About 242
cases of HIV infection had been newly diagnosed in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
population in the entire decade from 2005 to 2014. It had been found that between the years of
the 2012-2014, the notification rate of the newly diagnosed HIV cases in the indigenous
communities had been higher for about 5.9 per 100000 of the people than that of the non-native
people for about 3.7 people per 100000 (Relf & Laureen, 2015). Among the reported cases, the
most frequently reported route of the HIV transmission had been of the sexual conflict between
the males accounting for about 50% of the cases as well as injecting drug use accounting for
about 16% along with heterosexual contacts accounting for about 20% of the cases. 30% of the
cases reported late diagnosis that had their infection for at least four years without being tested.
The famous daily Sydney Morning Herald had come up important information where they
exhibited National Data showing 33% increase in the new cases of the HIV diagnosis in the
indigenous people accounting an increase from that of 438 per 100000 people in the year 2012 to
that of 6.4 per 100000 people in the year 2016. At the same time, the newly diagnosed HIV rates
had been found to be decreased by 22% among the non native communities from that of 3.7 per
10000 populations to that of the 2.9 per 100000 (Kruk et al. 2015). One of the famous comment
made in the daily was “"HIV in Australia is currently considered to be a low-level epidemic, but
there is general consensus that it could rapidly transition to a concentrated epidemic among
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, as has occurred among First Nations people in
some provinces of Canada." This shows that the registered nurses working in the primary

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healthcare services have important responsibilities to take up for reduction of the prevalence of
HIV among the indigenous people in the nation (Turner et al., 2018).
Responsibilities of primary healthcare professionals:
Studies are of the opinion that it is important to approach HIV not as an acute disorder
but as a chronic disorder and thereby the primary healthcare professionals need to focus on a
patient centered approach. It is important for acknowledging the imbalance of power between the
patient and that of the community and healthcare workers (White et al., 2014). This would help
in developing good relationship among the communities and the healthcare professionals and
would thereby help in strengthening community structures in every possible ways that would
help in supporting long –term patient self-management skills. One of the researchers are of the
opinion that “HIV care may start at the health centre, but with increasing patient self-
management, the vast majority of care takes place in the home and in the community”.
The primary healthcare professional should first try to ensure community participation in
prevention of the HIV spread across the communities. Community participation can help the
primary healthcare professionals firstly in raising awareness as well as disseminating information
along with the reduction of the stigma through that of education, acceptance as well as political
buy-ins in the aboriginal communities. Secondly, the nursing professionals can also help in
improving the treatment as well as the care outcomes by providing effective leadership as well as
different support services (Machtinger et al., 2015). Third, the primary health nursing
professionals might also be assisting the assessment, coordination as well as mobilization of the
different resources that would be complementing the health centers as well as the hospital
services. Fourth, one of the efforts that the nursing professionals need to take is ensuring that

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improvement of services take place in the ways by which HIV care and the treatment moves
from that of the acute care model to that of the chronic care framework. Fifth, the nursing
professionals need to support a sustainable patient centered approach which would help in
empowering vulnerable people to take initiatives and protect themselves from risky behaviors as
well as for the already affected individuals in developing self-management abilities (Ballocca et
al., 2016).
Australasian Sexual Health and HIV Nurses Association (ASHHNA) had
been found to provide a number of principles and competency standards
that might be followed by the primary healthcare nurses in order to develop
an environment which would promote of the ways which would help in
protecting people and preventing them from developing AIDS. The domains
that were covered by NMBA as well as that of the ASHHNA are effective
communication, assessment, care planning and clinical management
(Meehan et al., 2015). The third domain is effective health promotion and
client education and the fourth domain would be undertaking effective
researches in the fields to make treatment, intervention and prevention
approaches that can stop the spread of the treatment. The fifth domain that
ASHHNA had also put importance is the legal and the ethical nursing
practices with the sixth domain are the collaborative care and effective
partnerships. The seventh domain was the leadership and development of
the specialty. On researching about the importance of the development of
these standards, it was found that the values that guided the development of
the competency standards actually were born out from the turbulent

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medical, political as well as the social history of HIV and the complexities
that were faced by the effected individuals (Garofalo et al., 2016). One of the
studies showed the importance of developing a hybrid model of care by the
primary healthcare sectors that were expected to be combining the social
and medical model approach that would acknowledge the social
determinants of health while addressing the disease specific requirements
successfully. It is expected of all the primary healthcare professionals to
follow the model that is based on the principles of the primary healthcare
services. It would help in championing the social justice by effectively
seeking for providing advocacy as well as health promotion and even
accessible, equitable and holistic health care for all to prevent HIV and
protect the affected HIV people successfully in the aboriginal community
(Operario et al., 2017).
One of the most important attribute of primary healthcare services is
accessibility. The nursing professionals need to make sure that the primary
services are available to all the members of the aboriginal community
ensuring that the healthcare services provided to the already affected HIV
people are getting affordable and quality care services. Getting
comprehensive, compassionate, family and community-centered health care
is the right for all people in the aboriginal community. Arranging for proper
screening sessions for HIV should be arranged in such healthcare centers
and this services would help in diagnosing whether any patient had been

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unknowingly harboring HIV virus and this would help in early identification as
well.
Another important attribute of primary healthcare professionals is
public as well as community participation. The nursing professionals have
the responsibility of involving the resources of the communities and help in
promoting health and address the health problems at the grass root level.
With the embracing of this approach, professionals can help the Aboriginal
community in taking ownership for the health as well as wellness of the
people (Geter et al., 2018). The nurses need to help in reducing the
stigmatization as well as discrimination that takes place with the disorder
and encourage the community to talk about it more openly, supporting the
affected individuals, developing services for the affected individuals,
arranging programs for preventing the spread of the disorder, and many
others. Nurses can work with the community leaders and bring out
innovative ways by which the community participates in the prevention of
the spared of the disorder and takes part in preventive services. The nurses
can undertake social model where they can address the broader
determinants of health, empower the individuals and communities and try
their best in the reduction of the social inequities that are faced by the
Aboriginal communities and helping them to access the care (Ward et al.,
2018).

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Another important attribute of the primary healthcare professionals
would be initiating health promotion. The nurses can educate the aboriginal
people in ways so that they can overcome the prejudices associated with the
disorder of HIV so that they no longer hide the disorder but actually
approach the healthcare services for gaining support and health services
from the primary healthcare people (Graham et al., 2017). Moreover, health
education is also an important arena by which nurses might help the
aboriginals learn about the disorder, the ways of transmission, and the ways
of preventing the transmission through the use of protection and becoming
careful about use of syringes. Spreading awareness would help the
vulnerable people to be careful about their activities and hence reduce the
chances of developing the disorders.
Another important attribute of primary healthcare services would be
inter-sectoral collaboration. Studies are of the opinion that recognizing the
health and well-being of the community does not depend solely on the
effective healthcare services. Different businesses, organizations in other
sectors as well as the governments also need to work together in promoting
the health as well as the self-reliance of the communities (Wieman et al.,
2018). Nursing professionals need to collaborate successfully with different
governmental and non-governmental organizations, HIV research
organizations, not-for profit organization, charities, aboriginal community
controlled healthcare services, local government, fundraising organizations –
all together in order to plan out effective strategies and create supportive

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environment for ensuring successful prevention of HIV. The nursing
professionals can help by providing safe location, opening hours that allow
the different users to access the services, minimization of the barriers for
accessing the financial constraints and also creating a professional and non-
judgmental environment for those vulnerable individuals who might engage
or contemplate engaging with the services (Hughes et al., 2018).
Conclusion:
From the above discussion, it can be seen that although the rate of HIV
among the non-indigenous Australians had been seen to have decreased in
the present generation successfully, an increase had been noted among the
Aboriginal communities. Some of the factors that can be suspected to have
contributed to such situation is the lack of health literacy and awareness
about the disorder, its risk factors as well as protection strategies for the
disorder. Another factor is the stigmatization as well as discrimination faced
by the affected individuals who prevent the newly diagnosed people to hide
their disorders to prevent themselves from financial exclusion. Lack of
appropriate screening services as well as access to healthcare services
might have been another cause of the increase in the prevalence of HIV
among the Aboriginal communities. The primary healthcare professionals
need to ensure that they follow the primary care principles to empower the
aboriginal communities to overcome the present situation of increased
number of the affected individuals. The primary healthcare nursing

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professionals need to ensure accessibility, develop public or community
participation, health promotion as well as ensure inter-sectoral collaboration
to prevent the spread of the disorder and reduce the prevalence among the
aboriginal communities. In this way, the primary care professionals can
ensure developing a nation which would be entirely free from HIV infection.
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