Public Health in the UK: A Report on STIs, HIV, and CVD

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Role of Public Health in Health and Social Care
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................. 3
Part 1 – Essay................................................................................................................4
Part 2- Report..............................................................................................................10
Part 3 – Individual Summary........................................................................................ 14
Conclusion..................................................................................................................17
Reference List............................................................................................................. 18
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Introduction
Public Health is focused on promoting a healthy lifestyle for people. Public health has an
important role to play in preventing diseases. The primary aim of public health initiatives is
all about preventing the issues that affect health or wellbeing of individuals, groups or
communities in a nation. This study is focused on public health issues in UK. Especially
prevalence of STIs as well as HIV is very common in England. Therefore, public health
strategies in a nation need to be effective and designed in a way that will aid in controlling
the spread of such diseases.
Moreover, in London, 25-year-olds are diagnosed with STI, and the rate of MSM is also
rising. At first, the different strategies or approaches used to monitor those diseases will be
evaluated. Following that, a report will be presented regarding the implications of illness, and
finally, an individual summary will be presented to assess, evaluate and discuss changes in
health behaviour in the UK population.
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Part 1 – Essay
(Task 1.1, 1.2, 1.3)
Introduction
This particular essay will be written with reference to the public health issues (STIs and HIV)
prevalent in UK. At first, the functions of different agencies in the identification of diseases
will be explained. Secondly, by making use of statistical data, one non-infectious and one
infectious disease prevalent in UK will be explained. Lastly, the effectiveness of the
strategies and approaches of disease control will also be evaluated.
Discussion
1.1. Role of different agencies in identifying levels of diseases in communities
In England, various public and private health agencies work in collaboration to prevent and
control the spread of diseases in the communities. They mainly work in partnership-based
approach. At different levels the local authorities, health trusts, international organization like
WHO and Public Health England works to reduce and prevent occurrence of diseases.
Local authorities
The local health departments in England are responsible for providing comprehensive care as
well as integrated health services to the local population. They provide contraception along
with STI treatment since the rate of sexually transmitted diseases are all time high as per
recent reports. The NHS Commissioning Board has a prominent role to play in local health
matters. The local health services are focussed towards improving public health and
promoting healthy lifestyle in the local community. They identify various social,
environmental and cultural factors that might be the reason behind occurrence of diseases.
The Department of Health (DH) has been focussing on the needs of the population and
making contacts with the local residents. They are capable of tackling health problems and
making provisions and delivering services. By working in partnership with the NHS, they
foster innovation in health services. The Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) consists of
GPs, nurses and specialist doctors who work in partnership and provide standard services
(Guest et al., 2017).
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Health Trusts
The Health Trusts and other health agencies works upon the guidelines stated in Health and
Social Care Act. The NHS Trust Development Authority also supports the NHS trusts and
provides health benefits. The foundation provides financial support for conducting research in
epidemiology of diseases (Ham et al., 2016).
Public Health England
The PHE acts as a national leader in the provision of health services. They provide expert and
relevant advice in collaboration with the local government. They respond to various health
protection emergencies. Emergency planning is also done by PHE for helping the vulnerable
groups of people as in this case, people suffering from STIs and HIV. The agency performs
various functions like health protection, maintenance of national databases, research and
operations. Disease prevention is done by information sharing regarding harmful effects of
substance abuse. The PHE conducts various campaigns on cancer and smoking and follows
the Health and Social Care Act 2012. At the local level it also it always prepares and respond
to major incidents.
National Institute for Health Research
The NIHR is responsible for conducting clinical research and supports the NHS. By
focussing on the needs and requirements of the population, NIHR conducts leading edge
research (gov.uk, 2019). The Department of Health and Social Care fund it. The organization
prioritizes patients and doctors and via good research, they create opportunities and
treatments. It is capable of making a difference in the lives of the people suffering from
dementia, sight loss, cancer and other neurodegenerative diseases (Nihr.ac.uk, 2019).
World Health Organization
WHO operates internationally and develop vaccines for epidemic diseases. It works in
collaboration with health departments of the country to combat diseases. The organization is
responsible for communicating the risks involved various diseases such as HIV, Cholera,
Plague, Ebola virus disease etc. Apart from that, it provides relevant health information to the
communities. They also coordinate with the responders. Usually by developing joint plan of
action and describing interventions, it works with various stakeholders and share information
via share points or generic mail (who.int, 2019).
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1.2. Epidemiology of one infectious and one non-infectious disease widespread in own
country using statistical data
Infectious disease
The HIV/AIDS infection transfers rapidly and this disease is characterized by viral
replication. The disease is also characterised by CD4 T lymphocytes destruction (Goulder et
al., 2016). Due to unsafe sexual interaction between men and men as well as men and
women, it has been observed that the prevalence of HIV is high. HIV weakens the immune
system of the body and within 2-6 weeks after invading in the body, the disease spreads
widely affecting the organs. Moreover, usage of used condoms and needles also spreads the
HIV infection. Around 24% of the adult population in England has been diagnosed with STIs.
According to recent statistics, 90% of people who has been diagnosed with HIV have
acquired it due to sexual transmission. In 2017, 47% has been exposed to the disease via sex
between men while 2% has been exposed to HIV because of drug abuse. Moreover, in UK
only 43% receive or get access to healthcare services. The growth rate of HIV has been quite
steady from 2008 to 2017 and the speed of accessing HIV care has increased by 54%. In
terms of ethnicity, around 54% White in England has been diagnosed with AIDS. The
percentage of Black African and Black Caribbean has been 29% and 3 % respectively.
Figure 1: Mode of transmission of HIV in UK
(Source: nat.org.uk, 2019)
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Non-infectious disease
In UK, Cardio-vascular diseases (CVD) have been the second cause behind deaths. However,
between 1990- 2013, the rate of occurrence of CVD has declined (Vetrone et al., 2018). The
heart diseases are caused due to artery narrowing due to deposition of fatty materials. Around
670,000 people have been affected by heart failures in UK according to recent reports.
However, the mortality rates have been halved due to increased access to health services. The
heart diseases are unequally distributed in the UK population. Around 32% of the population
has been deprived of healthcare services and only 16% had access to it. In England, 30% of
women and 40% of men has been suffering from high blood pressure (The King’s Fund,
2019). In addition to that, the rate of obesity has been rising in the country. Particularly the
ageing population has been diagnosed with increasing blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
It is therefore necessary to take medications and control cholesterol levels. By reducing the
cholesterol levels, the risk of heart attacks also reduces. It has been clinically tested that poly
pill consumption can be effective in reducing the risk of coronary heart diseases. The rate of
heart bypass surgeries has also increased from 2% to 10% according to recent data.
Figure 2: Coronary Heart Disease as the major cause of death in UK
(Source: googleimages.com, 2019)
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1.3. Effectiveness of different approaches and strategies to control incidence of diseases
in communities
Surveillance
The Public Health Surveillance is an important strategy prepared for the PHE and other
healthcare working groups. It is involved in information management and controls the
incidences of diseases. By making use of technologies, health outcomes can be improved.
The public gets health related information and receive alerts regarding diseases. The
surveillance data regarding behavioural risk factors and environmental factors goes through
an integrated analysis. It is also involved in disease registration (cancer or asthma registers)
(gov.uk, 2019). Moreover, it is useful as reports on air quality are also prepared to tackle
environmental risks and hazards. The PHE supports various policies by drawing on the
surveillance data.
Education
Education and Awareness can be categorised under Primordial Intervention. At this stage,
individuals are encouraged to seek activities that will help them in reducing the risk of
diseases. It is one of the early stages and can be effective in preventing diseases, as people
will be able to take necessary steps like quitting bad behavioural habits and creating
awareness among their children as well.
Immunization
Immunization approach has been effective in controlling the spread of infectious diseases in
UK. The vaccines and clean water has greatest impact on the health of the population. The
WHO has been the leading international organization that intervenes and works
collaboratively with other organizations. The latest information regarding infectious diseases
and vaccines along with the procedures are stated in their Green Book (GOV.UK, 2018).
Various vaccine programs like the Annual flue programme, Rotavirus, Shingles Vaccination
and MSM programmes has been carried out in collaboration with NHS England and PHE.
These immunization programmes provides protection against life-threatening long term
diseases.
Legislation
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The Public Health (Control of Diseases) Act 1984 has been enacted to establish the functions
of local health authorities. Moreover, the doctors need to follow this Act and notify the
officer of the local authorities if anyone is suffering from infectious or non-infectious
diseases. Health and Social Care Act 2008 amended it. The Department of Health and Health
Protection Agency have developed the Health Protection Legislation Guidance 2010 (Local
Authority Powers). It highlights the requirements of the registered healthcare practitioners as
well as the medical laboratories that tests human samples in order to devise disease-
controlling measures.
Screening
One of the preventive strategies of diseases under secondary prevention is screening. It helps
in detecting early signs of a disease so that healthcare experts can create action plans, devise
care services and health promotion strategies as an intervention. For example, the local
people in UK can be made aware of the prevailing HIV disease through tests and screening. It
is an effective secondary intervention strategy as widespread population can be targeted and
benefitted through it. In case of heart diseases, the local population can be made aware of the
risks involved in obesity and consumption of high-cholesterol food items.
Conclusion
This essay has been written in the context of public health issues prevalent in UK. It has been
observed that the prevalence of HIV, STIs and heart diseases is maximum in the population.
Therefore, at the beginning of the essay, various roles of different agencies like the PHE,
NHS, local authorities and WHO has been stated. Following that, the epidemiology of an
infectious disease (HIV) and a non-infectious disease (CVD) has been outlined along with
statistical data. Towards the end of the essay, the evaluation various strategies like
surveillance, immunization, education, screening and legislation for controlling spread of
diseases has been highlighted.
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Part 2- Report
(2.1, 2.2, 2.3)
Executive Summary
This individual report has been written to investigate the implications of disease and illness in
local communities in UK. At the beginning of the report, various approaches and priorities
for the provision of healthcare services has been outlined. In the second section of the report,
relationship between disease prevalence and support services has been explained. Lastly,
impact of current lifestyle choices has been analysed.
Introduction
In this report, various approaches and priorities like prevention, treatment and palliative care
has been mentioned. Along with that, the relationship between requirements of services and
prevalence of diseases in the health care sector will be explained. Lastly, the impact of diet,
exercise, work ethics or any other current lifestyle choices has been investigated.
2.1. Current priorities and approaches to the provision of services for people with
disease or illness
The current approaches and priorities for the provision of services for people suffering from
any kind of illness or disease can be prevention of the disease, treatment of the illness,
remedial care and palliative care for the patients. These approaches has been discussed in
detail below-
Prevention – Prevention as the primary intervention approach has been effective in UK. The
public health agencies create awareness and try to curb the disease at the earliest stages. The
primary aim of prevention of diseases is promoting health and preventing epidemic diseases
or illnesses from the population (Selbie, 2018). Prevention must be everyone’s priority and
the NHS has been working upon detecting earlier signs or stages of chronic illnesses. A
person-centred approach is always taken by the health agencies to identify specific needs.
Treatment- It can be considered as another priority to the provision of services for ill people
in UK. The public health agencies are focussed towards providing effective treatment of
long-term diseases like HIV AIDS. The HIV infection is treated by making use of ART
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strategy. NHS England has approved this as well. Moreover, people who are currently HIV
free can use Pre-exposure prophylaxis, which is an antiretroviral drugs so that they do not
acquire the HIV virus (Fenton, 2015).
Remedial Care – This type of care approach is focussed towards correcting the harmful
habits and is often employed by the licensed healthcare professionals. Often clients require
residential care services and the public health agencies create such provisions to satisfy needs
of the clients. Long-term illnesses require remedial care so that individuals get access to
proper healthcare services.
Palliative Care- Palliative care refers to end of life care and this means provision of services
to those patients who are suffering from illnesses that cannot be cured (Kelley and Morrison,
2015). People might receive palliative care even when they are going through any kind of
illness. They can receive therapies on a constant basis from GPs and community nurses
(nhs.uk, 2018). Currently, in UK palliative care has been prioritised because public health
agencies understand the individual needs of patients and therefore makes provisions to create
palliative care teams, which consist of healthcare professionals like therapists, and specialist
doctors who can provide advice to patients. People suffering from incurable diseases such as
cancer or dementia need palliative care. Individuals at the final stages of life-threatening
diseases are at the risk of dying as requires this kind of services.
2.2. Explain the relationship between the prevalence of disease and requirements of
services to support individuals within the health and social care service provision
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as well as bacterial vaginosis (BV) are caused by
increasing HIV transmission along with poor sexual and reproductive health condition
(Torrone et al., 2018). However, the burden of STIs is increasing among the young
generation and sometimes remains unknown. An increased prevalence of STIs is seen in the
rural areas. Since most of the HIV infections are asymptomatic and has been considered
under national syndrome management program. The partnership working would be helpful in
preventing the prevalence of STIs. The partnership can be made with the local agencies,
communities, public sectors, civil society, and private sectors etc. These alliances have shown
difficulty in promotion. Partnership working is particularly effective in facilitating responses
from the local bodies to aid HIV and AIDS diseases in the rural areas. There are some
underlying issues such as poverty, isolation from a geographic region etc., which can affect
the health and social support. The local volunteers can only assist to bed ridden dying patients
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suffering from AIDS. They work through less effective environment of missionaries,
government and NGOs. Sometimes they even don’t get pay for the work and get little
training.
They have to struggle with walking long distance and tolerate heat to relocate. Making
partnership with the potential public bodies can help in lessen the prevalence of such
diseases. Partnership would provide proper communication system by which the agencies
could connect with the community members. They can easily share information about their
services. Partnership allows getting feedback from the community members regarding the
problems and their recommendations. The public sectors have strong guidelines and policies
that are mandatory to follow. The enthusiastic partnership can be fruitful in combating STIs.
Another important organization is the department of health, which allows effective treatment
of the HIV/AIDS affected persons (World Health Organization, 2016). Department of
Welfare can also participate in making partnership. Their strategies and approaches would
help to control the prevalence of STIs. Other partners could be municipality, public sectors
etc.
2.3. Analyse the impact of current lifestyle choices on future needs for health and social
care services
Exercise- In UK, people are driven towards technology use at current times. They are mostly
dependent on cars or public transport. The people are less inclined towards making physical
or manual effort and it is thereby affecting their health and lifestyle. Therefore, the NHS
England has been promoting the importance of regular exercise among adults as well as
children (Barton et al., 2016). Exercise can be beneficial as it reduces risk of occurrence of
major illnesses like cancer or diabetes by around 50%. If future needs are considered, it can
be stated that, death due to chronic illness can be avoided by incorporating regular exercise.
For almost all people, walking and cycling are the easiest form of exercises that helps in
making the body warm, increasing better breathing rates and staying active.
Diet
Diet has major impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals because unhealthy diet can
result into obesity and weight gain (Barer, 2017). It is necessary to adopt a balanced diet and
consume food, which has fewer quantities of fats and cholesterol in order to have a healthy
future. According to recent reports of NHS England, the average people and women in UK
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