Healthy People 2010 Immunization Initiative - Essay Example

"Healthy People 2010 Immunization Initiative" is a worthy example of a paper on social and family issues. This paper highlights some of the problems and disadvantages of the Healthy People 2010 Immunization initiative. Some of the problems include lack of knowledge on the importance of immunization, uncertainties regarding the safety of vaccines, lack of commitment and high costs. The paper also discusses the various solutions to these problems which include public education, enhancing access to vaccines, reminders and increasing demand for immunization.

Problems and disadvantages:

One of the main problems is that the community is not aware of the importance of immunization. Also, individuals do not have the knowledge about existing vaccines and that no recommendations are given by providers and therefore set objectives may not be achieved. Another problem based on information is that patients are uncertain about the safety of vaccines which is one of the major problems that may hinder the achievement of objectives.

The other problem is that patients do not have access to health care and this may result in high costs of administering vaccines due to travel costs and this reduces the opportunity to prevent diseases. The other problem is that the public lacks commitment to immunization, also the general public does not value immunization and therefore objectives may not be achieved.

The other problem is that there exist cultural differences between the providers and the patients. This may hinder progress given that differences in languages may hinder communication between the individual and the provider.

Finally, the other problem is that the public is not aware of the importance of immunization, this is as a result of the lack of commitment by providers whereby they do not educate and inform and advise patients on the importance of immunization, he is a major drawback and the community does not value immunization.

Solutions:

There exist some solutions to these problems and this includes education, education should be provided to the general public regarding the importance of immunization, the safety of vaccines and also existing vaccines. Education can be enhanced through the use of posters, educative videos, and brochures. This will help in boosting confidence and commitment in the community. 

The other solution is to enhance the access to health care; access to health care will ease the administering of immunization and education to a larger public, this will reduce costs incurred by providers and also by patients in accessing services. Another solution is to implement reminders regarding immunization. Patients should be reminded on a regular basis on vaccines' availability. Finally, feedback should be provided to the providers in order to enhance commitment to set objectives and goals.

Conclusion:

From the above discussion, it is evident that there are a number of disadvantages and problems associated with Healthy People 2010 Immunization initiative which include high cost and lack of access to vaccines, the safety of vaccines and the lack of commitment, however, there are some solutions to these problems which include education, reminders, provision of feedback and enhancing access to health care and vaccines. Therefore the only way to achieve the set objective is through education and increasing vaccine demand.

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