Contemporary Issue in Public Health and Health Promotion - Essay Example

Media and Health The partnership to stop TB is a collective fight against TB worldwide. This partnership was created in May2000 by the World Health Assembly as a network of more than five hundred countries, and nongovernmental organizations, donors, academics, and interested individuals who were working together to free the world from TB. The partnership secretariat is hosted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the headquarters, Geneva. The origination has got partnership forums, a coordinating board, and around seven working groups. The partnership was created by the vision of to have a world that is free of TB and to be able to present a TB free world to the children in the new millennium. For the partnership to be able to achieve this, they have been able to undertake a multifaceted approach. The main objectives of the partnership target to lessen the mortality rate and the occurrence of TB causalities. To be able to minimise the cost being incurred while treating the TB, and be able to prevent the disease, the partnership is aiming to cut the mortality rates of TB by a fifty percent rate by the year 2015 in relation to the estimates of the 1990 causalities. They also target to be able to keep the world free from TB by the year 2050. For the partnership to be able to achieve this dream, they have to develop a global plan that will be used to stop TB. The media will also in put its partnership in this to be able to curb the TB problem. In the year 2006, the partnership had designed a plan that they were to use to curb this disease and currently the plan is under implementation. The implementation is being estimated to be able to help save more than 14million people and be able to provide medication for more than fifty million infected people around the world. The proper implementation of the plan should be able to offer quality and easy access to the diagnosis and medication for every infected person around the world. There are several challenges that will face the partnership in its endeavours to implement this plan to the world (Macdowall, 2006 p98). Challenges of implementation One of the main challenges that the partnership is facing is outsourcing funding for the implementation process of the plan to be effective in all regions of the world. For the partnership to be able to fully fund the plan globally they require to have a lot of funding from donors and the governments of the states that are in partnership. This will involve the states to come forward and be able to fund the initiative without being pushed to fund the organization. At the same time, the partnership should emulate transparency of using the funds in an exceptionally high level to be able to motivate more donors to give their contributions (Naidoo, 2005 p114). The partnership should be able to involve organizations that have the same interest to be able to implement the plan effectively and be able to curb this problem fully. Basic facts about TB It is caused by a microorganism called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria attack the lungs of a human being and can also infect any other part of the body. If this disease is not diagnosed and treated properly at early stages, it can result in to a fatal disease and can result in to several deaths. The disease spreads by air and infects a person who interacts with a carrier. TB cannot be spread by shaking an infected persons hands, sharing foods or drinks with an infected person, touching linens or the seats of toilets with an infected person, sharing a tooth brush with an infected person cannot spread the disease, kissing an infected person cannot infect the person (Macdowall, 2006 p76). TB exists as two conditions which include the latent TB and the TB disease. The Latent TB infection can live in the body of a human being without being able to make a person sick. People who will breathe in this bacterium from the person with the latent TB infected person are likely to become sick as a result of inhaling this bacterium. The body of the person with the latent infection is able to fight the bacteria, and it is able to inhibit the bacteria from growing and becoming a danger to the body of the person. These kinds of people do not create any symptoms of the infection, and they do not become sick easily. They at the same time are not capable of spreading the infection this is because the body does not allow the bacterium to become active. However if, the body of the person will become active by any chance the immunity of the person will go down then the bacteria will multiply in the body, and it can cause a fatal illness (Tones, 2010 p45). The TB disease happens when the bacterium becomes highly active in the body of humans and the immune system of the person cannot be able to inhibit the bacteria from growing. They will multiply in the persons body and then make the person terribly sick. The bacteria are also capable of spreading and infecting other people, and this can be tragic if the infected person is in the early stages and he does not know of the illness it can spread to the people that they spend most of their time. The illness starts to show symptoms after two weeks of being infected. Other people can stay with the disease for several years if they have an exceptionally strong immune system that will fight the bacterium and manage to inhibit the bacterium to stop growing. The people with the latent TB infection never get to the stage of being sick out of TB since eventually the bacterium dies down since it is contained by the immune system of the person. For people with the weakest immune system, more so people with the HIV infection, the risk being sick out of TB is extraordinarily high than for people who have a normal immunity system. As per the partnership and reports it has acquired so far the statistics show that one third of the population in the world is currently TB infected. The reports have shown the number of the people who died in 2009 as a result of being infected with TB is more than one million people. Statistics also estimate that the number of persons who will have been infected between the year 2000 and 2020 will reach a number of 1,000 million, and the number of deaths as a result of TB will hit 36 million people. TB will affect the survival rates of children in the world. This will in turn, decrease the population of the world which will eventually lead to low productivity rates in the world. Statistics show that one sixth of the persons who are sick as a result of TB also happen to be infected by the HIV. This makes the diagnosis of these people become somehow complex since the doctors will be diagnosing two types of infections in the person (Tones, 2010 p52). The control of the spreading of TB can be done by the partnership and other interested parties, but they will also use the ability of the media to be able to control this infection. For the partnership to be able to reach the objectives of controlling this disease, it has to utilise the media services to help and make people to be aware of the procedures of preventing the spreading the disease. The prevalence of TB increases by 1.5 percent annually in the whole world. The media have got a significant role to play in controlling this increase rate of the disease. Africa carries most of the burden of this bad statistics about TB with rates of more than four times that of the infections worldwide. The media have a significant role to play in the process of containing this infection by becoming the watchdogs of the spreading of the infection, they are able to convey the messages from places that the partnership cannot be able to reach; hence the partnership and other interested parties have to rely on the media to dig the information of the proceedings of TB in those areas in order for the parties to be able to act accordingly. The media have to act as the diggers of the data, they have the resources and the ability to help in the research processes on how to control and curb the Tb pandemic. The media have got the ability to reach far many people who they can be able to consult, and they are able to collect information on the control methods that will be taken to control the pandemic (Naidoo, 2005 p67). This area was highlighted by the media, and the partnership is already rolling some developments in the area to try and control the spread of TB in the region. The media are also being involved in the region to try and control this spread by explaining the measures that an infected person will have to do to avoid spreading the infection to other people. The media are also trying its best to eliminate the stigmatization that is caused by discovering that a person is infected by TB. In sub, Saharan Africa the tradition culture beliefs that if a person starts to cough continuously and start losing weight then the person are either cursed or disgraced by the ancestors; hence the people will run away from the individual or alienate the infected individual. This will in turn cause much grief to the person, and the results will be darned tragic as the person might die if left unattended. All this has changed eventually since the new millennium and the formation of the partnership. The media have tried to educate people on the TB infection, and all that pertains to the disease and people have come to appreciate the civic education that is being done in these countries (Seale, 2002 p92). The media have played a significant role in ensuring that people in the TB infected region get the confidence to be checked and diagnosed for TB this has undoubtedly helped the control of the infection and even in the collection of the statistics which have helped tremendously the partnership to be able to plan effectively on how to treat the people infected and the production of enough medication for the infected people. The media have tried to highlight the challenges in countries with the greatest prevalence of the TB infection. The media have uncovered the poor of public policy regarding the TB infection in these countries as a major challenge in trying to control the TB infections in the region, the health systems in these countries have been found to be extremely poor and weak financial systems that are channelled to the health systems to control and treat TB. The media also discovered that the medications sent by the partnership to the countries were being sold in pharmaceuticals at remarkably high prices and this was the biggest cause of lack of treatment in the regions. The media also discovered that there were downright bureaucratic obstacles in some of the countries that were suffering tremendously from this infection. The leaders were being ignorant to the disease alarm that is killing people. After the media highlighted these problems, then the leaders started to get concerned, and this helped to save the citizens of these countries (Tones, 2010 p100). The media have been able to play an exceedingly significant role in creating the public awareness of infections and trying to educate people on understanding the infection and how the infection can be controlled. The media have become a hugely strategic resource in the shaping of the attitudes of the public towards this infection. The media still has to get more coverage in order to reach every person in the world. It has to take part of a majorly crucial role in the controlling of the disease and make people to be aware of the infection. In the developed countries, the media are able to reach more than 90 percent of the people, and this has helped them to develop a positive attitude that helps in the control of infection. In the developing countries and the third world countries, statistics show that the media has been able to reach 50 percent of the population, and it is yet to penetrate in to these countries and make people aware of the infection. Thus, statistics has got a mighty significant role in helping the partnership and the other interested parties to be able to make people aware of the infection and be able to control the infection (Costello, 2003 p98). Media tools are used to convey messages and information from one area to another at a high rate. The news that is conveyed in the media tools is able to reach the audience that it is intended to reach within a relatively short time. The media tools can include things such as the internet, the television sets, the radios, the sending of the electronic mails, the sending of short messages is a form of a media tool, and even the use of satellites to gather information becomes a media tool. In society, today, the use of these media tools has become a tremendously vital tool in enhancing the public health system of the community (Corcoran, 2007 p56). The media passes information about diseases in the community and how people should be able to live with these infections being controlled. The media have helped the health care providers to being able to convey messages about the health status of the community to the people effectively since they are able to communicate to quite a large number of people while using the minimum resources. This has benefited the communities and the state at large. However, experts are advising that the method of conveying health matters via the use of media tools can be an exceedingly complex matter, and can at the same time put people in the society in to a panic mode. For example, if the state health care providers announce that an outbreak of extraordinarily unpleasant disease has occurred, then they will put people in the society in to a terrifically unpleasant mode since people will start to panic and this may cause distress to the state. Like the case, of the H1N1 outbreak a few years back caused an exceedingly enthusiastic panic for people who were travelling at airports since the media had announced that the infection had been brought in to the country. The airports were left to suffer loses that it could not be able to recover since people stopped travelling. The use of the media tools to educate the community about the TB infection has been of immense success since people have taken issue with passionate intensity and they have heeded the advices of the health care providers to control the rates of TB in the country (Naidoo, 2005 p79). Reflection TB is a serious condition especially if left untreated or when it is poorly managed. It affects the respiratory system, one of the most important systems in the body of humans, and in case it is left untreated, it compromises a person’s respiratory functions. However, TB becomes serious when it spreads to other parts of the body; a condition referred to as military TB or disseminated TB. This becomes serious especially when it attacks the meninges of the brain and the bones. Therefore, TB is a serious condition that has systemic manifestations. When left unmanaged, it may attack vital organs of the body leading to death in a matter of days. For this reason, there needs to be concerted efforts that will prevent TB spread among people. TB is a contagious disease which is spread by being in contact with an infected person. One member of the family with the condition can easily spread TB to all members of the family. For this reason, it becomes important to guard all family members from TB spread. Not only will one contract the disease from infected family members, but also from the other members of the community who may be infected with the condition. Therefore, efforts guiding people from TB will need to be the interplay of many factors; otherwise this would become unsuccessful in terms of management. When we are all able to follow keenly the happenings of the media, it becomes easier for family units to manage the condition. Through the media, families are able to know disease outbreaks in a region. The media is also able to explain about newer treatment strategies on the condition. However, the most important for any family unit is being able to identify the condition early and come up with timely measures. This ensures that the condition does not spread to other parts of the body causing a military picture. Much needs to be done to prevent TB spread in the household. Young children need to be immunized at an early stage. All these factors are going to ensure that TB spread in the household is well countered and that there are few family members who are going to suffer from the condition. TB is causing a serious health, economic, and social challenge in the world more so the sub Saharan Africa. The resources in the economically disadvantaged area are acutely minimal, and the ability of the region to manage the spread of TB is exceedingly minimal. There should, therefore, be synergy from all stakeholders so that this condition is massively reduced in the local setting. References Corcoran, N. (. (2007). Communicating health : Strategies for Health Promotion. London: SAGE. Costello, J. a. (2003). Public Health and Society Basingstoke. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Jennie Naidoo, J. W. (2005). Public Health and health Promotion : Developing Practice. Amsterdam: Baillière Tindall. Seale, C. (2002). Media and Health. London: SAGE. Tones, K. a. (2010). Health Promotion : Planning and Strategies 2nd Edition . London: Sage. Wendy Macdowall, C. B. (2006). Health Promotion Practice Maidenhead. Michigan: Open university press. Read More