Cancer Control Policy Advocacy Campaign in the United States Population - Admission/Application Essay Example

Cancer Control Policy Advocacy Campaign in the United s Population Introduction Health advocacy refers to the process throughwhich the activities of a group or an individual’s attempt to bring about organizational or social change on behalf of a given heal goal, interest, program or organization (Anderiesz, Elwood, & Hill, 2006). PART 1 Cancer as community health issue At present, cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide. In the year 2005, it was established that 7.6 million people died of cancer and the projection of the trend implicated 84 million patients will die from cancer in the next one decade (Anderiesz, Elwood, & Hill, 2006). Cancer research is a relatively developing field, but it is already rich in information that can be put into use and efficiently enhance prevention, early detection, early diagnosis, early intervention and efficient treatment and palliative care. There are so many forms of cancer currently, but the major causes of alarm are breast cancer, cervical cancer and prostate cancer. Mentioning these three does not underestimate the capacity of the other cancers to attack and harm human beings. The hallmark of tumor cells is the ability to divide continuously without dying like the normal cells. Although cancers affect people of all age and gender, it mostly focuses on older people and women are affected most by cancers such as breast and the cervical cancer (Penley, 2009). Women being the main sufferers of some of these cancers make them unique people in this field. Men are also equally affected by cancer especially the elderly men, therefore, a common characteristic among men and women suffering from cancer is relatively similar age. It is, therefore, justifiable to argue that age, principally past 45 is a special people as long as cancer is concerned. Population affected by Cancer This health advocacy campaign for cancer is targeted at United States population that is currently affected enormously by the cancer nightmare. The advocacy campaign is specially oriented to persuade the U.S government to implement the cancer health policies that will help in preventing, screening, diagnosing and controlling cancer in the United States population. The legislators targeted are the president, national congress, health minister and the states congress. This advocacy program is concerned with improving the prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and better palliative procedures and has been successful in Australia and New Zealand (Anderiesz, Elwood, & Hill, 2006). The program focuses on pressurizing the government to introduce new policies and strength those that are present so as to ensure control of deaths arising from cancer related issues. The policies to ensure early diagnosis equipment are installed in the country and treatment options are readily available and accessible by the vulnerable individuals. Additionally, the programs aim at persuading the government to control tobacco usage (Penley, 2009). The policies also insist on effective, efficient and affordable chemotherapy agents. Apart of the policy is also concerned with the availability of oncologists in the country. The cancer control programs are particularly successful and this is attributed to the effective campaign strategies conducted in the open. A major role is played by the social media and newsletter services which volunteer to be part and parcel of the program. Non-governmental organizations correspondingly play a special role in enhancing the success of these cancer control programs. A plan for health advocacy campaign The public issue identified is cancer, a leading global killer at present. It exists in different forms and can attack different organs of the body any time to different extents. The most appropriate policy in such a public issue as cancer is a policy that alleviates human suffering by controlling the frequency of advanced cancer cases and better palliative care. The cancer control policy will have three sections or three policies that will combine to affect the major cancer control policy. These will be mandatory breast cancer, cervical cancer and prostate cancer in all individuals aged 18 years and above. The screening should be done immediately one achieves the adult age and the government should ensure that everybody is screened yearly failure to which can lead to legal action. The other strategy is to convince the stakeholders to double the current cancer research centers and provide them with equipment and modern devices to help in the research for managing the abnormal cell multiplication in tumor masses. The government should also fund the research centers appropriately and follow up to ensure that the funds are used appropriately. This will encourage new and more people to join the field of oncology by providing scholarships to interested parties to pursue their dreams. Another viable policy to help in cancer control prevention and alleviating human suffering is permanently banning cigarette smoking. The government should also implement an education program to educate the public about cigarette and its link to cancer development and advancement. Objectives of the policy The specific objectives for these policies are to raise cancer awareness among the public and stakeholders, to increase the pace for the search of cancer cure and to reduce human suffering subjected by cancer. Other goals are to increase interest and attract more researchers in the field of oncology and promote the value and inclusive control for cancer. The stakeholders that the campaign will target are the president, the secretary of state, the cabinet secretary for health, the states’ health ministers and local health officials. The mode of communication between these stakeholders is different depending on their positions. Precisely, the president can only be contacted through a letter, through his office officials and public events. The same channel applies to the secretary of State and cabinet secretary for health. Conversely, state health ministers and local health officials are contacted via direct approach, visits, emails, phone calls and meetings (Anderiesz, Elwood, & Hill, 2006). The stakeholders will be made to understand the facts and figures from the numerous researches on cancer. They will be informed that cigarette smoking is a major cause of cancer and stopping smoking decreases the chances of getting cancer by 30%. They will also be informed that early detection reduces the rate of cancer development and advancement by 50%, which can only be enhanced by implementing mandatory screening rules. To establish support for the policies, coalitions should be formed between the patients, the survivors of the cancer and the general public. The coalition can be strengthened by working hand in hand with other organizations with similar risks such as diabetes and tobacco control. Attributes learnt from previous programs such as the use of media, newsletters columns and publishing articles can be incorporated in this campaign. Apart from these, the campaign can also be intensified through social media websites and public meetings. PART 2 The policy described will be implemented by modification of existing rules and regulations on cancer control projects. The policy for implementing compulsory yearly cancer screening for adults will be achieved by slight modification of the existing policy, which encourages people to get screened, but it never follows up to check whether targeted group got screened or not. The above policy will be modified to add a phrase denoting compulsiveness of the practice. The supporting policy of banning cigarette can also be enacted by amendment of the existing policy on tobacco. The current policy on tobacco prohibits cigarette smoking in public places, as well as imposing heavy taxes on the commodity. All these policies can be substituted with the banning of the commodity completely. In these cancer control policies, a new policy must be enacted on the percentage funding of the cancer research institute. The policy should clearly state the exact percentage of national treasury share that is allocated to the oncology research. The existing policies will have an immense effect on my policy advocacy campaign as they will support my new policies through facts and figures since they were enacted. The policy for encouraging screening has enormously decreased the rate of cancer growth since it was put into practice. The policy prohibiting smoking in a public gathering is an adequate proof that cancer can be controlled if tobacco consumption is controlled (Penley, 2009). Since the current policy on smoking was enacted, there has been a tremendous decrease in rates of cancer, especially passive smoking related malformations in infants. The existing policy on expansion of cancer research institute has led to the discovery of several intervention practices and newly targeted chemotherapy. In order to significantly impact legislators to support the policy, the lobbying three legs method is most suitable. One leg of the stool is known as the capitol leg, this refers to everything that happens where the laws are made and amended (Bertrand, Bombardini, & Trebbi, 2011). It can be a city council, the state legislature or even the U.S congress. In these areas, an advocate has part time or full-time lobbyists. In these law making areas, one can meet, hold lobby days or even testify before the legislature on the policy at hand and it benefits by demonstrating facts and figures from research done. One can plan visits to the policy makers and aim at influencing key rudiments of the budget. The second leg that can be used to influence the policy makers is grassroots or community leg. This leg refers to everything that happens in the community (Bertrand, Bombardini, & Trebbi, 2011). In the community, the primary activities are people’s education, sponsoring a community forum and visiting the sites through elected officials. The advocate will use the cell phone and help others to construct a telephone tree. Shortly after faithful community service or meetings, the advocate can set up a “take five tables” where the public generates messages or emails on major issues within five minutes and sending them to the capitol. An advocate seizes every possible opportunity to communicate the main agenda to the public accurately and in a convincing tone. These opportunities can be market areas, buses and other public gatherings and social areas. One should always be wearing a large conspicuous badge and carrying a folder with policy description so as to facilitate easy recognition by people. In areas where it is hard to attain people’s attention such as busy markets, one can distribute leaflets to the people. The third leg of lobbying is the media and refers to anything done to spread the message to as many people as possible. It includes methods such as the use of radio, newspaper and televisions. It also involves the use of modern means such social media within which there is Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, online forums and website pages. The leg will be useful because of two primary reasons, one of the reason is that the policy makers pay attention to all media information either traditional or non-traditional sources. The second reason is the need to reach more people than the ones already persuaded. In all these legs, one needs the support of other groups as it is impossible to cover all the legs solely (Anderiesz, Elwood, & Hill, 2006). In the legislative, several obstacles are expected, among them are lack of political good will to develop counter cancer measures, presence of other competing health needs, inadequate resources and social taboos such as women with breast cancer are assumed to be evil. Other barriers are the social and religious beliefs where some religions and societies think that the cancer is a punishment from God, and stigma that makes women suffering from breast or cervical to keep it a secret and the last and a lack of advocacy skills and less public understanding concerning advocacy. These challenges will be managed by effective public education, study and research for effective advocacy skills, which will later be used to convince the legislature to have an interest in the policy (Anderiesz, Elwood, & Hill, 2006). PART 3 Ethics is a word derived from a Greek word meaning character and it studies the aspect of practical reasoning to determine what is right or wrong (Fowler & American Nurses Association, 2008). In the nursing field, there are many and diverse ethical dilemmas where no choices fit suitably to ones challenges and the repercussions associated with each choice are equally harmful. The hallmark of ethics is the fact that there is no single correct definition of what is right or wrong and the decision of one person will vastly differ from another person approaching the same issue from a different perception. In regard to the cancer control policy campaign, there are various dilemmas the advocate will encounter and among them is a decision on whether to tell the patient the truth about cancer in order to win their support or to just keep the situation under control (Penley, 2009). Some of the bitter truths about cancer are that it has no cure and some of the cancers are hereditary. Being an advocate and medical practitioner, it is hard to determine the approach to use so as to achieve success and retain good relations with the patients. The other truth that may not go down well on both the public and law makers is explaining how the government is spending much money in less worthy matters such as ministers’ allowances and travel resources for top officials while majority of people are suffering as a result of sufficient funding of the health sector. Mandatory breast, cervical and prostate cancer screening may face much opposition from cultural beliefs and religions. It is the advocate’s role to politely expound the benefits of the policies to alleviate human suffering. At some point, the opposition may be too tough that quitting can be the next viable option. It is tough to choose whether to proceed facing strong hurdles in the campaign or to quit the plan, as well. These dilemmas can be handled by forming a coalition and reinforcing ones resources to keep fighting for a long period. One can collaborate with other organizations with similar interest and will combine efforts effort and speed up the process An additional dilemma is overcoming the temptation to bribe some legislators to vote in favor of the policy proposed. Although one knows the benefits of the proposed policy, it is unethical to give bribe for any purpose (Fowler & American Nurses Association, 2008). The dilemma sets in because one is stuck between following the right channel and increasing the chances of losing or using the wrong channel and increasing the chances of succeeding in what is perceived to be beneficial in controlling cancer. Fairness and lobbyist may be a major moral of concern especially if the lobbyist or the advocate has some relationship with the legislators either through work or family links (Bertrand, Bombardini, & Trebbi, 2011). The special moral consideration in this particular population of the U.S especially people aged 45 and above, is the fact that, in the process of seeking screening services they ought to consider the age and gender of the service provider. The fact that the policy suggests screening should be started early in life, the whole point is to protect these people from suffering from cancer at a later age, which in most cases sets in after age of 45 years. If a lady aged 45 years is screened by a young health care provider, it may feel uncomfortable. Similarly, aged men may not feel comfortable being screened by young female healthcare providers. Cigarette smoking policy implementation may face opposition from consumer rights activists. Although it is unhealthy to smoke, activists may argue that it is unethical to deny consumers a product of their interest. Ethical considerations in cancer control policies are many, but the significant one is respect for human dignity, as a nurse must take into account the practices that promote human dignity and respect (Fowler & American Nurses Association, 2008). These will be obtained from the public by asking public questions to obtain their suggestions during the second leg of the lobbying process. Privacy and confidentiality must be observed in handling people’s responses. Morally upright behaviors and wholesome of character are needed during the campaign process. It is the nurse’s responsibility to protect and champion for the rights of the public and more the rights of the patients (Fowler & American Nurses Association, 2008). In the advocacy campaign, some reporting requirements are necessary. As a result, one should make necessary arrangements with the local government for the areas where public meeting will take place. The advocates must not give gifts to the legislators as this might influence their decisions. In United States, a lobbyist should not be politically instigated and should not have a political background. Conclusions Advocates who wish to succeed in their goals should have a strategic plan for campaigning for their issues. The advocate should first identify the problem and carry out its analysis. Shortly after problem recognition, the advocate should identify the policy or policies to champion for their implementation. Campaign strategy employing the three legs of the lobbying process is the best for reaching and influencing legislator’s decisions. References Anderiesz, C., Elwood, M., & Hill, D. J. (2006). Cancer control policy in Australia. Australia and New Zealand Health Policy. doi:10.1186/1743-8462-3-12 Bertrand, M., Bombardini, M., & Trebbi, F. (2011). Is It Whom You Know or What You Know? An Empirical Assessment of the Lobbying Process. Fowler, M. D., & American Nurses Association (2008). Guide to the code of ethics for nurses: Interpretation and application. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association. Penley, W. C. (2009). Cancer Prevention Policy Statement Reaffirms ASCOs Antitobacco Stand. Journal of Oncology Practice. doi:10.1200/JOP.0915001 Read More