The modern world is full of potential risks and threats to public health. In order to prevent, control, and assist in the treatment of diseases, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were established in 1946. Due to the large number of different diseases, the structure of the CDC is divided into separate centers to simplify its work. Specifically, the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) is responsible for epidemiological control and prevention of common diseases with viruses as their agents. The purpose of this essay is to explore the principles and conceptions of the NCHHSTP.
The goal of the NCHHSTP is to maintain public health in the U.S. and to shape the future in which HIV, viral hepatitis, STIs, and tuberculosis cease to pose a public health threat. To accomplish these objectives, the Center is divided into four departments whose functions include disease-specific control (Issel & Wells, 2018). In addition, the NCHHSTP has the separate sector dedicated to youth health. It is no coincidence that the mentioned above disease categories are specifically designated as separate Centers: patients can have viral hepatitis in combination with other viral infections (Friedman, Dean & Duffus, 2018).
Such co-infections are often the result of sharply reduced immunity, especially in the context of HIV. For this reason, a combination of AIDS, hepatitis, and tuberculosis is quite common in the history of HIV-positive patients with the advanced viral infection. In addition, it should be understood that HIV, which is now the global pandemic, is also transmitted through sexual intercourse, which makes it an STD (Eisinger & Fauci, 2018). Combining and integrating control of these four diseases is of great importance and relevance, as it allows for a more comprehensive approach to preventing and controlling the spread.
It is significant to note that the NCHHSTP aims not only to control the epidemiological spread of diseases but also to educate people on critical issues regarding diseases. For example, its programs include sections aimed at providing medical support to the LGBT community and dispelling common myths about the correlation between sexual orientation and HIV/AIDS. The Center offers U.S. citizens assistance in finding and passing anonymous infection tests. Moreover, if a patient is found to have a virus, the NCHHSTP provides information about treatment centers to combat specific diseases. The primary mission of the NCHHSTP is to control the described diseases (Issel & Wells, 2018). The official website of the Center has necessary and relevant statistics on disease dynamics, mortality, and recovery rates.
Ongoing efforts by NCHHSTP experts are aimed at achieving three strategic goals set by the Center’s management. These include reducing the overall incidence of viral infections, mortality among the population, and disparities in health care. The latter goal is particularly noteworthy because, according to Maksut et al. (2018), there is severe financial, racial, and territorial segregation in the United States. The NCHHSTP, therefore, aims to provide affordable health care to different segments of population.
One of the most intriguing ongoing activities of the Center is to achieve the WHO goal of halting the spread of HIV in the Americas by 2030 (Bekker et al., 2018). The Center’s staff work at both the government level, promoting and lobbying for public health and at the nongovernmental level, promoting smaller companies and volunteer centers.
References
Bekker, L. G., et al. (2018). Advancing global health and strengthening the HIV response in the era of the Sustainable Development Goals: The International AIDS Society-Lancet Commission. The Lancet, 392(10144), 312-358.
Eisinger, R. W., & Fauci, A. S. (2018). Ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 24(3), 413-418.
Friedman, E. E., Dean, H. D., & Duffus, W. A. (2018). Incorporation of social determinants of health in the peer-reviewed literature: A systematic review of articles authored by the National Center for HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, STD, and TB prevention. Public Health Reports, 133(4), 392-412.
Issel, L. M., & Wells, R. (2018). Health program planning and evaluation. Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Maksut, J. L. et al. (2018). Health care discrimination, sex behavior disclosure, and awareness of pre-exposure prophylaxis among Black men who have sex with men. Stigma and Health, 3(4), 330-338.