HIV/AIDS is one of the health problems that are of concern to public health globally. HIV/AIDs is associated with significant burden to the patients, their significant others and the population as a whole. The effect of HIV/AIDS can be seen from the high cost associated with its treatment as well as loss of productivity in the affected populations. HIV/AIDs also has significant effects on the overall socioeconomic development in a state. Therefore, this paper compares the policy approaches adopted to address HIV/AIDs in the USA and Canada.
| Global Healthcare Issue |
HIV/AIDS |
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| Description | HIV/AIDS is one of the health problems that are affecting a significant proportion of population globally. The treatment of HIV/AIDs has been improving over the past years with better outcomes due to technological advancements and new interventions for the disease. HIV/AIDS is a problem experienced in both the US and Canada. Statistics shows that about 1.2 million people in America have HIV/AIDS. The prevalence is reported to be high in specific groups such as ethnic minorities when compared to the native populations (hiv.gov, 2021). In Canada, the incidence rate of HIV/AIDS is reported to be 6 per every 100000 people. The estimated number of people living with HIV is 62050 (Haddad et al., 2019). The burden of HIV/AIDs is significantly high in both governments. As a result, they have embraced policies that aim at improving the safety, quality, and access to care for people affected by HIV/AIDS.
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| Country | United States
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Canada |
| Describe the policy in each country related to the identified healthcare issue | The US government has embraced a number of interventions to address the issue of HIV/AIDs. It adopted the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for use in implementing response and management of the epidemic. Through the strategy, the US government has increased its funding on programs that aim at addressing the disease. It has also increase its screening services to facilitate the early diagnosis and treatment of patients. The government has also increased the access to healthcare for patients with HIV/AIDs through programs such as Medicare and Medicaid (Panagiotoglou et al., 2018).
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The government of Canada has also invested its resources in initiatives that aim at the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDs. The government through its initiatives supports programs that aim at creating awareness in the population about HIV/AIDs. The government also works closely with other agencies to empower the populations address the issue of HIV/AIDs (Bourgeois et al., 2017). |
| What are the strengths of this policy? | One of the strengths of the policy adopted by the US to address HIV/AIDs is its focus on disease prevention and early management. The policy also addresses barriers to healthcare for patients with HIV. It also promotes health promotion through early diagnosis and treatment (Beyrer, 2021).
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The policy by the Canadian government is associated with the strength of promoting population empowerment. It also mobilizes the use of the locally available resources to address issues related to HIV/AIDs. There is also the increased focus on community participation in addressing the health issue (Haddad et al., 2018). |
| What are the weaknesses of this policy? | The policy strategy utilized in the US does not account for the actual unmet needs of the populations affected by HIV/AIDS. The policy also ignores the critical resources that are needed for the effective management of the epidemic. Lastly, the approach to funding the implementation of strategies is not provided. Therefore, it might be difficult to implement most of the strategies to address HIV/AIDS.
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