Sexually transmitted diseases continue to be a significant challenge in public health. They have high chances of resulting in serious social and economic consequences, besides the diseases having high rates of prevalence and incidence. The main causative agents of these diseases are categorized into thirty types, which include bacteria, viruses, protozoal agents, and fungi, among others (Yan et al., 2017). The effectiveness of public intervention relies on design and evaluation. A public health intervention can be defined as planned actions for reducing or preventing a specific health issue. The following discussion examines the intervention development for sexually transmitted diseases in youth.
Defining and Understanding the Problem and its Causes
The starting point for intervention development for STI starts with developing an overview of the problem and supports the initiation of the best interventions. The approach includes the clarification of the entire health issue in youth and engaging all the stakeholders (Yan et al., 2017). The use of the existing research evidence is necessary for intervention development. For example, the STI could be caused by drug abuse and poor behaviors among the youth. At this stage, the STI control is defined in terms of public health outcome that is measured as reduced incidence and prevalence. This is attained by implementing development intervention strategies.
Identification of the Change Mechanism
The most effective interventions are identified and their suitability in bringing the desired outcome. This phase triggers change for individuals and groups. The identified interventions should focus on both short-term and long-term outcomes and involve a range of stakeholders. Some of the strategies can include the following:
Primary Prevention
This form of intervention targets the point of transmission. Strategies under this intervention focus on information and referral of patients to clinical services. The use of male latex condoms has been found to reduce the transmission of a range of infections by at least 80-85% (Wight et al., 2019). Another intervention incorporates prevention efforts like education on the risks of STI from unprotected sexual contact with infected people. The measure can reduce the incidences of having unprotected sex and lowering the rates of infections in the target population. Other behavioral approaches, such as lowering sexual activeness, can also reduce the transmission.
Clinical Services
Clinical interventions focus on STI management strategies and screening of partners for infections. The prevention of education should reinforce these efforts. Case management entails offering effective and rapid medical care to patients that have symptoms of the infection to break the chain of diseases. The approach involves reducing the duration of infectivity, which is an effective effort to controlling the epidemic (Mayaud & McCormick, 2001). Case finding and STD screening have been identified as effective strategies for the management of symptomatic infections. The breakage of the chain of infection entails reaching out and treating as many sexual partners as possible. The approach has been found to have between 30 and 50% chances of reducing the infection (Wight et al., 2019). The clinical interventions should also aim at destabilizing the transmission by epidemiologic focusing presumptive treatment. The identification of the demography of patients is necessary for establishing the hot-spot, which the highest prevalence and shifting the clinical attention to the patients.
Targeting High-Risk Population
A combination of clinical and primary prevention has significant impacts on the control of STI. A combination of the two approaches focuses on reaching out to the target population. They are based on the assumption that infection depends on high rates of sexual partner change. The infections are maintained upstream, especially in a small community where the rates of changing sexual partners are high to maintain. Effective prevention measures in the high-partner core population are ideal in minimizing transmission in the entire population.
The approach of focusing on the entire population is built on peer and outreach interventions. The intervention development starts with mapping to identify and estimate the size of the target population, which is contacted in the formative phases. The youth offer the foundation for peer-based intervention. Peer workers play important roles in initiating changes in the community, such as using condoms, seeking medical interventions, and maintaining changes in the structure of the community. Structural interventions are effective in addressing the causes of the problem, such as the barriers to the access of condoms among the youth (Steen et al., 2019). Individuals in the population can also be challenged through collective actions to change their social situations that increase their risks of getting STI. The efforts are designed to establish an ideal environment for preventing the spread of infections.
Measuring the STD Control
STI needs to be examined to determine the most practical combination of preventive interventions. The shortcoming of the control efforts can be determined by various methods such as case reporting and frequent surveys. These approaches can give the necessary findings on the performance of an intervention program. The process of monitoring should be based on periodic case reporting that is reinforced by specific surveys on the prevalence of STI (Yan et al., 2017). It should also incorporate other factors such as the assessment of syndromes, drug resistance, and the prevalence of risk behaviors among the youth. It should also include the coverage of STI services, especially in the target population, which is the youth. The surveillance is necessary for capturing trends and other important factors that contribute to the prevalence of prevention of the STI.
The control of STI has proved to be effective in various settings at a different level of development. In the past decade, trends have shown a decline in infection, which can be attributed to increased resource allocation. After the introduction of hormonal contraceptives, developed countries in North America and Europe have recorded a significant decline in STI.
The use of information technology can play a significant role in youth in reducing the prevalence and preventing STIs. Today, a majority of youth, even in developing countries, are connected to technology by mobile devices. Community health clinics that focus on youth are necessary platforms for offering preventive interventions to the population (Cordova et al., 2019). Most of the youth consider the clinics to be culturally diverse, which suits their needs for appreciating STI prevention. Interventions that are geared towards the youth integrate the federal recommendations of concentrating on screening and treating youths on sexual risks and drug use in a clinical setting.
Conclusion
STI has a significant impact on public health, especially among the youth. The vulnerability of this population is increased by the risk of using drugs and other risky behaviors. The significance of these infections is reinforced by the high risks of HIV/AIDS. In the above discussion, interventional development for the issue has been identified. Some of the approaches that have been described include primary and clinical interventions. Targeting the population at risk is an ideal preventive intervention that is integral in designing the necessary measures. These efforts should be measured and controlled to establish the effectiveness of the interventions.
References
Cordova, D, Lua, M, F, Velazquez, M, J, Street, K, Bauermeister, A. J, Fessler, K, Adelman, N, Neilands,, B. T & Boyer, B. C. (2019). A multilevel mHealth drug abse and STI/HIV preventive intervention for clinic settings in the United States: A feasibility and acceptability study. Retrieved from https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0221508
Mayaud, P & McCormick, D. (2001). Interventions against sexually transmitted infections (STI) to prevent HIV infection. British Medical Bulletin, Volume 58, Issue 1, September 2001, Pages 129–153. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/bmb/article/58/1/129/337181
Steen, R, Elvira, T, Kamali, A, Ndowa, F. (2019). Bulleting of the World Health Organization: Control of sexually transmitted infections and prevention of HIV transmission: Mending a fractured paradigm. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/11/08-059212/en/
Wight, D, Wimbush, E, Jepson, R & Doi, L. (2019). Theory and method: Six steps in quality intervention development (6SQulD). Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 70(5).
Yan, J, Zhang, A, Zhou, L, Huang, Z, Zhang, P & Yang, Guoli. (2017). Development and effectiveness of a mobile phone application conducting health behavioral intervention among men who have sex with men, a randomized controlled trial: study protocol. BMC, 17(355). Retrieved from https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-017-4235-6
Michelle_Michy
2019120501581020191203153632intervention_development.edited.docx
0
