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The Elimination of Syphilis in Cuba
The Elimination of Syphilis in Cuba
Abstract
Geographical area: Cuba
Health Condition: Between the periods of 2013 of 2017, an increase in rate of syphilis infection cases were reported in Cuba to have reached approximately 500 thousand. Out of these cases, it was reported that nearly 50 cases of these were untreated maternal syphilis which yearly results into congenital syphilis affecting pregnancies and in worse cases resulting to still births, early fetal loss, and premature births.
Global importance of the health condition: Syphilis, which one of the most common sexually transmitted infections affects approximately 18 million people globally with 0.5 percent being women and 0.5 percent being male individuals between the ages of 15 to 49 years. Out of these, approximately 1 million infections occur in pregnant women worldwide each year. In addition, roughly 500 thousand of these cases represent victims from Cuba and more importantly out of the 1 million cases of syphilis infections among pregnant women, nearly 50 cases represent a population of untreated maternal syphilis among women within the Cuban society which in many cases results to fetal deaths and premature births.
Invention or programs: Cuba has had intervention programs that help in the control and prevention of syphilis since the early periods of 1972 and especially for the control and prevention of congenital syphilis since 1974. The adoption of antenatal screening and treatment programs has greatly reduced the increased cases of morbidity and mortality which are associated with congenital syphilis. This program enables screening during pregnancy thus allowing and providing chances for early treatment of the fetus, mother, and partner. As a result, this reduces the case of increase still birth, infant deaths and clinical congenital syphilis. In addition, the national strategy for the protection and prevention of reproductive and sexual health through the social marketing of condoms is another key invention for the protection against syphilis in Cuba.
Cost-effectiveness: The various programs that are used as interventions strategies for the treatment, control, and prevention of syphilis are considered some of the most cost effective programs. For instance, the prevention and protection of men and women against syphilis through consistent use of condoms in all sexual relations has been made much more cost effective through the free condom distribution in public institutions, family planning offices, and family doctor’s offices. In such cases individuals are not able to face financial problems in acquiring these products that prevent and protect mothers, fetus, and partners from syphilis.
Impact: The adoption of various protection and preventive interventions such as antenatal screening and treatment programs and the national strategy for the protection and prevention of reproductive and sexual health through the social marketing of condoms have all produced impressive and significant change in health care between the period of 1972 and 2015. As a result, this has allowed Cuba to showcase to the entire globe the dedicated capacity of its health care programs and systems responsible for the elimination of congenital syphilis resulting to 0.00 and 0.24 rates cases per 1000 live births during the period of 2012 and 2013 respectively. With such success rates, Cuba became the first nation in the world to be validated by the World Health Organization in June 2015, for its success in eliminating Mother to child transmission of congenital syphilis.
Nearly 1 million infections involving syphilis occur among pregnant women worldwide every year. These syphilis affected pregnancies resulted in approximately 350, 000 poor birth outcomes as a result of congenital syphilis during the period of 2012. These untreated maternal syphilis results to congenital syphilis leading to premature births, fetal deaths, and still births and therefore creating the need by the Global Health Community which is led by the World Health Organization identify syphilis elimination a priority.
The Problem
Syphilis is one of the common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) caused by a bacterial called Treponema pallidum. According to Organización Mundial de la Salud et al. (2003), syphilis can either be described as congenital (transmitted from mother to unborn child) or acquired syphilis, which is transmitted through sexual intercourse or blood transfusion. Over the years, approximately 18 million people globally have been diagnosed with Syphilis, with 500 thousand of its victims residing in Cuba. Syphilis mostly affects fetus, mothers, and their partners. However, congenital syphilis which affects the fetus usually results to case of stillbirths, premature births, and low birth weight which leads to early fetus loss (Taylor et al. 2017). In adults, acquired syphilis usually cause hair loss, rashes, and open sores in the genital organs which if untreated results to symptoms that affects the brain, heart, and other organs of the body resulting to severe illness and eventually death. Normally, syphilis develops through various stages each with varying symptoms that develop between 10 to 90 days. The first stage involves the development of painless sore on the genitals, mouth, and rectum. Afterwards, without proper medication, this progresses into the second stage characterized by rash development which if untreated result to the final stage that causes brain, eyes, nerves, and heart damage which posses economic difficulties to treat for many individuals. In men, untreated syphilis result to infertility causing individuals to shy away in fear of stigmatization. Therefore, in order to prevent these major consequences, it is imperative for individuals to adopt various health policies such as antenatal screening and treatment that help protect and prevent syphilis.
Etiology
Being one of the common sexual transmitted diseases, syphilis is caused by bacterium called Treponema pallidum (Organización Mundial de la Salud et al., 2003). This bacterium is commonly referred as the great imitator due to its numerous symptoms that are hard to tell apart from other sexually transmitted diseases. The most common form of syphilis transmission is direct contact with infected individual’s sores especially during sexual intercourse. Additionally, this transmission can also take place between infected mothers to their unborn child in the Utero. The Treponema pallidum bacterium enters the body of an individual through minor cuts or abrasions found in the mucus membrane or the skin. It is also important to note that syphilis can also be spread through kissing or using of the same utensils and clothing. Therefore, it is clear that engaging in unprotected intercourse, having unprotected sex with multiple individuals, and sharing of the same items such as toilets and cloths increases the risk of acquiring syphilis.
Recommendations
In order to address the cause and reduce the impacts associated with syphilis, it is imperative for individuals to follow and adopt various suggestions. For instance, Rodríguez et al. (2016), suggests that the use of condoms during sexual activity is one of the main recommendations that help prevent the contraction and spread of syphilis. In addition, individual can also prevent the contraction of syphilis by avoiding the use of recreational drugs such as alcohol. Normally, the consumption of these substances inhibits individual’s judgment leading to unsafe sexual practice which in one way or another result to syphilis contraction.
Implementations
According to Rodríguez et al. (2016), the social marketing of condoms for lower prices in order to make them accessible for everyone is one of the main interventions conducted by the Cuban national strategy in order to protect and promote the reproductive and sexual health of individuals. In addition, this intervention also involved free condom distribution in public institutions, family planning offices, and family doctor’s offices making it one the most unique intervention and so successful in eliminating syphilis within the Cuban society. Apart from providing free condoms, the provision of free access to reproductive and health services is another major intervention carried out by the national strategy of the Cuban Ministry of health for the prevention of STIs such as syphilis (Rodríguez et al., 2016). Normally, syphilis develops through various stages each with varying symptoms that develop between 10 to 90 days. The first stage (primary level) involves the development of painless sore on the genitals, mouth, and rectum. Afterwards, without proper medication, this progresses into the second stage (secondary level) characterized by rash development which if untreated result to the final stage (tertiary level) that causes brain, eyes, nerves, and heart damage and therefore the need of immediate intervention.
Evaluation
Rodríguez et al. (2016), suggests that the health programs and interventions responsible for the elimination of congenital syphilis resulted to 0.00 and 0.24 rates cases per 1000 live births during the period of 2012 and 2013 respectively. With such success rates, Cuba became the first nation in world to be validated by the World Health Organization in June 2015, for its success in eliminating Mother to child transmission of congenital syphilis. The provision of free access to reproductive and health services and the free distribution in public institutions demonstrates the cost effectiveness of the interventions used to address syphilis (Ishikawa et al., 2016). Some of the overall impacts of the interventions used have promoted the health care pregnant women. As a result this reduces case of stillbirths, premature births, and fetus deaths. In addition, the interventions have also enabled Cuba to work with other countries to eliminate congenital syphilis. Also, the elimination of syphilis through the various intervention has enabled individuals avoid costs associated with treatment of syphilis (Rodríguez et al., 2016).
Wold and Mittelmark (2018) indicate that from the socio-ecological perspective, skills and knowledge on syphilis has been one of the impacts of the interventions to eliminate mother-to-child transmission syphilis. Knowledge helps individuals know more about syphilis, and how serious it is concerning its overall threat. In addition, interpersonal level involves relations between parents, friends, and family. At this level for instance, parents are able to communicate with their children about sex and the importance of going for screening from time to time and hence preventing syphilis transmission. On the other hand, the organization level involves schools and workplace which have more people creating better environments for counseling and access to free condoms and hence the prevention of syphilis. The community level involves different organizations working together to create awareness of syphilis. Such organizations include hospitals which provide sex education to other individuals. The final level involves public policy which includes governing bodies that work to establish laws and agencies that do research on STDs such as syphilis and adopt ways to prevent them (Wold, & Mittelmark, 2018).
Lessons learned
Congenital syphilis has severe impacts on the pregnancy of many women globally especially when left untreated. In addition, acquired syphilis in men also results to brain, heart, and nerve damages if also left untreated. With this in mind, it is therefore important that individuals should avoid unprotected sex and pregnant women should go for antenatal screening for check up.
References
Ishikawa, N., Newman, L., Taylor, M., Essajee, S., Pendse, R., & Ghidinelli, M. (2016).
Elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis in Cuba and Thailand. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 94(11), 787.
Organización Mundial de la Salud (Ginebra, Suiza), World Health Organization Staff, Światowa
Organizacja Zdrowia, World Health Organization, & UNAIDS. (2003). Guidelines for the management of sexually transmitted infections. World Health Organization.
Rodríguez, I., Noda, A. A., Ale, K., & Stamm, L. V. (2016). The Cuban experience in the
elimination of Mother-to-Child transmission of congenital syphilis. American journal of public health, 106(11), 1975.
Taylor, M., Newman, L., Ishikawa, N., Laverty, M., Hayashi, C., Ghidinelli, M., … & Essajee, S.
(2017). Elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis (EMTCT): process, progress, and program integration. PLoS medicine, 14(6), e1002329.
Wold, B., & Mittelmark, M. B. (2018). Health-promotion research over three decades: The
social-ecological model and challenges in implementation of interventions. Scandinavian journal of public health, 46(20_suppl), 20-26.
The elevator pitch
Market research
Introduction
The case study is about strategic plans of Jerry’s new business in his hometown called Petoskey located in Michigan. Despite his extensive experience in carpet cleaning, John finds it hard to cope in the market because there is a stiff completion from his former employer Mr. Bullard. Mr. Bullard’s longer experience and high-quality services threatens the newcomers like Jim Dickson into the market. This later compelled Jim to quit the business. For the purpose of analyzing this case study, the points are discussed under subtopic.
The elevator pitch
The main reason Mr. Bullard’s business thrives well in the market is because he is capable of describing his business very well to his customers. He advertises his business and gets a wider customers base through the quality and honesty of his work. On the other hand, Jim Dickson does not have enough cash to advertise his business and therefore fails attain larger customer franchise base (Simerson, 2011)
Elevator pitch is a strategy used to describe the business so that it can be readily sold in the market. Jim and other investors fail to apply this approach hence they are perishing in the market after meeting stiff completion from Mr. Bullard, who is already enjoying massive market base. For Jim to rise and shine in this type of market, he needs to describe and articulate his business to the customers in a better way that his compactors cannot reach. He should carry out thorough market research before venturing into the same business again.
Mission statement of the company
Mission statement states what the business intend to achieve. It is useful for the prosperity of the business because it helps in internal decision making. It shows lines of success to follow and helps in achieving business mission (Simerson, 2011). Jim Dickson Company never put in place missions statement and therefore he failed. Instead of being pushed by internal factors to achieve his missions, he compares his business with another person not knowing that he is young in a very competitive market. This leads to his failure even though he is providing the same quality of service as his main competitor. For Jim’s business to rise again, he must come up with the mission of his business and work harder to attain it at the end trading period. The business mission should be driven by stating and achieving the company’s goals first.
SWOT
An effective business plan needs a comprehensive SWOT analysis. As much as Jim has little cash to start the business, he has failed conducted SWOT analysis (Simerson, 2011). Carpet and furniture cleaning business in a small Petoskey town is not the best business for him bearing in mind he understands the needs of his customers. These customers are glued to an already and trusted service provider, Mr. Bullard. For him to break this monopoly, he must conduct a thorough market research and do SWOT analysis for his business.
The only strength in Jim’s business is his vast experience in the service because worked under Mr. Bullard. His business idea has several weaknesses e.g. lower capital base, few customers and poor marketing methods. Opportunities for his business rely on the opening and closing of summer and winter seasons when there are many customers that Mr. Bullard cannot handle. The major threat to his business is his competitor Mr. Bullard.
Since Jim Dickson business has more weaknesses than strengths, he is doomed to fail. He should work hard to improve the numerous weaknesses in his business by improving the quality of his services and winning the trust of the customers just like Mr. Bullard did. He can achieve this because he had worked in Mr. Bullard, and he is well experienced in this field.
Goal
Goal setting and ensuring that the goal is achieved is one of the contributing factors for successful business and should be one of the greatest elements in business strategic plan. The key here is to first define long term goals that one want to achieve in the market, then define the short term goals. Short term goals include those that one wants to achieve in his first year in the market. Short term goals should put one’s business in the right trajectory to achieving the long-term goals(Simerson, 2011).
Jim’s business fails because he failed to put and steers his goals at the beginning of his business. As much as he expects the return of above $65,000, he never put credible measures of achieving this unrealistic goal. The fact that he opts to quit the business indicates that he never had long term goals for his business. Jim Dickson can only be successful when he remain focused, and his goals when shaped.
Performance indicators
A good business strategy should have good parameters for indicating business performance. Successful businesses understand their matrices and performance indicators (Simerson, 2011). The indicators tell exactly the performance of the business and the necessary adjustments needed. For example, performing indicators like, monthly total sales is useful in understanding the performance of the business.
For Jim’ company, the monthly income he obtained from his services are below his target, he should come up with methods of improving the qualities of his services above his competitor instead of opting to quit in the first year.
In conclusion, after analyzing Jim Dickson’s strategic business plan, the most important aspect to consider while making a strategic plan include; identifying elevator pitch, determining goal and missions of the business, conducting SWOT analysis and also determining key business performance. After identifying all these, one should work hard to attain them at the end of the trading period.
Reference
Simerson, B. K. (2011). Strategic planning: A practical guide to strategy formulation and execution. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger.
Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Exist Yet
Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Exist Yet
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Course Name and Code
Professor’s Name
Date
Preparing for Jobs that Don’t Exist Yet
Introduction
Education in higher learning institutions has faced dynamic changes to adjust to the technological invention and management needs. As such, colleges have changed their dimension of preparing learners for the jobs that do not exist to enable them to adjust favorably to the changing sustainable technology in the job markets. Gretchen Frazee, in her article, describes how colleges prepare students for jobs that do not exist by reflecting on the historical market and the current market trend. Therefore, this paper presents Frazee’s main point, the hyperlink argument that supports her notion and my personal comment concerning the subject.
Author’s Main Points
Gretchen Frazee’s main points in her article describe how higher learning institutions prepare their students for the jobs that do not exist today but are a reflection of the future needs of life sustainability. The emergence of new technology and the need to satisfy current human needs has made the colleges adjust by training the student in the new skills that aim at fulfilling the future demand in the management and the technological fields (Frazee, 2018). Historically, the contemporary mainstream career never existed like social media managers, the plant operator, and computer engineering, which reflect the changing needs the colleges need to adopt. The author offers a variety of evidence to support her argument by conceptualizing the idea of the need for colleges to match degrees with the jobs. Also, the author describes how the college lecturers and the managers in the industries are advising the students and the learning institutions to avoid thinking about higher education as a four-year linear journey by majorly initiating learning in every field of experience to accelerate innovation (Frazee, 2018). Moreover, the author supports her idea by explaining the need to find ways of filling the skill gaps through internships and by offering additional courses like the web-design, data analysis, and digital marketing. Most importantly, the author describes the importance of making the classrooms more like offices by equipping them with technological devices and using the technological models for teaching like 3d-printed limbs that the Students have applied at the University of Central Florida.
Hyperlink
The hyperlinks in the article give additional information to support the argument of Gretchen Frazee. The most crucial hyperlink that did not exist justifies Frazee’s points on colleges training students on the jobs that do not exist by giving an in-depth explanation of the jobs that never existed in the last ten years. Information is added to the author’s notion by reviewing the article’s content. The hyperlinked article uses the examples of Facebook, Twitter, and iPhones that never existed and were in their infancy states by 2006 (Halett & Hutt, 2016). Also, the emergence of technological companies accelerated rapid advancement in technological fields like artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and genomics. As such, the jobs that arose from the millennial generations are applied developers that help develop iPhone apps and smartphones and the social media managers that manage Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to accelerate the brand engagement with the customers (Halett & Hutt, 2016). Also, the Uber driver positions have been created with the emergence of technology since the foundation of Uber in 2009. The driverless car engines have continued to spring due to increasing inventions, creating job opportunities in engineering fields, software developers, and mechanics. Most importantly, Cloud computing specialists are the jobs described by Frazee that enable businesses to strategize technological initiatives. Other job opportunities described by the hyperlinked articles that I never knew about before are data scientists, sustainability managers, millennial generation experts, and drone operators.
Personal Comments
I agree with the author’s description of colleges’ methodologies in training students for jobs that do not exist to capture future technological and human needs. The author also provides the future trends of technology and the analysis by the specialists like the managers and the professors like Jonathan Blake Huer, a professional education consultant who reasons in support of the dynamic learning to adjust to the changing market needs in organizations (Frazee, 2018). My experience and knowledge in robotics have enabled me to conceptualize the idea generated by the author about the future artificial intelligence technology that fulfills human needs. Furthermore, having a conversation with others about the trend of the college education system influences my thinking on the need to use the idea taught at school to conceptualize innovative ideas in the technology field into practice.
Conclusion
Overall, Frazee’s argument on the changing teaching methodologies gets based on adjusting to the future job market needs. In her notion, Frazee describes that learning should be a continuous process even after finishing degrees, the importance of equipping a classroom with technological devices like offices, and the methodologies of bridging the skill gap. Furthermore, the hyperlink creates a paradigm through which the author’s argument is supported by the new job markets like cloud computer engineering, social media management, and robotics. Therefore, agreeing with the author creates an insight through which I have accepted the innovative changes in the job market, which requires changes in the teaching and learning process.
References
Frazee, G. (2018). How colleges are preparing students for jobs that don’t exist yet. PBS. NewsHour. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/making-sense/how-colleges-are-preparing-students-for-jobs-that-dont-exist-yetHalett, R, & Hutt, R. (2016). Ten jobs that didn’t exist ten years ago. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/06/10-jobs-that-didn-t-exist-10-years-ago/