Pharmacology and Diverse Populations Essay

Pharmacology and Diverse Populations Essay

Preparing the Impact Report

Most of sub-Saharan Africans who wish to migrate to Europe and America have high possibility of posing health risks to the locals. As a result of poor health care services in their countries of origin, the migrants are likely to spread communicable diseases in addition to being exposed to various new diseases. For the local authority to effectively prepare for treatment and pharmacological needs of the local and incoming population, it is essential for clinical health officers to understand the cultural practices, health risks and traditional practices of the African immigrants and analyze how these factors may affect the patient outcome.

African immigrants have diverse social-cultural and economic origins. The common factor is that they come from developing countries and experience healthcare problems based on poor facilities, insufficient health care providers, and increased cases of communicable disease. In the last ten years, there have been over 5000 doctors migrating to Europe, America, and Asia in search of better jobs and living standards (Truong, Paradies, & Priest, 2014). Professionals migrate out of their home countries because of the negative effect of high doctor-patient ratio, that is common in most of the sub-Saharan African economies such as Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Benin, Botswana, Cabo Verde, and Cameroon.  It is often a challenge to access healthcare facilities in these countries, especially in rural areas. Considering that over 80% of African population lives in rural areas or unplanned urban slums and access to preventive and curative healthcare is a major challenge, there is a high possibility that the migrants will subject the locals to the risk of acquiring communicable diseases (Pulendran, 2014).

These problems have been escalating because of poor governance, poverty, high level of unemployment, illiteracy, and an extended period of colonization, civil wars and poor access to healthcare. Despite the difference in cultures, there are a lot of ethnic similarities and religious practices that make African countries delay in bridging the gap between the rich and the poor. Other factors that arise due to diversity are barriers of communication and interaction leading to a lack of a common language that traverses geographic boundaries.

Health issues affecting the Sub-Saharan Africans

Due to perennial conflicts and civil wars, starvation, hunger, and lack of life supporting services like modern hospitals and medication, the immigrants are likely to be sick, weak and hungry as well as being physically and mentally traumatized. The health departments in the United States should, therefore, be ready to address major health issues affecting the immigrants that relate to physical injuries, trauma, chronic and communicable diseases, malnutrition and hunger in addition to psychological problems emanating from violence at home. Parasitemia, tropical disease, and malnutrition illness are also health issues affecting this population and should be addressed so that the risk factors for the immigrants and transmission of diseases can be minimized.

Pharmacological Treatment

Over the last few years, the healthcare sector has been prepared to handle pharmacological treatment regimens for parasitemia based on the recommendation by the CDC (Truong et al., 2014). This has been achieved through administration of treatment schedules for presumptive and parasitic infections such as malaria, skin diseases among others. Albendazole 400mg single dose had been prescribed as the most effective where pre-admission treatment is made to mitigate the incidence of soil transmitted helminthiasis, common with refugees. Reports of infection among the refugee population have been quite high and have posed serious clinical consequences to the local residents (Pulendran, 2014).

The prevention and treatment of tropical diseases like malaria are also required to be undertaken immediately after arrival under a directly observed therapy.  Through the administration of oral quinine for immigrants who test positive after a rapid diagnostic test, the majority of the patients have shown no contraindications for parasitic and malaria treatment regimens. Centre for disease control recommends spacing up of the treatment regimens and the intervention approaches so that the effect of treatment can be monitored and corrected where necessary.

The government should also help the health department to prepare for psychological treatment and designing nutritional program after taking a summary of immigrants’ dietary history and completing a physical examination. Psychological treatments should focus on providing guidance and counseling to individuals with post-traumatic stress, providing social support, access to medical care and providing shelter and food (Pulendran, 2014). Primary health care and basic education should be provided in the refugee camps and a continuous course that monitors the recovery process initiated. According to Pulendran (2014), the first generation of immigrant children should be free of the high health risks affecting their parents (Pulendran, 2014).

Traditional Beliefs and Practices Related to Health Concerns Identified

African practices like over-reliance on farm and animal products as the primary sources of food contribute to poor diet hence leading to malnutrition and food insecurity. Because of climatic changes and globalization, these are considered as short-term sources of food that are affected drought. Nomadism may also be a major problem because it affects Africans literacy level and support over-reliance on traditional medicines, which promote easy spread of communicable disease and increasing the rates of chronic diseases (Pulendran, 2014). Although some African communities have substantive knowledge on how to use traditional herbs, this understanding may not be equally distributed across all ethnic groups hence creating a knowledge gap.

Effect of Cultural Values and Practices to Acceptance of Prescribed Pharmacological Treatment

Most African cultures, languages, and way of life may not be available or applicable in a foreign country. This would imply that the immigrants will be required to adjust to the local culture. In matters of food choices, farming method and use of herbal medicines would decline hence the immigrants will be forced to embrace the prescribed pharmacological treatment

Culturally Sensitive Strategies for the Healthcare Organization

The foreign health care institutions should identify the social structure of different immigrant groups and make the right healthcare decisions to enhance efficient healthcare delivery. Supporting the leaders of these groups should enhance the implementation of the treatment policies for the entire population (Sewali et al., 2015). In addition, consultation helps in reducing the leadership gaps between the population and health care providers hence promoting successful implementation of treatment policies.

Culturally Sensitive Strategies for Nursing Staff

The healthcare organization should include competent individuals in healthcare to provide different specialized treatment. These professionals should bridge the gap between the patient, skilled and semi-skilled workers so that patient outcome can be improved and the cultural competence of each group to be addressed (Pulendran, 2014). This implies that there should be a positive collaboration between the immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa and the local nurses to improve the care delivery process.

Conclusion

As a way of preventing the unprecedented spread of diseases, the healthcare facilities of different countries expecting a massive influx of refugees should have adequate preparations for a health crisis that may arise as a result of immigration. The doctors, nurses and other healthcare practitioners should understand the pharmacological needs of the expected immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa (Sewali et al., 2015). In addition, the government intelligence network should be in a position to share information on the potential impact of regional imbalance, weather changes and economic imbalance to the country and help them prepare for possible health hazards relating to a shift of population. Adequate preparation should be encouraged at local, national and international level. Sharing of health related knowledge about the population regarding cultural and religious practices as well as pharmacological treatment relating to health issues of the incoming population is vital to protect the local citizens.