ESSAY: Vulnerable Populations

There are several vulnerable populations that have a chronic illness (older; homeless; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations) that face challenges when it comes to care. Choose one vulnerable population and discuss what can be done to help alleviate these challenges.

ANSWER

Vulnerable Populations

The health spheres of vulnerable populations may be categorized into three broad groups that including psychological, social, and physical. These categories include the chronically ill and disabled individuals, persons living with HIV/AID as well as individuals with chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, respiratory diseases, heart disease, obesity, and dyslipidemia (Shivayogi, 2013). This paper aims to discuss what can be done to help alleviate challenges of obesity and overweight in the society.

The prevalence of obese people continues to rise despite the government’s efforts and objectives to reduce the disorder by 2020.  Obese people are subjected to discrimination and sometimes denied access to quality care. Therefore, they are likely to develop other secondary diseases such as arthritis, hypertension, gallstones, coronary diseases, and stroke. Health disparities have worsened the health risks emanating from obesity among the overweight and obese population. Physical inactivity, poor eating habits, availability of fast food, and abuse of drugs such as insulin have also contributed to increased cases of obesity (Witten, 2016).

Principles of Obesity Prevention

Obesity is a life-threatening condition that has financial burden to the patient, family members, and the society. The disorder can be controlled by educating the society about the advantages of having a healthy diet, avoiding fast food, and engaging in physical activities (Witten, 2016). Besides, people should be encouraged to walk or cycle to work, use stairs instead of elevators as well as exercise regularly. Prevention of overweight in children should be a priority to avoid a situation of high cases during adulthood. This may be achieved by encouraging consumption of calorie-free food and whole foods. Health disparities among the overweight and obese people contribute to inequality in access to health care and provision of quality care to patients based on race, socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, and religion (Shivayogi, 2013). To reduce incidence and prevalence of obesity, the state should strive to discourage care discrimination among the ethnic minorities such as Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and African Americans…