Prince Georges County: Demographic and Epidemiological Situation for HIV/AIDS

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Community

Prince Georges County continues to have the second-highest rate of sexually transmitted diseases in Maryland and the second-highest number of reported AIDS and HIV cases, according to the countys top health official. (Wiggins, 2009)

As it can be understood from the above statement this paper will focus on the county of Prince George, in Maryland. More specifically the community we will be diagnosing is that of Upper Marlboro City.

Demographic and Epidemiological data

Upper Marlboro is a community of around 35,414 inhabitants with 13,055 housing units, as of July 2007. They are spread out in an area of 37.2 square miles with a density of 517 people per square mile, which is considered a low-density urban zone. 49.3%, or 9,595, of them, were female, and 50.7% or 9,640 were males. The median resident age was of 34.2 years. In comparison, that of Maryland is of 36 years (US Census Bureau, 2010). Thus, the city has a younger population than that of the state.

In relation to race, the majority of the city is composed of a majority of black or Afro-American people, 22,155 (or 62.6%), by 11,604 white people (or 32.8%), 709 Hispanic or Latino (or 2%), 539 Asian (or 1.5%), 159 American Indian or Alaskan Native (or 0.4%) and 252 individuals (or 0.7%) of another ethnical background. There are a total of 12,521 occupied housing units, where 10,912 are owner-occupied and only 1,609 are renter-occupied. That is something characteristic of this county that differs from the national average. In fact, the national average for owned housing is 66.2% of the occupied housing, instead of in Upper Marlboro we have 87.1%.

Regarding the social statistics of the city, we find that the population of three years and over enrolled in school is about 10,515. Of them, 2543, or 24.3%, are in high school. There are 14,662 married persons and 8409 who were never married. This one is the group with a higher risk potential for HIV/Aids attacks.

In fact, the County health Office declares that there are 5240 HIV / Aids positive cases in the county. What is more important was that in the city district as much as 3% of the population is affected by HIV / Aids (Wiggins, 2009). Another crucial piece of epidemiological data is that syphilis has been resurrecting in the country and city district area in particular.

Windshield Survey

The houses are aged from the 1950s to the current date.

They are range from the colonial, ranch, Cape Cod, and modern style. They are constructed of brick, shingles, and stucco. They are all single-family homes. They all have landed in the front and back, most on ½ acre or more. Most have central heating/air and the entire community is on a water well system, not public water. There are several open lots where homes have not been built on. There is also a horse farm within the development. Unfortunately, there are really no neighborhood hangouts. You have to go about 2-3 miles away to get to the nearest schoolyard, park, and convenience stores. The areas are open to a stranger. To get out of the neighborhood, people ride bikes, walk and drive. There are no developed sidewalks in the neighborhood and you have to walk about ¾ mile out of the development to get to a limited county bus service. There are signs of activities at the local school buildings. They hold after-school activities, church services, and community association meetings. In regard to stores, the closest shopping strip is about 4 miles away.

You have to drive or take bus transportation to get to them.

As mentioned above, the neighborhood is mixed with all races/ethnic backgrounds to include Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics, and Indians. Most of the residents are of the Christian faith and you will find many churches in and surrounding the neighborhood for all different denominations. In general, during election campaigns, there are political posters in some neighborhood yards. The neighborhood area is mostly Democratic. Also, there are television antennas and satellite dishes in the neighborhood. Some people subscribed to The Washington Post and there is a local weekly newspaper called the Gazette that is delivered to everyone.

Despite all the epidemiological data mentioned above, there is no evidence of chronic diseases, accidents, communicable diseases, drug abuse, or mental illness in the neighborhood. The nearest hospital is about 10 miles away.

Problem

The problem is that the young and very sexually active population of the county, and especially the city district, is not Students are very sexually active, are neither using protection during their sexual relations nor are they having a responsible sexual behavior in general? This situation increases the risk potentials for HIV / Aids or other related disease infections.

Historical Significance

As health officials pointed out in 1998 there were 6.6 cases of syphilis for every 100,000 residents, compared with 11.2 cases per 100,000 residents in 2007 (Wiggin, 2009).

Also, another important factor is that the teen pregnancy rate has doubled in the past 2 years. Furthermore, during the last seven years, the rate of infection from HIV / Aids has been rising dramatically (Wiggins, 2009). During the same period, the number of people with lack of health access has been also rising fast. This situation reached its peak in 2007 when 151,000 residents had no health coverage at all and around 102,000 were in Medicare. In comparison to the national rate of HIV / Aids infected, the rate of the county (and especially city district) is higher (Healthy People, 2010).

Natural History of the Disease

The history of HIV / Aids begins in 1981 when the first case was reported. Nevertheless, suspicions were that the disease had been spreading even many years before. Until that time there are more than 600,000 cases reported in the US alone. The World Health Organization declared it to be a world pandemic by the early 1990s.

The HIV virus binds to CD4 receptor permissive cells. The CD4 is present in monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. They are part of the G-protein coupled 7 trans-membrane receptor family. Then, the virus is stimulated by Tat (a Trans-acting activator of transcription) and cellular transcription factors.

Summary

The problem is that the young and very sexually active population of the county, and especially the city district, is not Students are very sexually active, are neither using protection during their sexual relation nor are they having a responsible sexual behavior? One of the main contributors to this problem is the disregard of advice from health experts and the lack of access to health care.

Suppose George is making $18 an hour installing electronic chips in hand help computers.

In order to assess what are the causes of organized crime, we have to begin by assessing what organized crime is. But here we encounter the first big problem. As to date, there is no clear and widely accepted definition of organized crime. There have been several attempts to try and define organized crime but all of these attempts have not produced the desired consensus. Nevertheless, there have been positive steps made in this regard. Among investigators, there is a rising consensus on what constitutes an organized crime. They have determined four pillars, principles, around which a criminal organization is formed. Understanding these four principles will enable us to understand the roots of organized crime. The difference between me and George would be that I cannot offer the high quality that he offers in the installing of the chips in handheld personal computers. This sort of job requires high professional labor skills in order to be completed adequately. George has been having adequate professional training in order to be qualified for this special job. For me to pretend to replace him I should offer the company that employs him at least the same level of professional qualification and experience.

Skilled labor is one of the basic tenets of modern economics. It is also one of the bases of success for entrepreneurs. The more specialized the labor skills that one offers, the higher the payor reward he/she can expect. The same reasoning applies to the employer. It is true that George is costing him 18$ per hour but the quality of work he is receiving is also very high. Thus, he has the opportunity to maximize his profits due to the quality work George offers. This will attract customers and make them satisfied with what the company is offering. So, he cannot offer me that job because the quality will decrease rapidly and customer satisfaction will go down.

Thus, I have to offer at least the same level of expertise and experience as George combined with a lower pay per hour before pretending from Georges employer to offer me the job. The optimal solution would be to offer better expertise and experience.

Why does the opportunity cost of doing homework increase as you spend more time doing it?

This is related to the productivity rate that one has done a job or anything else. When one spends one hour doing something they have a certain productivity yield. But when they spend three or four hours on that task, the productivity yield is not the same as the productivity rate of each separate hour. In fact, it is more than that. Thus, when I commit myself to do my homework for one hour I lose the productivity yield I would have had if I was to do an income-producing activity. And if I continue doing my homework for three or four hours I lose the equivalent of the productivity yield of doing another activity.

Part of the reasoning is the same as what I have mentioned above regarding the skilled labor offering. Professors of computer science do offer specialized skills to their students regarding products and services which are particular in the market. They also transmit students knowledge about technological developments or the way how to achieve these technological developments. Innovation and technological breakthroughs are very important for the growth and profit-maximizing of a company. Professors of English literature do not offer knowledge related to these elements meanwhile professors of computer science do offer students knowledge of specialized skills.

References

Healthy People (2010) Leading health indicators. Web.

United States Census Bureau (2010) American Fact Finder. Web.

Wiggins, O. (2009). County still no. 2 in md. for stds, says officials, The Washington Post. Web.

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