Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
We must have an approach which is both resolute
in focusing on the disease but also takes
into account the context which drives the epidemic.
This means that we need to have what I call a syndemic approach.
A syndemic approach means that we need to think
and about the prevention treatment and care interface.
We need to think about ways in which we combine services
to people who may be at risk of *** or people who are infected
with *** so we minimize the missed opportunities
for addressing their disease more holistically.
It means that we must think about *** health thinking
about ways in which we are focusing not only
on the individual behavior but the context within which
that behavior occurs and the emotional, physical,
spiritual demands which drives that individual
and their behaviors and their risk of acquiring ***.
And most importantly a syndemic approach means
that we must be mindful of and we must address the social
and structural domains of the epidemic
and no one agency can do it on it's own.
CDC must partner with other agencies that can work
on poverty alleviation, that can work on the high rates
of incarceration in our country, that can work on ensuring
that young people graduate from high school
and that they attain the best education that they're able to.
This is what a syndemic approach entails.
It's harder work but it focuses on the honesty and the reality
of what's driving *** in our communities today.