Spread of diseases

Lewisham Primary Care NHS Trust
Cantilever House
Eltham Road
Lee
London
SE12 8RN

Dear Mr. / Mrs,

I am writing you this letter to inform you the reasons why I think more resources should be devoted to prevent the spread of three named diseases: HIV, TB and Cholera, in Tower Hamlets. I will be describing and explaining why the conditions in Lewisham are particularly susceptible now to the spread of these diseases.

HIV

Lewisham is classed as a multi-cultural society. It is for this reason that HIV in Lewisham is particularly susceptible to spread. This is because many people come from different countries where it is very common for people to suffer from HIV, countries such as Iraq, Malta, and Bahran etc. Therefore as Lewisham is a multi-cultural society, people bring this disease to Lewisham when they travel from their country to Lewisham.

For this reason these individual’s can pass HIV to other people through unprotected sex, blood-to-blood infections such as through needles transfusions, infected blood and mothers who are infected can infect their child, through pregnancy, in labor or after or through breast milk. Therefore there are children being born and growing up in Lewisham that have HIV due to their mother being infected. These children will be the future of Lewisham and the next generation, who can infect others such as their own children or their partners. Another reason why you should devote resources to prevent HIV is because Lewisham is known as having the highest rate of unprotected sex in the United Kingdom. As teenagers are getting more sexually active, more teenagers are having unprotected sex and therefore the spread of HIV is suspected amongst people and increases the rates of those being infected by HIV.

A further reason is because of people’s culture. In a Muslim culture people are allowed to have more than one wife and consequently those who have HIV can transmit it to other people. Lewisham is also well known for ‘mixed race’ children. As a result this increases the likelihood of people getting HIV, as many people from a Muslim culture are having relationships with black Caribbean. This will cause more people from Lewisham to be at risk of having HIV, as said before because Lewisham has the highest rate of unprotected sex in the UK, hence the reason why ...

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Another disease that can spread in Lewisham is TB. The reason for this being is because there are many people from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Brazil, where TB is very popular, coming and living in Lewisham. TB can be spread through inhaling, speaking, sneezing and coughing and can harm individuals within the family of the TB sufferer, which then can be spread amongst their friends and people in the society. This is very dangerous as it is very easy to get TB in Lewisham. This is because transport is regularly and constantly used in Lewisham, for example people travel on tube or trains and bus, which many times are packed and filled with people, especially in the morning and evenings. People are either squashed standing up next to each other or sitting down and at any time if anyone who suffers from cholera is on the bus, train or tube speaks, sneezes or coughs, the other passengers are at risk of being infected by TB through inhaling the bacteria. This is another reason why I think more resources should be devoted to prevent the spread of TB. The worst thing is if this individual does not even know that they have TB, because they are able to transmit it to ten people a year and those individuals can continue the chain. Therefore I believe immediate action needs to be taken on account of this, before it spreads and becomes an epidemic.

Cholera

In the same way as the other diseases can be spread through people coming from other specific countries that are very well known for that particular disease to Lewisham, it is the same for people coming from countries such as Zimbabwe, Angola and Benin to Lewisham. People coming from these countries are usually poorer and less financially stable. Therefore this could lead to over crowding living conditions, where cholera can be spread. In conditions such as these that there is a cholera sufferer in the household, if people share cups, or don’t change the towel in the toilet that they wash their hands on, then these people are at risk of getting cholera. Cholera can also be spread by contaminated water, such as tap water that is contaminated and if people do not boil it, if they drink they can get infected with cholera. Another way for people in Lewisham to catch cholera is through eating raw or undercooked seafood, this could be them at home undercooking the food or them going to a restaurant. Lewisham is a very religious society and community. It is for this reason that cholera can be spread. For example some people who are religious believe that though they are not hygienically clean; by washing their hands after going to the toilet or before they deal with food or water, or not changing the towel in the toilet that they use to clean their hands, that they will not be infected by cholera because their God will protect them from it.

I will now discuss how I believe the money should be spent in order to impede these three communicable diseases from being spread.

Firstly I believe that money should be invested on education to people of all ages. For individual’s who go to school, college or university they can receive education based on HIV during tutorial or PHSE. This would educate them about the dangers of unprotected sex not only on them, but on their children. This is because as mentioned before the high levels of teenage pregnancy. This would cause them to understand about the risks of unprotected sex, HIV being one of them, which is incurable. This would create fear in their heart as they would have to take retroviral drugs for their whole life constantly to treat it. Also that after 5-15 years from when the person is first infected by HIV AIDS might develop. For people who work, they can receive knowledge about HIV through the TV. I believe that money can be spent on adverts or documentaries on TV. Another way to us the money in an effective may to impede HIV is through programs held by the NHS. This could be where they hold sessions for individuals from their local GP, to educate them about HIV. This would be done through sending them a letter and organizing primary care to speak about it to them. They could also put individuals on antiretroviral which impede viruses like HIV.

Secondly the money should be spent on vaccinations for TB. TB sufferers should also receive a letter or education about the importance of them completing their antibiotics; this can be done through the WHO program, which deals with attacking these problems and issues.

Finally, for cholera the money should be spent highly on education. This would be through, adverts, documentaries, leaflets, letters, programs organized by the NHS etc. This would be to make them aware of the importance of washing their hands after going to the toilet or before they deal with food or water, to not eat raw or undercooked seafood and consequently it would impede the spread of cholera. This could be prevented by providing clean drinking water through water dispensers or water fountains in schools, colleges, universities or in work places.

I strongly believe that the NHS budget should be increased, due to the things mentioned before. This could be done in acquiring more funds from the government or by simply charging individuals for health care services that could have been avoided.

I would really appreciate it if you could get back to me as soon as possible and thank you for taking your time to read through this letter. I believe it will be very beneficial on the society and community not only now but for the further generations.

Yours truly,

Debora N’ganga