Homelessness & Quality Healthcare: A Global Challenge - Essay Sample

Introduction

Homelessness poses a significant threat to the physical health of an individual due to associated difficulties in accessing quality healthcare and maintaining good health. Hence Free Quality healthcare to the homeless is an issue that has been experienced in the world within the healthcare sector. Homeless people experience challenges in obtaining quality healthcare in their daily lives. Poor health is directly related to homelessness, and it serves both as a cause and result of homelessness to people in society. Due to increasing costs of living, especially concerning the housing costs, many people are forced to live in the streets. Minority groups pose a high proportion of affected individuals as they are often excluded from society. The individuals include migrant laborers, illiterate individuals, fragile older people, as well as people discharged from mental hospitals. The daily struggle is evident as the homelessness tend to focus on regular food and distant their health, which increases diseases, and since they do not access quality healthcare, they lose their lives.

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The issue is of great concern and interest due to the following characteristics of the homeless individuals that affect the provision of free quality healthcare services within their environment.

Daily Routine

Homelessness people do live in under conditions that do not allow them to develop a treatment plan for their overall wellbeing. While living on the streets, it's difficult for accessing continuous supply of recommendation medication in case of any diagnosis. It thus requires programs to be instituted for the provision of quality healthcare in the street setting.

Disaffiliation Factors

Many homeless people do not have a good relationship with their families members. They have been abandoned and thus seek support from good wishers outside their families, and sometimes they face a challenge of getting people who can support them. Isolation irises and this causes the limited capacity to interact with other people in society. Due to a poor relationship in the community, they cannot be able to access healthcare providers thus need for free quality healthcare.

Relationship Barriers

Homelessness people do face a problem of stigmatization primarily when the need for medical treatment arises. For instance, alcohol problems are prevalent among the homelessness and may not be free to open up for medical care (Wyatt, 2018). As well some doctors have stereotypes which make it difficult to attend to the needs of the individuals. Also, homeless people have high cases of depression, and this prevents them from seeking quality healthcare services.

Personal Barriers

Competing needs and priorities are predominant in the homeless population. They strive to meet basic needs like food, water and thus, it implies health needs are not considered as a priority to them. For instance, if an individual is hungry and feels cold, then must strive to ensure that he or she gets food rather than healthcare.

Practical Factor

Physical access to health services as being a significant challenge for the homeless population. Homeless people rely on public transport to get medical appointments, and they do not have funds to buy tickets. This affects them hence need for free quality healthcare services.

Statistical data exists that provides support for the need for the issue to become public policy. For instance, 3.5 million Americans do experience homelessness problem each year, and health challenge contributes to mortality cases among the population. A sample survey indicates 73% do fully access their quality health needs, especially in critical areas like medical or surgical care, prescriptions of medication, mental health care, eyeglasses and dental care. The policy instituted must be a distributive policy that ensures equality in the provision of quality healthcare in society. Disparities arise in the nation and the vulnerable people among them the homelessness do not access quality medical services for their wellbeing; hence the government must intervene through a distributive policy.

The perfect strategy must be implemented to ensure that the government addresses the issue of quality healthcare provision among the homelessness. Partnerships Outreach and engagement strategy ensures that the government addresses the issue. Outreach activities play an essential role in identifying homelessness individuals in society and providing knowledge and support to encourage them to engage in self -care and access health care in the community. The partnership acts as the most successful strategy to be applied as it will serve as a natural extension of what the organization does (Ensign, 2018). Diverse support persuades policymakers, and this ensures that the organizations acquire new resources to support the desired activity.

Various interest groups are very significant in advocating the issue as one of the political agendas of policymakers in the government.

National Healthcare for the Homeless Council

The National Healthcare for Homeless Council is an organization that is working tirelessly to curb homelessness through healthcare measures as well as housing to every individual. It involves healthcare for the homeless programs, by ensuring the provision of healthcare and support services to the homelessness population in different states. Through collaboration with the organization will give ideas on the issue of quality healthcare services to the homelessness as they have convincing power through their activities and programs. This will push the government to desire to address the issue at large since the council advocates for solutions to problems facing the homelessness, uplift their voices as well as provide health care.

Healthcare for the Homeless Movement

It's a movement that advocates for equality commitments to service delivery, policy advocacy, and ending homelessness in the United States. It's a move that has close ties with organizers and policymakers hence can act as the best group to advocate the issue of provision of quality healthcare to the homelessness to the government through partnership. It strives to advocates for all needs and concerns of all people through direct contact in both House and the Senate, and that's the government. The issue can be best addressed to the government by contacting senators through the National Healthcare for the Homeless Program as it is distinguished from another movement through its activities and service above all policy advocacy (Peake, 2011).

Policy advocacy is an essential measure in the process of convincing the government of a policy issue. It includes building support of the healthcare issue to the homelessness to create change in policies and attitudes towards them. Advocacy for quality healthcare is a deliberate process of influencing the relevant policymakers to make decisions in support of changes that are accompanied by the policy. Key individuals in the government play a significant role in policy advocacy and must be directly contacted. They include representatives from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development due to budget and resource mobilization, as well as the parliament. Various activities and tactics must be conducted to influence the policymakers toward supporting the policy agenda. Policy briefs on educating the decision-makers on the need for the issue must be addressed, and media use to address the demand for the policy as well as meetings and appointments with the delegates and events with the aim of building interest to the policymakers. Event meetings and forums are aimed at providing evidence to the relevant policymakers as well as presenting the grievances of the affected individuals to the state. Concerning media coverage, host journalists are trained by the partner organization on the issue to invite policymakers to listen to the concerns of the citizen.

Conclusion

Homeless population must be considered in the state. Due to their nature of life they are faced with various challenges including access to quality healthcare services and thus the government should address the issue so as to decrease mortality rates due to health problems. Advocacy plays a significant role in ensuring that the issue is presented to the policymakers. Effective communication acts as a core factor for the success of the policy. Advocacy message must be solution-oriented, and experts must speak out with authority on the health issue to convince policymakers. Act for Free quality healthcare services for the homeless should be implemented for the overall wellbeing of the homeless population in all states.

References

Ensign, J. (2018). Quality of Health Care: The Views of Homeless Youth. Health Services Research, 39(4p1), 695-708. doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6773.2004. 00253.x

Peake, S. (2011). Process and policy advocacy. Energy Policy, 20(2), 180-181. doi: 10.1016/0301-4215(92)90116-j

Wyatt, L. (2018). Homeless patients and how healthcare managers can help. British Journal Of Healthcare Management, 24(10), 514-515. doi: 10.12968/bjhc.2018.24.10.514