M4D1: The Health Sciences Professional as Diversity Advocate

Describe a lesson you have learned from reaching out to people from a culture or group that differs from yours. What impact did this lesson have on you?

The most effective way to reach out to people of cultures that differ from yours is by learning their culture; it starts by learning yours first. A culture is a group of people with shared experiences and beliefs that impact how people perceive the world (Sipka, 2019). The most important lesson about interacting and reaching out to people of a different culture is that all cultures are equal and essential.  Cultural groups example is one of the following: race, social class, religion, nationality, and many more. People from these cultural groups like to be understood and taken for who they are and believe. One needs to show appreciation for other people’s culture to gain their trust and grow the relationship (Tieskens et al., 2018). 

How were the unique needs and perceptions of the Haitian community reflected in the video? To what extent was the message sensitively conveyed or communicated to the community?

Annette believes that Haitian Women are immune from Cervical cancer. The belief of Annette could be just a representation of many people in the community that might be thinking that Cervical Cancer is made for a particular group of people. Gaspard represents a section of the Haitian people who believe that such vaccines as the HPV vaccine are not to be administrated to children. Gaspard thinks that if a child is given to his children, it would be like giving them the authority to become sexually active. The message on HPV vaccination has been shallowly communicated to the Haitian people. This fact has been demonstrated by the fact that Annette and Her husband believe that Haitian women are not subject to Cervical cancer and that children are not eligible for the HPV vaccine until they are of a certain age. The community has been depicted as one that has little information on the subject at hand. However, a section of the Haitian community is well informed on the HPV and is represented by Annette’s sister. She seems to know much about the vaccine and the HPV virus. It is her insight that convinces Gaspard to let her children get the HPV vaccine.

The need for HPV prevention cuts across groups and cultures. Choose a cultural group of interest and discuss how you would address the unique characteristics of that group in providing HPV prevention services? Try to choose a group that is different from the groups other students are discussing. As you share cultural perspectives, discuss common themes that emerge and the rich differences in approaches.

For years, HPV vaccination has been portrayed to suggest that it is meant for the feminine part of the community ((Sankaranarayanan et al., 2018). The whole HPV subject concerning men has been neglected because of an incomplete understanding of it. People do not understand that any sexually active being can get the HPV virus at some point in their life. HPV is the most common infection that is transmitted through sexual intercourse. HPV causes cancers, for example, Cervical cancer in ladies, penile disease in men, butt-centric malignant growth, and genital warts, yet the malignancies brought about by HPV are not common in men. Society has ignored that men are likewise helpless against the HPV infection. Even as HPV-related tumors are not common in men, Men with weak immunity are probably going to be influenced by the HPV disease. Those men that engage in anal sex are likewise liable to get anal cancer if the HPV contamination doesn’t disappear (Mboumba et al., 2018) 

Another HPV-related issue in this group of individuals is that there has not been invented test for HPV in men. Unlike in ladies where a Pap smear can be regulated to test, Anal pap for men is uncommon across the world. 

The best answer for this issue is proper education. Society needs to quit associating HPV with ladies only because each explicitly dynamic individual is vulnerable to HPV contamination. Men need to comprehend that regardless of whether the repercussion of HPV is uncommon in men, they need to get vaccinated for the sake of their partners. It is time for the HPV in men subject to be standardized and talked about (Wang et al., 2021).

Mboumba Bouassa, R. S., Mbeko Simaleko, M., Camengo, S. P., Mossoro-Kpinde, C. D., Veyer, D., Matta, M., … & Belec, L. (2018). The unusual and unique distribution of anal high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) among men who have sex with men living in the Central African Republic. PLoS One, 13(5), e0197845.

Sankaranarayanan, R., Joshi, S., Muwonge, R., Esmy, P. O., Basu, P., Prabhu, P., … & Indian HPV vaccine study group. (2018). Can a single dose of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine prevent cervical cancer? Early findings from an Indian study. Vaccine, 36(32), 4783-4791.

Šipka, D. (2019). Lexical Layers of Identity: Words, Meaning, and Culture in the Slavic Languages. Cambridge University Press.

Tieskens, K. F., Van Zanten, B. T., Schulp, C. J., & Verburg, P. H. (2018). Aesthetic appreciation of the cultural landscape through social media: An analysis of revealed preference in the Dutch river landscape. Landscape and Urban Planning, 177, 128-137.