Briefly describe the Public Health issue you selected and justify your selection

Briefly describe the Public Health issue you selected and justify your selection

In my Public Health Campaign, I chose the issue of drug abuse among the youths living in urban areas in America. I selected the issue of drug abuse because, in America, the problem is on the rise. Many people are involved in the use of drugs with the most abused drugs being nicotine, cocaine, heroin, and smoking cigarette. Doing Public Health Campaign on drug abuse will help me to educate the Americans on the dangers of using drugs (Elflein, 2019)

The use of drugs has many effects on the people using them and the society as well. The drug users are at a high risk of suffering health complications. The smokers of cigarette risk getting cancer. Addiction to drugs also hinders the normal functioning of the user. Therefore, many youths in America drop out of school because they can no longer handle their studies well. The society suffers increased crime rates because those who use drugs steal to get money to buy drugs.

Campaigning against the use of drugs will generally improve the lives of people living in America.

Identify the audience you wish to target

In this campaign, I will target the youths. The majority of the people using drugs in America are the youths. Therefore, reaching out to youths through my campaign will help them stop the habit.

Justify the target audience you selected

I selected the youths because they are the most affected group by drug abuse in America. I will conduct the campaign in places where these young people are found in large numbers like schools. The Chances are that youths are more likely to be influenced by using drugs than adults. This is because of the peer pressure among them in schools from friends and age mates. The platforms I will use in conducting the campaign will attract the youths more than adults. Most users of the internet are young people. They also tend to be more attracted to crusades and campaigns, therefore, being the most appropriate audience for the campaign.

Briefly describe and justify the theory in which you will use to support your campaign

In conducting the campaign, I will adopt the approach of the Health Belief Model. The theory will help me in conducting communication Campaigns evaluation to be able to come up with evaluations. By using this model, I will be able to know whether the targeted youth have any changes in their behavior after educating them on the risk of using the drugs. I will know if the messages placed on the media platforms can reach them and have an impact on their behavior. Though using this model, these youths will also be able to get skills that they need to avoid the behavior of using drugs. The model will help them realize the dangers of getting into the use of the drugs (Yanovitzy, 2003)

Explain the initial methods you plan to use to create your public health campaign and explain why you selected those methods

In creating the Public health campaign, I will use methods such as the use of media to pass information to the youths. I will use radios, television, the internet, newspapers, journals to give the information on the dangers of drug use among youths in the States. The use of social media is targeted to reach as many youths as possible. I will come up with programs on the televisions and radios that will help youths to know about the dangers of drug abuse. I will also give them a chance to give their views on what they think about the use of drugs through the same platforms. The youths are frequently using social media platforms, and that is why I chose the method. (A.Winsten, 1990)

I will also involve the role models to youths like celebrity musicians in conducting crusades on the Health issue. I will be visiting schools in urban areas in their accompaniment to reach out to the young people in these schools. The reason why I chose this method is that the youths are easily moved by music, and the use of their favorite musicians will get their attention to listen to the message I intend to deliver to them. Accompaniment of celebrities will attract so many young people to attend the campaigns and listen to the message. The youths are also willing to share their experiences will fellow youths so they will easily open up to the young musicians, and I will be able to know what affects them and how to help them.

Briefly describe your goals for implementing a public health campaign.

This campaign aims at creating awareness among the youths living in America on the dangers of drug abuse in their lives and the community. I want them to understand why it is bad to get addicted to using drugs, how drugs affect their health as well as their social behavior. This campaign will create a generation of young people who know all these dangers and will avoid using drugs.

This campaign also aims at reducing the chances of more youths being recruited into using drugs in the future. This will be achieved through frequently educating them on the dangers and encouraging the parents to be good role models to their children by showing them to live responsible lives without using drugs.

Another goal of this campaign is to lower the rates of crimes in American cities. This will be achieved when the youths stop using drugs and therefore stop committing the crimes they committed as a result of influence of the drugs.

This campaign also aims at helping the youths who are already addicting to abusing drugs overcome the addiction. It will provide solutions to these youths, like providing them with activities they can do when they are free to avoid using drugs due to idleness. I will also advise them to go to rehabilitation centers to overcome the addiction.