california department of public health

california department of public health

Importance of Public Health in California

1. Overview of the California Department of Public Health

One major success of CDPH has been legislation to reduce the lead poisoning in California. Lead poisoning had been a major issue for decades in California with more than 360,000 children found to be affected by the year 1996. The implementation of preventative services, early medical intervention, and the development of more strict lead hazard standards had led to a significant decline in lead poisoning and a better prognosis for lead poisoned children. This program has reduced the amount of children found with dangerous levels of lead in their blood by more than 95% since 1991.

Among US state government public health programs, the vision of the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is to create a dynamic department which engages in health promotion; prevention of chronic diseases, injury and infectious diseases; and improvement of the health and preparedness of the people of California. The mission is to optimize the health and well-being of the people in California. This is to be achieved through a comprehensive approach in the prevention of chronic diseases to reduce the overall burden of these conditions among residents. This can include occupational health and worksite wellness programs to improve the health of employees. With a recent increase in obesity and diabetes in the state, the CDPH aims to educate the people of California on healthy nutrition and physical activity to reduce the trend of these conditions. High blood pressure and cholesterol can be reduced through these changes and will decrease heart disease in the state. All of these efforts will improve the productivity and quality of life in California by reducing the healthcare cost for these conditions and the amount of people disabled by chronic diseases. In order to accomplish these goals, the CDPH is currently focusing on five specific chronic disease initiatives.

California is currently experiencing a major shift in the demographics of its population. With the minority population projected to be the majority by the year 2010, there is an expected increase in the number of individuals from racial and ethnic minority groups. This demographic change in the population will result in a greater demand for preventive and long-term care. An increase in chronic diseases among the state’s population will necessitate public health programs to help educate the at-risk populations, providing them with the information needed to improve both short and long-term health.

2. Key Initiatives and Programs

One of the major programs put into place is the Environmental Health Program (EHP). This program is designed to reduce the public’s risk of chronic diseases by preventing and minimizing exposure to harmful environmental factors in air, water, food, and soil. By doing this, the overall health and life quality of the people will be improved, and there will be a reduction in healthcare costs for diseases triggered by environmental factors. This program focuses on the actual cause of chronic diseases and aims to take preventive measures by educating the public on what they can do to protect themselves and by creating policies with other organizations to reduce environmental hazards. This program has been successful by linking asthma to air pollution and reducing the amount of opportunity lead has to contaminate our food and drinking water.

These health improvement aims and objectives gave birth to several programs and initiatives that are aimed to serve the general public by improving their health and well-being. These were all developed and enacted to help the public live healthier, longer lives by making improvements to the quality of the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the environments where we live, work, and play. The key initiatives and programs are aimed to prevent acute and chronic diseases as well as to increase the overall health and quality of life for the people of California.

3. Promoting Health and Preventing Diseases

The ultimate outcome from the implementation of these programs would be the improved quality of life and years of healthy living added to the population. This, in turn, will lead to the desired reduction of healthcare costs in both the public and private sectors.

Through the identification of high-risk or vulnerable populations, the appropriate research can be done to make evidence-based recommendations and implement the necessary prevention and/or early detection programs. An example would be the immunization of adults and children with vaccines that have successfully reduced vaccine-preventable diseases to an all-time low.

Health promotion and chronic disease prevention programs often address healthy eating, physical activity, tobacco-free living, and safe or healthier living and working conditions. By encouraging the adoption of these healthy behaviors, the likelihood of getting a chronic disease can be reduced. Infectious diseases can be prevented by addressing risk factors and by having strategies in place to protect against getting the disease.

Promoting health and preventing disease are fundamental in public health. To improve and protect the health of the population, it is critical to gather information on what makes people sick or die and what can be done about it. This can be accomplished through the implementation of community and government-based health promotion and disease prevention programs. These programs seek to prevent people from getting sick and the occurrence of a disease or injury by identifying and weighing the evidence on what causes and what can prevent it.

4. Ensuring Access to Quality Healthcare

Access for Infants and Mothers Program (AIM) is a program that provides easier access to better health care for pregnant women in California. This program provides low-cost health insurance coverage to pregnant women who are not qualified for Medi-Cal nor can they buy private health care due to the high cost or being rejected due to their existing health conditions. The health care benefit that AIM provides is similar to the ones provided in the Medi-Cal program, and there is no cost for preventive care, but they might need to pay a share of cost or co-pay for services if they are under an insurance plan. This program can help reduce sorrow or depression felt by some pregnant women who can’t afford proper health care and increase the bond between mother and child since it is very essential for them to have a safe pregnancy and a healthy baby. With this program available for them, it can hopefully help decrease the infant death rate in California. This program is only open to those whose income is still slightly higher than the Medi-Cal income level.

Low Income Health Program (LIHP) is a program that is beneficial and helpful to those who are low income earners to get basic medical services. This program is open only to adult residents in California age 21 or older and who are not eligible for Medi-Cal or Medicare with an effective date of July 2011. LIHP provides benefits such as immunizations, routine medical checkups, prescription medications, family planning services, and lab tests. The qualification for LIHP is that they only accept adults who are not currently pregnant and are not receiving Medicare, and people qualify based on their income of 133 and 200 percent of the federal poverty level. This program allows them to get important medical services that they weren’t able to get before due to cost issues with a very low cost or none at all, so it’d be very helpful for this group of people. Although sometimes it’s quite hard for people or even participants to understand what the program is really about, the government must ensure that the information is distributed properly to this group of people so that they can use this program well and it’ll benefit them more.

5. Collaborating for a Healthy California

Theme: Collaborative efforts by private organizations and public health agencies are increasingly in line with the spirit of shared responsibility and mission integration recommended by the IOM. Emerging from this blending are diverse and creative initiatives to pool resources and expertise towards common goals of good health. Often these endeavors cross the traditional boundaries of the health sector. Some are formal, such as joint programs or research efforts; others involve new or expanded roles for one of the sectors. While many lack systematic evaluation, a few illustrate the potential power of strategic joint investment. For example, California’s multiyear, multisector Healthy Cities and Communities initiative has successfully engaged local political and community leadership in diverse efforts to make public policy and the community environment more supportive of healthy lifestyle choices and to build local infrastructures for better services.