public health topics

public health topics

The Importance of Public Health Education

1. Introduction

The reason it is so difficult to promote the use of public health education is because of its downplayed role in comparison to treatment or other preventive measures, the potential loss of healthcare professionals in continuing to educate the average citizen, the fear that the average citizen will be alienated by healthcare professionals due to their lack of understanding in the complex jargon and concepts in healthcare, and a large portion of the population simply does not believe their health is at risk.

As the public continues to suffer from the lack of knowledge in keeping their bodies healthy, public health education has now become a potential need which is a multi-million dollar service and industry around the globe. However, it is not an easy task for healthcare professionals and the general populous to get the message that public health education is truly a worthy, cost-effective, and vital tool for improving the health of the nation.

The United States has been known as a healthcare superpower for more than a century. As the world’s richest nation, with the most costly healthcare system, this country continues to provide suboptimal healthcare services when compared to other developing nations. It is not hard to believe without knowing that two in three adults are obese, per capita food, alcohol, and tobacco consumption has increased by 80%, and 85% of US citizens/healthcare professionals are not well informed in public health education. This has all contributed to an increase in preventable diseases, medical errors, and high healthcare costs, all of which can be prevented using the knowledge, skills, and preventative measures learned from public health education.

2. Section One: Understanding Public Health

In a more advanced prospect, health is a capital to gain success. In fact, health determines the level of productivity and well-being of an individual, and it has an impact on social and economic development. The realization that health status will bring impact to various perspectives in the life of an individual enabled the conceptual change of the focus in health from merely preventing disease to an extensive handling to upkeep and maintain health status. This led to the conceptual definition of public health, and the effort to understand health deeper is the beginning of the journey of public health itself.

Health is not merely the objective of living, but it is the foundation of living. Without health, humans would not be able to fulfill their needs at various levels to survive. This includes basic needs like air, food, and fluids. When health status is threatened or an individual has some health problem or illness, it can lead to a failure in attempting to fulfill those needs and may cause harm or a threat to the survival of that individual.

In managing and maintaining health status, most of us might relate health to health care services, focusing on getting treatment or taking medications when we are not feeling well or when we have symptoms of illness. This action is related to medical treatment and is a process of doing something that only starts to act when there is an illness, and it is an effort to repair the problem of an illness.

The components that make up the general definition of health indicate that health is a complicated matter. It is not merely a conclusion from feeling well (free from pain and discomfort), and its extent is not as simple as not having symptoms of illness or dysfunction. This justifies the reason why it is too complex for most of us to understand how health is managed and what determines the health status of an individual.

The concept of health has been a familiar topic that has been well discussed in world history. There are abundant definitions and explanations behind health, but the vast majority of them are complex and well detailed. In a nutshell, health is defined as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease. This definition was publicized by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1948.

3. Section Two: Key Public Health Issues

3. The three health issues selected – Children’s Mental Health, Illiteracy, and STDs – will be discussed in this essay. – Children’s Mental Health is a very severe problem to look at. 10.5% of children and young people aged 5-16 suffer from a diagnosable emotional, behavioral, or mental health disorder, like depression, anxiety, or conduct disorder. It is believed that implementing prevention programs into schools is an effective method, as 70% of all mental health problems have their onset during childhood or adolescence. At the national level, the program may be fully implemented as many children are affected by this problem and there is a belief that it is solvable with a combination of treatment and prevention. It is a problem that most affects those in the lower socio-economic groups but is universal as mental disorders know no bounds. A set of time-phased objectives are easily measurable with the aid of questionnaires designed for children at different ages and their parents, to assess the severity of problems and any changes in trends towards positive mental health. The cost of these disorders is huge, with an estimated total annual cost of £1.5-£2.5 billion due to the employment of healthcare workers and a loss of earnings from parents taking time off work to look after affected children. The second problem voted for is Illiteracy, which is a problem on the minds of many public health professionals. It was debated that this problem and poverty are more national and global issues, but there is a high prevalence in the UK today. It is believed that the most effective method of prevention starts in the early years of a child’s education before any problems occur. It is an age-dependent issue that affects mainly younger children. An estimated time of around 10-15 years can complete a transfer from the present state of many children to a near 100% literacy goal. Time-phased objectives during this period are highly measurable using key stage-based exams and assessments. The cost of illiteracy is believed to be the cost of every child that does not achieve their potential in terms of qualifications or future jobs. On average, an estimated £250,000 per person is affected by the problem today. This high cost is a strong investment factor for all prevention schemes. Lastly, STDs were chosen and are a highly global issue that affects a wide range of ages and sexes. High prevalences of these diseases are discovered in a great number of sexually active adolescents and young adults. Today, there are many types of STD diseases, and they affect different people differently, in addition to a wide range of symptoms and severity. With this in mind, it is difficult to set precise measurements on how severe and what is affected most. However, the costs of treatment for these diseases are very high, ranging from medication for symptom relief or complete cures, and there are also high opportunity costs because of the young people affected not being able to continue education and/or jobs. Requirements of the program are highly effective methods of prevention and treatment that may vary among different diseases and different symptoms. Time phasing may also be difficult to set; however, a periodic assessment will be made to see any trends of specific diseases in different age groups and to compare these to the severity and symptoms of what is known today. The estimated duration of a complete program to rid all types of STDs is around 15-20 years with a huge cost in excess of billions saved on future generations from today.

2. Discuss Schedule – How severe the health problem is – How solvable the problem is – Who the problem most affects – Whether the timely and time-phased accomplishment of the objectives can be measured – The cost of the program

1. Introduction

4. Section Three: Strategies for Improving Public Health

Activity should be either aimed directly at a certain aspect of the determinants of the health under consideration or be with the intention of improving the capacity of a sector to take the public health approach or adding to advocacy and awareness of public sector organizations. This is because improved health outcomes are not usually the result of unintentional change.

It is very important that as many sectors as possible should take a public health approach to their work. Many health outcomes are influenced by factors not under the control of the health sector. If other sectors could be confident in their understanding of the public health approach, there would be less misunderstanding and resistance to health sector initiatives to have these other sectors adopt a public health approach to their own work. An activity in community development, welfare, education, or agriculture should consider whether it is a direct or indirect health promotion activity.

Although it is not the aim of this paper to provide a definitive guide on improving public health, some suggestions are offered for consideration. There are many activities that can be classified as public health. This paper has made the point that public health is multi-disciplinary. Any activity that is to improve the health outcomes of a population will involve the health sector and perhaps many other sectors. In all cases, the concepts of the public health approach should be considered and the relevant action is to be taken.

5. Conclusion

Public health education is of the utmost importance as it allows the population to know how to take care of themselves. This involves not only physical health, but also the health of the mind and the spirit. Health education aims to reduce the harmful effects of sickness and disease on a population. This being said, health education as a field has gained a larger following amongst students and the greater United States in general. Because of its interdisciplinary aspect, the field draws from such subject areas as communications, public relations, marketing, and science. The challenge for health education is to teach the science of what we know about how to improve health and to change societal norms to reflect that knowledge.

We also argue that public health education should be a central feature in global health, with learning institutions around the world offering health education curricula. The importance of health education also extends into policy and legislation development regarding health information and measures. We then examine health education as it relates to the media. In this section, we shift our focus from health care providers and policy makers to the general public. We feel that the media has an important role in health education, increasing public awareness of health issues and acting as an information source to both patients and health care providers. We conclude with an examination of health education in health care and health information. This final section has focused on why health education is important and what the various roles are of those involved with health education.