Public Health Policies of Promoting Community Health Order Instructions: Creating new policies is one of the most effective means by which public health can accomplish its goal of promoting and protecting the health of communities.
Consider the lives that have been saved and the human suffering and resources that have been spared, through policies such as mandatory seat belt
use or restrictions on the advertisement and sale of tobacco.
When pursuing any public health aim, however, public health professionals need to be aware of the scope of their legal powers and duties. These legal powers depend on the kind of organization at which they work.
In this Application Assignment, you are required to write a 3- to 5-page paper in which you propose three new policies for preventing or mitigating a significant public health problem, such as injuries, obesity, or bioterrorism. For this assignment, assume you work for your state health department, and make sure the policies you propose are in line with public health powers and duties.
Begin by selecting a significant public health problem and reading at least three research articles on your selected health problem. Then, create three new policies that could be effective in preventing and/or mitigating the identified problem. You may propose policies that are similar to existing ones, but your policies should demonstrate original thinking around, and new solutions to, the public health problems.
In a 3- to 5-page paper:
•Begin by summarizing the legal and ethical basis for public health and health services. In other words, what grounds would you have in proposing any new policies? What would be the limits of your powers to do so?
•Identify a significant public health issue and propose three new policies to address this issue. Explain how each policy would lead to positive change.
In addition, address the following questions in your paper:
•What is an ethical policy? Explain whether the policies you have created are ethical.
•What are the legal and ethical concerns that need to be addressed when implementing the policies?
Your paper must provide APA-formatted references for all resources you used and adhere to APA style and format.
Public Health Policies of Promoting Community Health References
Gostin, L.O. (2008). Public health law: Power, duty, restraint. (2nd ed.). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Public Health Policies of Promoting Community Health Sample Answer
Public Health Policies
The United States as a nation is faced with new health challenges each and every day (White, Stallones & Last, 2013). These challenges cannot be counteracted without going past the preoccupation that has currently been the order of the day when it comes to personal health care financing and biomedical research all of which have given rise to a system of public health and medical care that is designed for a different era. Some of the challenges have taken a global dimension, for example, the spread of such infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS, and also the bioterrorism threat (White, Stallones & Last, 2013). Other challenges are domestic and entail mental illness, violence, the ever-increasing cases of chronic diseases and disability, and substance abuse. The field of research has brought forth more information on an individual’s health behavior, work environment, socioeconomic factors, provision or omission of community support, and environmental toxins than was there before (White, Stallones & Last, 2013). Solving such problems will require that those actions are taken on those issues that have been least thought of as relating to health, which include housing, agriculture, education, and transport.
There is no any other country that spends as much as the US on healthcare. The results of this huge spending are however apparent neither on the satisfaction of Americans’ with the health care system in their country nor within their health. The results have been less satisfactory when it comes to such matters like infant survival, healthcare access and most specifically by the poor population, and the length and value of life. The United States has only managed to meet 15% of all the objectives as set by the Healthy People 2000 (White, Stallones & Last, 2013). Even if there have been significant advances towards achieving these objectives by 44%, Americans’ health has for sure worsened for about 20% of these objectives which include obesity, cigarette use by young adults and physical activity (White, Stallones & Last, 2013).
Personal healthcare is basically not the main impact on health and this has been the main reason why the nation has not been able to produce better health even with huge spending. Almost half of the premature mortality cases are related in one way or the other to the risky behaviors like alcohol abuse, poor diet, cigarette smoking, substance abuse and lack of constructive exercise. All of these are closely correlated to such factors like socioeconomic status, availability of communal support and education (Novick, Cynthia & Glen, 2008). It is for these reasons that such policies like no public smoking, every vehicle must be fitted with a fan for the solder fumes from the exhaust or use unleaded fuel and proper waste treatment before disposal policy.
Smokers should be smoking in designated places so that they do not affect the non-smokers (Novick, Cynthia & Glen, 2008). It has been established that the passive smokers suffer even more than the active smokers because the effects of tobacco on a passive smoker are more dangerous and numerous compared to those on the real smoker. This would help reduce the number of tobacco-related deaths per year since only those who actively smoke the cigarettes will be affected.
Leaded fuels, when burnt with auto engines, produces hazardous fumes which are very harmful to the health of human beings when inhaled (Wilson & Keelan, 2009). Overexposure to such fumes could end up causing serious, and most likely, long-lasting medical problems. Increased frequencies of these fumes in the man’s immediate environment result into such difficulties like eye irritation, sore throat, occupational asthma, nosebleed, dermatitis and even permanent damage to the lungs. The unleaded fuel or the solder fan fitted vehicles policy will help reduce such fumes in the environment and thus an improvement in the health system and hence improved health to individuals.
Most factories have been known to dispose of their wastes without considering the effects that such wastes will cause to the environment (Wilson & Keelan, 2009). The main sites for the disposition of waste materials are the water bodies including rivers and lakes. When the wastes are not properly treated before disposing of them, they will most likely affect water users downstream and this will put their health at risk. Because it would be unethical to refrain them from disposing of their wastes in such places, strict laws should be enacted to ensure that any factory should only deposit into any water body that which does not put human health at risk.
Ethical policy, a document that basically outlines the mode of interaction between members of an organization and how such members should interact with the customers they serve, is very important in any particular workplace (Wilson & Keelan, 2009). The policies above described are for sure ethical. Nonsmokers for instance often do not like the odor from the cigarette smoke. It would be ethical to keep them safe from such odors and their effects thereafter. Protecting people from the effect of the exhaust fumes is also humane and thus ethical. Ethics also demand that human health is given the first priority and protecting him from the adverse effects of the wastes from the factories would be of great ethics.
There are however some legal and ethical concerns that have to be addressed when implementing the above-stated policies. The legal concerns the rights and freedoms of the concerned parties as outlined in the constitution must be observed to the latter. Any violation of any of their rights will not be tolerated in any way and could even end up in a lawsuit. Ethics also demand that every individual in any particular society should be treated in the same manner and thus the smokers, the vehicle companies and the factory owners should not be discriminated against, but should instead be drawn into the fight towards achieving a healthy environment that will increase the life expectancy of the whole population.
Public Health Policies of Promoting Community Health References
Novick, L.F, Cynthia, B.M. & Glen, P.M. (2008). Public Health Administration: Principles for Population-Based Management. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Pub.
White, F., Stallones, L. & Last, J.M. (2013). Global Public Health: Ecological Foundations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wilson, K. & Keelan, J. (2009). Coping with public health 2.0. Canadian Medical Association Journal 180(10), 1080.
