Human Health as a Vital Aspect of an Individuals Life - Essay Example

? The Role of Public Health in Health and Social Care al Affiliation Introduction Health is a significant aspect to all human beings. This research paper will focus on ways to prevent and control diseases. This study has three tasks the first task will focus to widen individual knowledge towards the understanding of the different approaches and strategies used to measure control and monitor the incidences of diseases in a community. The second task requires an individual to do an investigation on the implications of diseases and illnesses in communities for the provision of better health care services and improved social care services. The third and final task requires an individual to all the factors that influence the health and wellbeing of the people residing in London. Task 1 Task 1 section 1 Human health is a vital aspect of an individual’s life, and it is crucial to ensure that humans take the relevant measures in protecting themselves from diseases and infections. The World Health Organization is an international body that deals with human health, and it plays a crucial role in ensuring that the local communities get appropriate medical support in the prevention and control of diseases. Some of the role played by the Department of Health in identifying the levels of health in a population is to ensure that all the relevant rules and regulation that govern any health care go through the correct channels, and individuals abide to them to the later (Gask, 2009, p.123). The World Health Organization works to identify places that have high cases of disease infections and work towards the provision of care and adequate preventive measures. From the research undertaken, the community is able to understand that high levels of disease decrease the number of individuals in a population. This is because many individuals will suffer from diseases and die hence a decrease in population. Another role played by the department of health is to monitor the health situations of a community and offer solutions in cases of high disease infestation. The local authorities have a role to work hand in hand with the medical health providers in identifying the exact levels of health and diseases in a community. From the records on the Health care, the local authority can come up with an estimation of the health and disease levels. The world Health Organization may also donate funds to for the expansion of medical care facilities or donate machinery to facilitate faster diagnostic methods in the medical sector. Task 1 section 2 Statistics show that from the year 1986, the UK heath department provided funds to tackle the spread of the social behavioral factors associated with the spread of HIV. Years later, in 2003, the United Kingdom House of Commons identified a committee on health that was to oversee the work on reducing the cases of the human immunodeficiency virus. Statistic carried out by this committee indicated that HIV was spreading faster among the heterosexuals, and at least four out of every ten heterosexual was HIV positive (HIV 2010 p103). HIV epidemiology: age against number of years Further research also shows that with the use of the antiretroviral drugs, 80 percent of the infected individuals live a longer life. 90 percent of the HIV infected individuals suffer from cancer when in their final stages. This is because; the immune system is too weak to fight antigens. The most common type of cancer is the breast cancer, which is common women (Hunt, 2008 p98). Breast cancer incidence: age against Fig 2. Bar graph for cancer prevalence against age Task 1 section 3 Obesity is an abnormal amount of body fats, and it leads to other serious medical conditions such as high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, kidney complications, female infertility, prostate enlargement and heart diseases. Obesity needs to be controlled in order to ensure that individuals lead healthy lives. There are different approaches adapted by the National Health Service to control obesity in the United Kingdom (National Health Service trusts, 2009 p102). Prevention of obesity is in three main stages; Primary prevention Prevention entails actions to minimize future health hazards, which consists of factors such as economical, social and environmental. NHS has clearly stated the importance of individuals to exercise constantly. Any form of exercise such as swimming, cycling, and walking are vital tools in controlling obesity because it helps an individual in burning the body fats: thus increase the body metabolism. Exercising also helps to reduce stress and relax the body muscles; this in turn builds an individual’s self-esteem and promotes healthy living (Metcalf, & Metcalf, 2008 p67). Secondary prevention Interventions seek to delay the onset period of the disease by reduction of risks. The achievement is by altering the diet habits of individuals and exercise. Individuals should ensure that they take foods that contain low levels of cholesterol, fats and oils. Individuals should also avoid consumption of excessive carbohydrates. With high amounts of carbohydrates, the body mechanism will convert the carbohydrates to glycogen, which is stored as fats in the human body. The National Health Service with the help of the UK government has also put in place regulations require declaration of the amount of fats present in manufactured foods. This will ensure that its citizens consume food with the right amount of fats. Tertiary control At tertiary level, NHS utilizes pharmacological interventions. Currently, Orlistat and Sibutramine are available for the treatment of obesity. The two brands are available under prescription and are listed under the British National Formulary (Nice, 2004, p. 8). Interventions in this category also include formulation of policies such as the obesity strategy ‘Healthy weight, Healthy lives,’ which focuses on reducing obesity prevalence in children. Task 2 Task 2 section 1 Individuals in the United Kingdom spend a lot of money annually on medical service and yet they still suffer from illness. The UK therefore, adapted priorities for the prevention and control of diseases. The first priority is the preparation of health emergencies and bioterrorism attacks. This has made it easier for the country to deal with medical emergencies hence saving lives. Another priority for the prevention and control of risk factors and diseases is through the reduction of environmental threats (Meeks, Heit & Page, 2008 p76). Environmental threats like earthquakes and floods become a cause for the spread of diseases. With proper ways of handling such threats, the United Kingdom government is able to control diseases and other risks from occurring. With a large number of patients in the hospital, more people are able to get the best care from the doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners. Another important approach to the provision of better mental health services for the people of London is to ensure that mental hospitals are fully equipped with the relevant diagnostic machinery and medicine. This will assist individuals in London to get the best medical services. Graph of mental illness distribution against age and sex Fig 3. Plot of mentally disabled population distribution based on sex and age. From the chart above, population increases with age then becomes constant and starts to fall again. This is because when children are born, they have a weak immune system, and as they grow, they become stronger. When they become old, their immune system weakens again and eventually leads to death. Task 2 section 2 Gender does not affect mental illness distribution because both males and females are able to resist diseases at any given period. Mental illness is the leading cause of disability cases in the United Kingdom, and it is vital to understand that many individuals suffer from more than one type of mental disorder (Valfre, 2009 p145). The United Kingdom may be required to train more psychologists in order to assist the mentally challenged individuals. With more psychologists, individuals with mental challenges will be able to receive therapies that will reduce effects of their illnesses. When individual live in a peaceful environment, the recovery time reduces. Adults suffering from mental illness transfer into nursing homes to ensure that they get the best medical care from experienced medical practitioners. Another requirement in the United Kingdom in supporting persons with medical illness is to promote community support services. These include provision of basic needs and affordable medical fees. Task 2 section 3 Some key lifestyle choices can affect an individual’s risk to developing diseases. The leading causes of death in the United Kingdom, which are preventable, are obesity and smoking. When an individual chooses to avoid tobacco, they are choosing to lead a healthy lifestyle. This is because an individual is able to maintain a healthy body weight. Smoking damages almost all the vital body organs, causes many types of cancers, cardiovascular complications and eventually may lead to death. With a good lifestyle, individuals have no further need for social care services and live healthy (Freston, 2008 pg58). Another significance of making proper lifestyle choice is that individuals are able to keep fit and avoid obesity (Barbour, 2011 p 243). Constant exercise and proper diet are a key aspect towards the maintenance of a healthy lifestyle. Individuals suffering from any medical condition should ensure that they follow all the therapeutic procedures prescribed for recovery. When people follow all the stipulated recovery procedures, they will be able to speed up their recovery time, hence live a healthy lifestyle. When individuals practice inappropriate health lifestyles, there will be an utter need for more social and health care services. Individuals will have to undergo more medical tests and the health sector will have to expand in order to accommodate more individuals seeking medical services. Task 3 Task 3 section 1 The London health and wellbeing challenge event series comprised of four daily events held the moths of February and March of the year 2012. Numerous prominent individuals, such as the directors of public health, patient representatives and clinical commission group leaders attended this event with a common aim of promoting good health. The main aim of this event was to help health and wellbeing board in considering their developmental requirements, and to analyze the reasons for the existence of uncertainties. This event engaged the board to participate fully in the identification of developmental progress and problem solving. From the event, certain vital developmental requirements were identified. These would be incorporated into the action plan of board maintenance, whilst accepting the fact that the board development needs will vastly differ depending on the operating context, maturity and progress levels. The health and wellness events outline a wide program that a joint venture of the London council and the National Health Service. From the events, it is obvious that the people of London are serious about their health and wellbeing, and causes them to put their medical priorities above every other issue (Haslam & Witterst, 2009 p178). Task 3 section 2 The strategic policies and systems put in place to ensure the health and wellbeing of the residents of London are extremely effective due to a number of reasons. To begin with, the policies that govern individual’s health and maximum care from the health care providers has enabled individuals to have full trust in them. This has made the recovery process faster, and has built trust among the customers and the service providers (Knapp, 2007 p142). The customers are able interact with the doctors and nurses and get the right medical services. Another effective strategy is the promotion of good health through the provision of valuable tips on health matters. An individual is able to gain knowledge on the ways of controlling and preventing the spread of diseases. Individuals get the necessary emergency services and hotlines where they are able to make any inquiries about their health issues. Finally, the medical system that ensures that individual’s personal health records gets protection from the public. This ensures that the people living in London are free enough to discuss any of their medical issues with the relevant medical personnel without fear. This promotes proper coexistence among the doctors’ nurses and the patients’ thus promoting health and wellbeing. Task 3 section 3: Recommendations Though the health of people in London is good, some improvements would make the health care centers more efficient and effective to individuals. The first improvement is in line with the technology. London should adopt sophisticated technological methods to facilitate in the treatment and diagnosis of diseases. Another important improvement on health and wellbeing of the people of London would be to reduce medical fees among the low-income earners. This will ensure that individuals with low income can access quality medical services at fair costs (Smith & Puczko?, 2009 p87) The hospitals and other health care providers in London need expansion to accommodate more people for efficiency in offering services. This is because many individuals today contact preventable diseases because of the food that they eat, lack enough exercises due to high schedules at work and use of drugs. With the expansion of the health care sector, individuals will be able to receive medical services from well-qualified personnel. With the expansion of the health care centers, there will be a need for more medical personnel (Hirshaut & Pressman, 2008 p132). This is to ensure that patients receive proper services, and these services are of a high quality. With all these improvements, individuals in London will leave healthy. Task 3 section 4 The smoking cessation program is a quit for life program that treats tobacco users because it has distinct schedules that give each individual exceptional treatment in the fight against smoking. Smoking is harmful to almost every part of the human anatomy and causes diseases hence generally affecting the smoker (Smith & Taylor, 2006 p 101). Quitting smoking proves to be an exceedingly hard task, but it is crucial for an individual to understand that when they quit, it is for their personal benefits and those of their loved ones. This program encourages those in London to adopt proper ways in quitting smoking. When the correct channels are followed, an individual is unable to return to smoking after they have quit. This program has laid out procedures to be followed, throughout the process of cessation. An individual gets smoking cessation drugs, which are drugs are nicotine free, but work on the brain and manage all the possible withdrawal symptoms and craving thus reducing an individual’s urge to smoke. Depending on the dependency of an individual, some people do not undergo treatment using the nicotine replacement therapy, but they get nicotine gums. Such patients are those that have no high addiction problems. The discussion above has enough evidence that indicates the effectiveness of the smoking cessation program (Prasad, & Whitney, 2005 p 160). Conclusion It is essential to accept the knowledge and understanding of the different approaches, policies and strategies towards preventing, controlling and monitoring diseases in a community. Adequate knowledge has helped to improve on the medical issues affecting the residence of London. Proper social care services and improved health care services are the two key issues in combating illness and promoting health and wellbeing. When individuals understand both the internal and external changes that affect the health and well-being of individuals, they will be able to practice proper health lifestyles in order to control and prevent diseases. Reference Barbour, S 2011 Obesity. Greenhaven Press, farmington Hills, MI. Freston, K 2008, Quantum wellness: a practical and spiritual guide to health and happiness, Weinstein Books, New York. Gask, L 2009, Primary care mental health, RCPsych Publications, London HIV, 2010, International Labour Office, Geneva. Haslam, D. W, & Witterst, G 2009, Obesity, Health Press, Abingdon. Hirshaut, Y, & Pressman, P. I 2008, Breast cancer: The Complete Guide (5th ed., Bantam 5th trade pbk. ed.) Bantam Books, New York. Hunt, K. K 2008, Breast cancer (2nd ed.) Springer, New York. Knapp, M 2007, Mental health policy and practice across Europe the future direction of mental health care, Open University Press, Maidenhead, Berkshire. Meeks, L. 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