Overall Goals of Public Health - Essay Example

The overall goals and objectives of public health are to ensure that all individuals access proper health care. Heath care, in this context, entails proper health care in terms of proper diets, physical well being, as well as safe reproductive health. Overall, proper health care is the general well being of the individual’s health. Public health aims at reducing the risks of exposure to various diseases, therefore reduce the number of deaths globally. Public health also ensures that there is an increase in the understanding and responsiveness of the need to lead a healthy living.

On another angle, public health aims at developing and reinforcing national guiding principle on proper health care systems (US Department of Health and Human Services, 2010). Finally, public health confines its activities towards continuous research on efficient medical systems and services to its beneficiaries. Focus on the health status of populations Focus on health on population emphasizes the definition of health. Population health may be referred to as the health concerns of a population that are deliberated by the statuses of health indicators.

These health indicators may be influenced by social, economic, political, individual’s ability to access health care amongst others. Health Canada, Population and Public Health Branch, Policy Directorate (2001) indicates that population health is the focus on the overall factors that affect the health of individuals. Population health also focuses on the occurrence of variations in health care and the possible policies that may be applied to improve the health of individuals. In short, population health approach focuses on a general understanding of the health determinants, as compared to the medical approach.

Is increased public education sufficient to reduce childhood obesity? Public health has contributed positively to reducing obesity in children. Through mass education, many children have been seen to make healthy choices, especially through the contents of their diets. It is through public education, that parents are able to access nutritional fitness services for their children. Lobstein, Baur, Uauy (2004) argue that it is through mass education that many obese adolescents have been able to access proper health care through counseling services.

Obesity has been reduced through proper coverage by the media; consequently the creation of healthy lifestyle programs for obese individuals. If you had $3 trillion dollars to spend, how would you spend this money to best improve the health status of the public? With $3 trillion dollars, I would ensure that there is a functional public health service. First, I would monitor all health facilities; a factor that would reduce the majority of the health problems faced in the community. I would also generate a lot of funds to the investigation of health vulnerabilities and issues in the community.

With this, it would be extremely easy to design a working plan on how to deal with health issues. It is also important to educate the mass on the need to take charge of their health issues. A replica of this, by all individuals in the country, would mean that health issues are minimized in the country (Wanless, 2004). Campaigns on community programs on actions geared to proper health would contribute a great mile to the solving of health issues in the community.