Community and Public Health - Article Example

Website Review from Article review Part A a. The website: National http://www.nih.gov/index.html b. The type of information on the website: Health A-Z, Clinical Trials, visitor information, training at NIH, NIH at a glance, jobs at NIH, grants, news, research, award information and data, research funding, newsletters, plans for funding by institutes. c. The type of surveillance: various highlights made I the field of science, resource materials for research work such as journals, capacity building and training, different scientific groups with some common interests, intramural research, laboratories for conducting research as well as library catalogue. d. How the data changes over time: the use of pesticides has greatly improved eradication process of bedbugs. Hence, the number of affected persons and communities is continually going down with new methods of bedbug control being adopted. e. Two interventions that affect the issue: intensive research on bedbug control as well as increased community awareness through education forums. a. The website: National http://www.health.gov/ b. The type of information on the website: health communication, dietary guidelines, national health information centre, literacy on health and e-health and guidelines to physical activity. c. The type of surveillance: nutrition and fitness, pregnancy checks, public health and safety, prevention and screening of cancer. d. How the data changes over time: bed bug control is still a public health menace. There is slight improvement in bed bug infestation. e. Two interventions that affect the issue: cleaning up sites where bed bugs breed and learning how to control the pest well in advance before full attack. a. The website: State http://dch.georgia.gov/00/channel_title/0,2094,31446711_32021041,00.html b. The type of information on the website: health plan information, the state health benefit plan, Summary Plan Descriptions, post employment benefits. c. The type of surveillance: development of workforce, emergency preparedness, health improvement, customer service, continuity of operations and preparedness, public health and health care transformation. d. How the data changes over time: the menace caused by bed bugs in the state of Georgia is increasing by the day hence the need for speedy intervention. e. Two interventions that affect the issue: prevention and increasing public awareness. a. The website: State http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/ b. The type of information on the website: licenses and regulation, mental health and substance abuse, records on birth and mortality rates as well as divorce, data on health, prevention of diseases. c. The type of surveillance: preparing as well as getting repared for any threats to health, community health capacity building, improving the usage of healthcare information and data. d. How the data changes over time: significant drop in the number of the affected persons and communities e. Two interventions that affect the issue: early prevention continual use of pesticides. a. The website: local http://www.ohiochc.org/index.cfm b. The type of information on the website: how to locate a health center, public policy on health, how to join the group. c. The type of surveillance: expediting the growth of community health centers, seeking affordable medical care for all Ohio citizens. d. How the data changes over time: increasing incidents of bed bug infestation. e. Two interventions that affect the issue: use of pesticides and creating awareness. a. The website: local http://www.doh.state.fl.us/ b. The type of information on the website: public health, diseases and conditions, community partnerships, performance improvement, grant sources, emergency operations. c. The type of surveillance: team work, accountability, registration of birth dates, laboratory and immunization services. d. How the data changes over time: minimal change on bed bug data since it has been difficult tracking down the pest. e. Two interventions that affect the issue: alerting the community on health effects of bed bugs. Part B The Local government The structure of the local government in United Sates is largely based on the unique legislations adopted and applied by each state. Municipalities and counties characterize each of the 50 states as units of administration. Additionally, townships are also common in some states crafted from counties (Riegelman, 2010). Depending on the size and need of any given population, municipal governments have been set up to assist in running affairs at the municipal level where population density is an integral factor when allocating resources such as those to do with health care provision. On the other hand, municipal governments are not present within the level of a county where population size is still small. For instance, suburban and rural settings have relatively low populations and therefore do not demand municipal governments since the county authorities can easily facilitate service provision. Besides, special districts may also be set up to perform unique functions in some areas depending with the specific needs that are not common in other counties. Some of the services that special districts can provide include healthcare, provision of water resources as well as protection against incidents of fire. State governments The formation of state governments in United States is done by the members of the public who are also the citizens. They are small republics that are mandated to carry out specific functions for and on behalf of the national government (Colgrove et al., 2010). In addition, the state governments are formed in accordance with the provisions of the US legislation. Structurally, the state governments emulate the federal government. in other words, there are three levels of government that are considered to be independent and enjoy the separation of powers. These are the legislature, judiciary and executive. According to the latest amendments in the US constitutional document, the state government has the authority to exercise power that has not been granted to the national government by the constitution. Alternatively, the state government acts both as an intermediary and supplementary source of power especially on arising matters that are not distinct in the constitution. Federal government This is the overall governing authority of the United States of America as provide for in the country’s constitution. It plays the supervisory role of governing the 50 states alongside monitoring the performance of the state and local governments. It has three levels of government that work as a unit but sufficiently independent. The judiciary, executive and legislature form the three organs of the national or federal government. The federal legislature, also known as the Congress is mandated with the enactment of pieces of legislations that affect all the fifty states. Integration and overlap of roles In practice, the local and state governments are charged with the duty of providing healthcare services within the scope of their geographical coverage and jurisdiction (Stahl, 2004). For instance, they monitor health, carry out basic and conventional public health exercises such as surveillance of public sanitation alongside setting up measures for controlling infections. In addition, the provision of personal healthcare services such as Medicaid is the broad responsibility of both the state and local governments. Community and public health Community health forms an integral part of healthcare system in the US population today. As a grass-root level in healthcare, it forms the benchmark through which research in healthcare and medical care provision can be launched (Colgrove et al., 2010). Although community health has sometimes been misconstrued to mean primary healthcare provision per se, this may not be the case. It is a broad term that implies healthcare system, though proved at the community level, may be both primary and secondary care. It is self directed to the patient. In most cases, community-bases healthcare is provided by private practitioners. Citizens who have insurance cover from the private sector also fall under community healthcare system. In order to run a community-based healthcare system, funding is necessary since government input may not be easily forthcoming. Some of the sources of funding include privately sponsored donors, federal, state and local governments, as well as insurance coverage from either the public or private sector. There are quite a number of mechanisms that community-based health units can use to obtain government grants. One of such channels is through the well established programs that take care of te homeless people and Migrant Health Centers. The grants offered by the national government must meet certain threshold before they are released to support community healthcare system. As time passes by, community healthcare system has grown both in terms of popularity and coverage and so is the national government funding directed towards this scheme. By fact, community health centers have become integral in the provision of healthcare services especially to those who are less privileged financially. Moreover, citizens and non-residents who are not insured are also among the major beneficiaries of the scheme since they can obtain affordable medical care in these centers. While community health is patient-directed, public health covers both small and populations. It aims at disease prevention rather than cure of infections although both may be integrated in a bid to promote healthy living as part and parcel of lengthening lifespan (Colgrove et al., 2010). It makes use of population health analysis to monitor and investigate the various possible threats to health that the general public is exposed to. As already mentioned, the population covered when adventuring public health may range from just a few individuals to a whole region or continent. Hence, managing public health can be a tricky affair with geographical coverage and complexity in mind (Ross & Jennings, 2010). It is against this backdrop that it has been divided into several categories. For example, there are elements in public health that deal with the environment; others focus on biostatistics while another branch may deal with occupational health. References Colgrove, J., et al. (2010). Schools of public health: Essential infrastructure of a responsible society and a 21st-century health system. Public Health Reports, 125(1): 8-14. Riegelman, K.R. (2010). Public health 101: healthy people--healthy populations, London: Jones & Bartlett Publishers. Ross, L. & Jennings, S. (2010). Bed bugs: A public health problem in need of a collaborative solution. Journal of Environmental Health, 72(8): 34-35. Stahl, J.M. (2004). Community health status indicators, In Encyclopedia of health care management, London: Sage Publications.  Read More