Public Health International Perspectives - Essay Example

? Public Health International Perspectives The distinctions between curative and preventive medicine began at the beginning of AD as captured in a number of Greek mythologies. The emergence of general health threats to the community resulted into the creation of the community health area in major republics across the world. Public health is the planned determinations by the respective bodies and societies to keep people healthy and prevent any injuries, illnesses or premature death. Public health has grown tremendously both in funding and government involvement. This is attributed to the high levels of epidemic disease outbreak and the wide spread of contagious diseases. The foundation of public health as advanced by the Canadian government and societies agitate for a healthy society and its people; under the Ottawa charter for health promotion, health promotion is defined as the continuous effort to achieve health for the society. This effort supersedes the basic desires of making health information available to the public, and involves the empowerment of citizens to control their health and to work towards improving their health. In the promotion of public health, the Canadian government has ensured continuous focus on the entire population and sub-populations that may share health problem or concerns. This is based under the ‘population of interest’ and the ‘population at risk’ policy (Taske et al, 2005). In the implementation of the public health promotion program, the Canadian government has established bodies that conduct annual and regular assessments of the health status of the entire population. This is carried out through a community health assessment process facilitated by community health organizations and workers. Public health also has major determinants that must consider in any program that seeks to promote and raise the standards of public health. The public health agency of Canada has a broad classification of health determinants that provides guidance to any process that seeks to uplift the health of the population. The health contributing factors include the income and social status of the population and the presence of social support networks; in addition, education and literacy level of the population are parameters of public health. The social environment, employment status, physical environment and personal health practices are also important health determinants that shape any public health promotion program in the country (Hills, 2004). Primary prevention of new infections is an important public health variable that must also be considered before initiating any health promotion programs. This is well defined and coordinated in Canada under the public health promotion acts. In primary prevention, the source of the infection is dealt with well before any threat of infection is reported. This prevents any infection from occurring and helps in the reduction of health and social inequalities in the society. The development of public health across the world was a continual process that was facilitated majorly by the high level of new diseases that were affecting the entire population. Diseases such as tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS and a number of other highly contagious diseases necessitated the intervention of different governments. The development of public health in Canada occurred in a well coordinated and progressive manner necessitated again by the high emergence of new infections and endemics. The country today has legal bodies that are mandated to ensure the promotion health and the prevention of diseases (ACPHHS, 2005). The country has a number of measures that it has adopted over the years to ensure public health promotion and development in the country. To achieve the mandates set forward for these institutions, the public health sectors of Canada have also initiated a number of partnership programs aimed towards ensuring the high cost of maintaining a healthy society and country is shared. The major players in the implementation of the public health policies in Canada include the public health professionals in the country, non governmental agencies, local organizations and the business society. This has made it possible for the country to formulate sound and logical health policies that has been lauded by various organizations including the world health organization (DHHS, 2010). The development of population health in the country has also been highly coordinated with support from the government departments. In the Canada, the development of the population template has been applauded as a key step towards ensuring a healthy country. This is a strategic approach that Canadian public health authority has adopted towards health promotion in the country, and this template was developed to ensure the development of populace health in the country. The policy provides the necessary guidelines for the implementation of population health approaches and the framework for mobilization of actions (Honore and Scott, 2010). In implementing this policy, the Canadian government has identified crucial elements that act as the guiding principles to its success; first, the population health template provides the background for the public health of the residents. It therefore provides the necessary guidelines on how health matters and issues arising from the implementation of population health policies are concerned. The template also seeks to provide directions for the health determinants and how these determinants interact; thus, investment and increase of allocation of funds to the public health sector is also outlined in the template. This will ensure that the departments are capable of meeting the financial obligations and requirements in ensuring a healthy public (Vancouver coastal health, 2006). The Canadian government and health department has adopted a number of programs that are geared towards improving the quality of public health in the country. The success of any health program in a country like Canada lies in the level of coordination and devolution of the roles and services. Canada, a federal country has not only devolved power but instruments of improving the quality of health in the country. In order to promote public health and increase access to the health services by the citizens, Canada through legislative measures, has devolved the provision of health services to the provincial and county governments. This has led to the creation and development and maintenance of hospitals, asylum centres, and quarantine areas in the cases of an epidemic and the marine hospitals in the provinces (The institute of medicine, 2002). Through this devolution of health service provision, the government has ensured that the country has continuous and periodical health assessment in the provinces to enable them collect appropriate epidemiological information. Such information is essential in the government’s disaster preparedness and response in case of an outbreak. The continuous health surveillance conducted by the local units in the country has also enabled the Canadian government to maintain a health register and mapping of outbreak prone regions in the country. The government through the local devolved units also collects a register of cancer and other chronic disease prevalence. This assists the government in national planning and revenue allocations for the public health sector Rootman and Deborah, 2008). The management of diseases under the public health act of Canada also provides enough powers to the devolved units to collect and submit periodically detailed reports on the prevalence of communicable diseases in the country. Communicable diseases form an important part of public health as defined by the world health organization; hence, it requires government preparedness and the acquisition of epidemiological information on the prevalence. The mapping of the red zones of communicable diseases enable the public health sector of Canada to lay out effective mechanisms of dealing with an possible outbreak in the country (American public health association, 2009). According to the Canadian public health association (2010), the promotion of health within the country cannot be a mandate of the government alone. This is a fact that the Canadian government highly value. As a result, the devolved units of health in the country have been given the mandate to partner with local organizations and community groupings to help in public health promotion. Community organizations and groupings have beneficial information on the health patterns within the locals. As a result, essential information can only come through the partnership with such organization (Green, 2008). The Canadian government has formed inter-sectoral community partnerships with such community-based groups to help promote health and solve the pertinent arising health issues. The civil society and advocacy groups within the federal units in Canada have also been included in the carrying out of health promotion programs in the country. These groups assist the government through their public health professional members, to draft essential policy papers that are important in the promotion of public health. The advocacy groups also coordinate local activities in the country to help sensitize the general population on the importance of a healthy public. The need for access roads and paths that can assist the health personnel in case of an outbreak cannot be over emphasized. The Canadian government has however devised mechanisms to ensure that no part of the country is inaccessible. Therefore, Bike paths have been created and are continuously maintained in the remote parts of the country. The continuous inspection of public recreation centre is also protected by the Canadian public health act. This ensures that the government continuously monitors the level of hygiene and sanitations in areas mostly frequented by the public. Authorities in Canada regularly inspect restaurants operating in country to ascertain if they follow the laid down procedures. This helps the government ascertain the level of compliance to public health requirements by the facilities. Communicable outbreaks and other food borne diseases are mostly spread within restaurants that ignore the basic requirements of public health. The government of Canada, through its public health promotion program, has a continuous facility inspection for restaurants and food joints in the country (Vancouver coastal health, 2006). In the spirit of collaboration and inclusion, the government of Canada has also involved other professional groups that have closer access to the societies in the course of promoting public health. As a result, more community health nurses have been equipped with necessary skills to enable the government collect essential information that will enable them makes informed decisions. As a result, the community health nurses have been assigned the role of ensuring that they encourage the adoption of good health beliefs, attitudes and behaviours that upholds and contributes positively to the overall health of the population. This has been made possible through the implementation of public policy and public participation in all programs coordinated by the federal units of governance (Rootman, 2012). In public health promotion, provision of education to the public is an important and essential part, and this is an aspect that the Canadian government has identified and formulated policies to support. As a result, in its health promotion strategy, the Canadian government and the federal health policy formulators have engaged community health workers in providing health education to the public. This involves provision of skill building seminars and education programs that encourages the adoption of clean and healthy health practices within the community and society as a whole (Kiefer, 2003). Public health promotion in any country can only be successful if the citizens are given the appropriate health literacy skills and knowledge. The Canadian government, in collaboration with the health institutions has initiated a health literacy program to help facilitate its health promotion program. Appropriate health education programs provide citizens with the tools and skills to enable then obtain and use health information for their betterment. This is beneficial to families, communities and the entire society as it enables positive interaction and the gaining of important information that upholds the health standards and living of its citizens (Chomik, 2001). The health literacy program provides opportunities to the national, territorial and aboriginal governments with enough educational tools to support its public health promotion program. Inequality in health literacy can also negate the gains made in improving public health in Canada. As a result, the collaborative efforts by the Canadian government ensures that the country uphold access of information provisions to its citizens (Council on Education for Public Health, 2002). The promotion of public health requires the government’s contribution through a number of avenues, and these include logistical interventions, which this paper has been covering, and financial facilitation. The rolling out of any promotional program by the government or any other health professional body requires high amount of money. The Canadian government has facilitated and emphasized public health promotion programs by ensuring enough financial allocations. Public health programs account for over 6% of the Canadian national expenditure. The provision of financial support to public health promotion programs have continued to demonstrate the Canadian government commitment to the promotion of public health and maintaining a healthy population. The high revenue allocation to public health management and promotion is highly justified. A more informed society is safer than an ignorant society, therefore it is important for any government to ensure that policies that promote preventive measure are implemented. The Canadian society has different demographic and population characteristics when compared to the United Kingdom or the United States. This makes it obvious that the approaches implemented by the two governments in promoting public health differ significantly. The United States has a larger population with diverse social-cultural and ethnic population, whereby the per capita income and the net revenue and expenditure of the United States government vary from that of Canada significantly. According to the United States constitution, the health responsibilities are given to the state governments as opposed to the national government as is the case in Canada. The US health department and human services is responsible for the overall health related program in the entire country, while public health promotion and the centre for disease control and prevention that operates under DHHS coordinates mitigation measures. As the institution mandated to develop sound public health policy, the centre for disease control and prevention has continued to conduct surveys across the country on the epidemiological history of the different states. The agency also oversees the public health programs developed in the states of the country, and this ensures that despite the large population and the health autonomy granted to each and every state, the country can still adopt a uniform public health policy. CDC is therefore funded by the federal government and supervised by the secretary of PHS (Academy health, 2009). In ensuring that the country is mapped and major potential red zones are listed, the CDC conducts surveillance and investigation of outbreaks and other communicable diseases across the country. Such information provides the government with enough data that can guide their response to epidemiological disaster in the country. In promoting and developing public health infrastructure systems, the United States government has formed a number of public health statutory bodies that are distinct from the Canadian system. This is majorly due to the variations in the threats that face the two countries from time to time. The national public health standard program ensures the development of capacity and standards upon which performance is measured. The body also provides financial grants to states and communal based public health formations. As a result, the CDC has a de facto mandate to oversee public health policies in the different states. This is not binding but is the situation due to the massive influence it has on the bodies (Lewin, 2004). The health alert network also maintains communication systems in the country; this is important due to the large population of the country. A mechanism that ensures prompt communication is important in a country with such a large demographic and ethno-social diversity. The surveillance system of the infectious diseases, their prevalence and outbreaks are however similar with Canada. The centre for disease control carries out a crucial advisory role in the management of occurrences of infectious and communicable diseases. It also maintains highly equipped laboratories that are capable to mount high-level response against any infectious disease like the H1N1 flu (National advisory committee on SARS and public health, 2003). At the frontier in promoting, the improvement of public health in the United States is the American public health association; the association has ensured that the country formulate and adopt policies that encourage public participation in public health improvement and promotion. According to APHA, the war on diseases and epidemiological outbreaks can only be won if it is fought from both the public and government fronts. As an organization that offers accreditation and certification to public health graduates, APHA has adopted policies that ensure enough public health professionals in the country (Frank, 2003). The recent formation of the national health system by the government demonstrates its commitment to ensuring public health. The agency formulates and adopts policies that ensure the promotion of good health and emergency planning in the country. Research and management of recent threats to public health are also within the mandate of the agency. The agency also provides financial support to systematic reviews and studies that gathers population information and evidence of any communicable diseases. The agency has a major interest in the promotion of public health and the adoption of polices that ensure immediate government response to health disasters and disease outbreaks. Despite the tremendous growth and effort that the Canadian government has put in place to ensure that the public health policy in the country protects its citizens, a lot still needs to be done to improve public health in the country. The promotion of population health practices across the major federal units is highly essential. In doing this, community based units should be involved in almost the stages to ensure high-level awareness among the citizens. Any approach take the government to promote population health must appreciate the inputs of the community and their participation in the entire process. Groups like the Vancouver coastal health should be given enough powers to formulate government policies on public health improvement and promotion (Jones, 2001). Population health is an integral element of public health since a healthy population translates into a healthy public; as a result, there is need for the country to initiate population health promotion programs if they intend to improve their population health. Vancouver coastal health report (2006) stated that investing in population health promotion has a great ability to improve the health of citizens of a country; it can also ensure that our health system is highly sustainable to the economy. Promotion of population health requires a great, committed and resourceful leadership for it to achieve its objectives. Population health promotion and improvement with the aim of improving the public health of the Canadian country requires an approach that is both involving and consultative. As a result, members of the community and different professional groups involved with the promotion of public health are essential. Efforts that are geared towards improving and promoting population health will improve the public health of the country. With evolving technology and the emergence of new threats, the development of enough technological capability to tackle emerging public health threats is essential. Today, threats are not only restricted to infectious pathogens like the H1N1 or just the SARS epidemic but artificial threats like bioterrorism. An approach that integrates new technology and is aware of the new threats is essential in the preventions of the threats to the public (Centre for law and the public’s health, 2004). Health research that focuses on the new and emerging threats to the public will also improve the country’s preparedness towards current and emerging public threats. Research is the core to innovation in any sector of the economy and public health cannot obviously be ignored. The country must therefore develop enough frameworks that will ensure that the public is not just protected from the common epidemics but the emerging strains of threats (Frank, 2003). Public health also requires a different approach to treatment that is different from other health practices. There is need for developing a health system that focuses more on community based health care as opposed to individual based. This will ensure that the public health agencies collect important information on the health trends of the population. This is also important in cases where the government needs crucial epidemiological information that can facilitate its health planning. A public healthcare system that is both responsive to a patient and the urgent needs of the family is beneficial in the study of communicable diseases. The adoption of this approach will improve the government data collection process and improve its ability to respond to an outbreak of communicable diseases (Hayes, 2011). The adoption of satellite based information system is highly important in the collection of demographic information and data. The Canadian government should therefore upgrade its epidemiological data collection strategies that will enable it gain important migratory information. Infectious and communicable diseases like H1N1 are highly infectious and the ability to restrict movement and quarantine infected individuals will help in its control. The ability to act immediately and respond to such an epidemic depends on the availability of data on the migration of the population. A committee established the government of Canada to review ways of improving health care recommended the adoption of health information system that integrates different points of care. Improving aboriginal and northern health of the Canadian population is also an important step towards improving and promoting the public health care of the country. The efforts of the government have indicated its commitment towards equipping and developing the federal health units. More needs to be done to ensure that even the territorial governments are capable of mounting an immediate response in case of a health threat. The creation of public health networks and expert groups is another approach towards improving public health access. The creation of these groups alone cannot promote and improve the health of the public. As a result, the government’s intervention is needed to ensure that such groups are given clear mandates and responsibilities on how they can assist in improving health care access to the public. The formulation of policies alone cannot protect and increase access to public health. The organizations mandated with important policy formulation must also have the powers to implement and conduct follow-ups on them. A taskforce that was created by the Canadian government to create clear guidelines on the roles of the agencies and professional bodies made a number of recommendations. The committee appreciated the need to include professional public health experts in the decision-making and follow-up of government programs on public health. Focus groups should also be involved in every stage of public health infrastructure and program development to ensure effective implementation (Frank, 2003). The development of public health improvement frameworks also requires the legislations of laws that make it possible for all stakeholders to work together for a common goal. Through legislations, the government identifies critical mandates of lobby groups, professional agencies and the society in public health mitigation. The legislation of the Quebec’s public health act identified the functions and powers of different groups during healthcare emergencies. This act is important in the identification of the collaborative framework of all the public health stakeholders during a national outbreak. Outbreaks are characterized by panic and a prior law that regulates how coordination is done is important to reduce confusion (Canadian public health association, 2010). The growth of alternative response capability is also essential in the growth of sound public health improvement framework, as with other emergencies around us, epidemiological outbreaks like contagious diseases results into panic among members of a country. Lack of a clear disaster framework can lead to congestions and more disease prevalence. A country with a population like Canada must therefore invest in more emergency response and surge capacity. Emergency preparedness involves a lot of planning, training and continuous exercising for it to be effective, the development of a national emergency management system in the country is a great step forward but there is need for the agency to be equipped with the necessary tools to improve its disaster preparedness and response. In the United States, lack of proper coordination and communication protocols within the centre for disease control has been highlighted as the major weaknesses. The centre must therefore employ a wide pool of professionals that will ensure effective communication and coordination of activities especially during an emergency. Journalists, marketers, health education professionals and anthropologist should therefore be recruited by the centre to enable it enhance its health promotion programs. Federal states are empowered with the provision of health services in the United States; however, the federal government has an overall role in overseeing the implementation of public health programs. Empowering the state based agencies will provide the country with a mechanism that can ensure immediate and first response. As the units closer with the people, the state agencies are in a better position to collect statistical information that can be used by the central government in planning for disaster preparedness (Hofrichter, 2006). Local and community based non-governmental agencies can also be engaged in improving public awareness and response. Lack of proper education on how to respond to a public outbreak has resulted into more infections as the public are subjected to panic. The community and society based organizations are in a better positions to create public awareness among members of the public. The central government cannot on its own accomplish this responsibility without engaging the nongovernmental organizations. Professional bodies and public health agencies in the state have information on the public health of the state, since they handle cases within the county, they understand the prevalence rate within the states and such information can be used in planning for any emergence of contagious strains. The demographic characteristics of the country also require an integrative approach towards public health improvement. Different states have different population characteristics that should be made available to the state and federal government public health departments (Canadian Population Health Institute, 2004).The United States is considered as one of the most advance countries in health research. However, pre-emptive research is important in the development of new ways of addressing emerging threats to the public. As one of the most target countries by terrorists, the United States is exposed to bio-weapons, which can cause mass destruction to the public health. The development of new tools that can identify biological threats to the country is essential. As a defence tactic, a country with such resources has the ability to identify any new strain of virus or other microbial weapons that can be engineered by terrorists. Response to bioterrorism is a major concern among public health formulators in the country. Most of the times, news of bioterrorism is received by panic, mass and interruptive movements and factorial spread of the disease. These are therefore need for the creation of public awareness in the country to help reduce levels of contingency of disease outbreaks. Public health is the role of every individual in our society, and improving our public health system is an important step towards ensuring the development of a disease free and healthy country. Canada and the United States have made tremendous steps towards improving the public health of its citizens. However, more must be done on order to address more and emerging threats to the public. The United States is considered as one of the leading nations in its healthcare systems; however, outbreaks and epidemics know no perfection. More and more must still be done to improve the health of the American citizens, and research must be based on merging threats that face the public and how they can be arrested before they cause more damage and further devastation. References Academy health, 2009, quality improvement in public health: lessons learned from the multiple-state learning collaborative, Ottawa. ACPHHS, 2005, improving public health system infrastructure in Canada: report of the strengthening public health system infrastructure task group, Ottawa: public health agency of Canada. American public health association, 2009, quality improvement in public health: it works, Washington DC. Canadian Population Health Institute, 2004, Improving the health of Canadians, Ottawa: Canadian Institute for Health Information. Canadian public health association, 2010, public health community health nursing practice in Canada: roles and activities, Ottawa. Center for law and the public’s health, 2004, model public health laws. 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