What is public health?
GABRIELLE ELMES (497977) HEALTH + SOCIAL CARE (Level 3 Year 2) 11/11/2020
P1- Describe Key Aspects of Public Health Strategies
In this part of my assignment I will be describing Key aspects of Public Health
Strategies and what influences our health.
PUBLIC HEALTH- ‘’Is the science and art of protecting and improving the health of
people and their communities. This is done by promoting healthy lifestyles,
researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding
to infectious disease’’ (CDC)
The key aspects of public health strategies include:
-identifying health needs of a population
-monitoring the health status of the community
-developing programs to reduce risk and screen for early disease
-controlling communicable disease
-promoting health of the population
-planning and evaluating the national provision of health and social care at target
settings (does it need to be local or international)
Public health is concerned about Health as a whole/society and not so much the
individual. Varying cultures and communities have different health concerns. For
example, the health needs in Devon may vary from the health needs affecting
society in a crowded city like Portsmouth. Since some disease affects one place
more than the other, public health must take into account the health needs of their
community and stop the spread of communicable disease.
There are certain variables which affect our health such as our choice in food, our
peer group, the environment, personal choices, your lifestyle (are you eating well?
Are you getting enough sleep and keeping active?) Here are some more variables
which affect health:
1. Personal choice- The decisions we make everyday.
2. Hereditary- Genes can determine the health and inheritance of disease to an
individual
3. Environment- This includes both external (weather, housing) and internal
(organs, tissue)
4. Lifestyle- This is the way people decide to live. This includes habits like
smoking, drinking, binge eating etc.
, 5. Socio-economic conditions- This includes someone's education, nutrition,
income, employment and where you live.
a. Rich people can seek better health care than those who have a low income.
However, wealthy people may have desk jobs that do not require them to be
active meaning they can become prone to heart disease, diabetes or obesity.
b. Education helps the individual understand the reason we need to have a
clean environment, eat healthy food and stay active. This means those who
are more educated about these things are more likely to look after themselves
properly.
c. Without proper nutrition, it can stunt your growth and make you more
susceptible to infections.
KEY ASPECT : Public health strategy involves the monitoring of the health status of
a population. This will involve recording health summaries of the population of the
designated area. WHO will then be able to monitor specific problems in certain areas
and prevent and stop communicable disease. An example: Calderdale’s health
summary (recorded 2015) showed that hospital stays for alcohol abuse had risen
above national average
The World Health Organisation is concerned with public health. They will set norms
and standards for health as they help to monitor health situations in different areas
by assessing health trends and any information in regard to international population
health. From this WHO are then able to compare similarities and differences
between countries. For example right now they are monitoring trends in different
counties to see who has the highest COVID rates so they can put into place
preventative measures and early treatment.
Public health England produces a yearly health profile for all towns and cities. From
Halifaxe’s report (2015) it showed that there were public health issues involving
children in poverty, long term unemployment, alcohol related hospital stays, etc.
Monitoring health status of a community is important to identification of community
health problems that require immediate attention.
Example: Community health monitoring in adult care hospitals helps to identify the
problem of falls among the elderly population. Is there a health aspect of the
community that needs to be investigated to prevent this.
KEY ASPECT - An important part of public health involves identifying the health
needs of a population. Involved in this is identifying which services need to be
integrated and improved based on trends and patterns that have been established in
towns and cities. An example: Calderdale reports showed there was a need for more
staff to be integrated into services involved in helping those with alcohol problems in
, hospital. From this they also determined that to prevent alcoholism and alcohol
related hospital admissions, they need to start an alcoholic anonymous program as a
preventative program.
A health needs assessment (HNA) is essential. It is defined as the ‘systematic
method of identifying the unmet health and healthcare needs of a population’. HNA
allows the appropriate targeting of resources. It often involves working in partnership
with other agencies, communities and with the service user. It is a great opportunity
for stakeholders to be involved in service planning and increase ownership and
sustainability all together. HNA tends to focus on specific disease, population
groups, procedures or interventions.
(HNA) ‘’A health needs assessment is an essential tool to inform commissioning +
service planning and can be defined as a systematic method of identifying the unmet
health and healthcare needs of a population’’.
KEY ASPECT - Another key aspect to public health strategy is to develop
programmes to reduce risk and screen for disease early on. New programmes
should be installed in towns in need of a service (such as cervical screening) They
need to identify the places with people ‘at risk’ of certain disease and engage them in
participating in the local programme to get early diagnosis and treatment if needed.
For example: a doctor notices someone is at risk of developing kidney damage
because of their alcohol addiction so they are referred to a program supporting them
to quit.
Screening is a way to find out which people are at higher risk of a health problem,
this is so early treatment can be given to help them and information given for them to
make informed decisions.
There are certain programs available as a public health strategy to help get early
diagnosis or prevent the irreversible spread of some communicable diseases. For
example a smear test. This program has been developed to reduce risk by
provisioning early screening as a way to diagnose someone early and increase life
expectancy by providing early treatment. In accordance with GOV.UK (2019)
Women will be routinely invited to have a cervical screening test (smear test) This
test will be done to prevent cervical cancer and not to offer late diagnosis that is
untreatable. They remove some cells from the cervix and the cells are then
examined under a microscope, if there is any abnormality you will have early
treatment to stop spread and obliterate cancer cells.
KEY ASPECT - Public health strategy involves controlling communicable disease.
This is done as an attempt to reduce the impact of infectious disease through
immunizations and other control measures such as how we are handling the current
GABRIELLE ELMES (497977) HEALTH + SOCIAL CARE (Level 3 Year 2) 11/11/2020
P1- Describe Key Aspects of Public Health Strategies
In this part of my assignment I will be describing Key aspects of Public Health
Strategies and what influences our health.
PUBLIC HEALTH- ‘’Is the science and art of protecting and improving the health of
people and their communities. This is done by promoting healthy lifestyles,
researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding
to infectious disease’’ (CDC)
The key aspects of public health strategies include:
-identifying health needs of a population
-monitoring the health status of the community
-developing programs to reduce risk and screen for early disease
-controlling communicable disease
-promoting health of the population
-planning and evaluating the national provision of health and social care at target
settings (does it need to be local or international)
Public health is concerned about Health as a whole/society and not so much the
individual. Varying cultures and communities have different health concerns. For
example, the health needs in Devon may vary from the health needs affecting
society in a crowded city like Portsmouth. Since some disease affects one place
more than the other, public health must take into account the health needs of their
community and stop the spread of communicable disease.
There are certain variables which affect our health such as our choice in food, our
peer group, the environment, personal choices, your lifestyle (are you eating well?
Are you getting enough sleep and keeping active?) Here are some more variables
which affect health:
1. Personal choice- The decisions we make everyday.
2. Hereditary- Genes can determine the health and inheritance of disease to an
individual
3. Environment- This includes both external (weather, housing) and internal
(organs, tissue)
4. Lifestyle- This is the way people decide to live. This includes habits like
smoking, drinking, binge eating etc.
, 5. Socio-economic conditions- This includes someone's education, nutrition,
income, employment and where you live.
a. Rich people can seek better health care than those who have a low income.
However, wealthy people may have desk jobs that do not require them to be
active meaning they can become prone to heart disease, diabetes or obesity.
b. Education helps the individual understand the reason we need to have a
clean environment, eat healthy food and stay active. This means those who
are more educated about these things are more likely to look after themselves
properly.
c. Without proper nutrition, it can stunt your growth and make you more
susceptible to infections.
KEY ASPECT : Public health strategy involves the monitoring of the health status of
a population. This will involve recording health summaries of the population of the
designated area. WHO will then be able to monitor specific problems in certain areas
and prevent and stop communicable disease. An example: Calderdale’s health
summary (recorded 2015) showed that hospital stays for alcohol abuse had risen
above national average
The World Health Organisation is concerned with public health. They will set norms
and standards for health as they help to monitor health situations in different areas
by assessing health trends and any information in regard to international population
health. From this WHO are then able to compare similarities and differences
between countries. For example right now they are monitoring trends in different
counties to see who has the highest COVID rates so they can put into place
preventative measures and early treatment.
Public health England produces a yearly health profile for all towns and cities. From
Halifaxe’s report (2015) it showed that there were public health issues involving
children in poverty, long term unemployment, alcohol related hospital stays, etc.
Monitoring health status of a community is important to identification of community
health problems that require immediate attention.
Example: Community health monitoring in adult care hospitals helps to identify the
problem of falls among the elderly population. Is there a health aspect of the
community that needs to be investigated to prevent this.
KEY ASPECT - An important part of public health involves identifying the health
needs of a population. Involved in this is identifying which services need to be
integrated and improved based on trends and patterns that have been established in
towns and cities. An example: Calderdale reports showed there was a need for more
staff to be integrated into services involved in helping those with alcohol problems in
, hospital. From this they also determined that to prevent alcoholism and alcohol
related hospital admissions, they need to start an alcoholic anonymous program as a
preventative program.
A health needs assessment (HNA) is essential. It is defined as the ‘systematic
method of identifying the unmet health and healthcare needs of a population’. HNA
allows the appropriate targeting of resources. It often involves working in partnership
with other agencies, communities and with the service user. It is a great opportunity
for stakeholders to be involved in service planning and increase ownership and
sustainability all together. HNA tends to focus on specific disease, population
groups, procedures or interventions.
(HNA) ‘’A health needs assessment is an essential tool to inform commissioning +
service planning and can be defined as a systematic method of identifying the unmet
health and healthcare needs of a population’’.
KEY ASPECT - Another key aspect to public health strategy is to develop
programmes to reduce risk and screen for disease early on. New programmes
should be installed in towns in need of a service (such as cervical screening) They
need to identify the places with people ‘at risk’ of certain disease and engage them in
participating in the local programme to get early diagnosis and treatment if needed.
For example: a doctor notices someone is at risk of developing kidney damage
because of their alcohol addiction so they are referred to a program supporting them
to quit.
Screening is a way to find out which people are at higher risk of a health problem,
this is so early treatment can be given to help them and information given for them to
make informed decisions.
There are certain programs available as a public health strategy to help get early
diagnosis or prevent the irreversible spread of some communicable diseases. For
example a smear test. This program has been developed to reduce risk by
provisioning early screening as a way to diagnose someone early and increase life
expectancy by providing early treatment. In accordance with GOV.UK (2019)
Women will be routinely invited to have a cervical screening test (smear test) This
test will be done to prevent cervical cancer and not to offer late diagnosis that is
untreatable. They remove some cells from the cervix and the cells are then
examined under a microscope, if there is any abnormality you will have early
treatment to stop spread and obliterate cancer cells.
KEY ASPECT - Public health strategy involves controlling communicable disease.
This is done as an attempt to reduce the impact of infectious disease through
immunizations and other control measures such as how we are handling the current
