Public Health And Personal Health Essay

Submitted By AngieWaites
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Pages: 5
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Public Health and Personal Health
Public Health and Personal Health Health has many dimensions. Two of these dimensions are public health and personal health. Public health is defined by the Centers for Disease Control Foundation (2014) as “the science of protecting and improving the health of families and communities through promotion of healthy lifestyles, research for disease and injury prevention and detection and control of infectious diseases.” Public health is concentrated on providing protection against disease of entire populations. Populations can range in size from a small population to an entire country or world region. Policies and regulations are recommended by public health professionals to prevent illness and address reoccurring health issues by implementing educational programs on illness and prevention methods. Public policy also administers services and conduct research and promotes healthcare equity, quality, and accessibility (CDC Foundation, 2014). Public health differs from personal health in many ways. Public health involves taking care of a community as a whole, whereas personal health involves taking care of an individual’s health only. Public health officials and law makers implement rules and regulations that help to improve the health of a community, but physician’s and other healthcare workers treat individuals for a variety of illness. Public health incorporates programs to treat and educate the community on illnesses, but personal health involves physicians and healthcare workers educating and treating illnesses in individual patients (Harvard School of Public Health, 2014). To understand community needs, public health officials and policymakers conduct community health assessments. It helps the officials and policymakers identify the most important needs of the community. Understanding these needs help these professionals to make informed decisions on services and programs. Policymakers and other officials are able to prioritize health problems and to develop and implement community health improvement plans (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2011). Although public health assessments have many benefits in determining what policies and programs to implement, it does have their disadvantages. Public health assessments are usually done by surveys. These surveys are usually the opinion of the people who are filling out the surveys. Results may not be representative of everyone in the community. Complex issues are not explored in depth thought these types of assessments, and the complete opinion of the respondent may not be fully represented because of limited answer choices (North Carolina Government Public Health, 2012). The disadvantages can cause conflict within the community as a result of public health assessments. One of these conflict is the relationship between protecting and promoting the health of individuals and protecting and promoting the health of community. For instance, public policy may have to address how allocate resources and who will receive these services. If a pandemic flu breaks out in a community, officials have to determine the criteria for administering medications to those affected. Those who are able to pay are more likely to receive treatment. To help resolve these issues, prevention through vaccines can be given to those who are still healthy and at risk for contracting the flu and treat those who are ill and whose immune system is most compromised, such as those who have HIV or the elderly (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009). Public health assessments allow policymakers and public health officials to identify the health needs of a community. Through this identification, healthcare policies, such as No Smoking Bans, can be implemented for the health of the community. Other policies, such as allocation of funds and services can also be created because the policymakers and public health officials can prioritize the
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