Question

1.Briefly discuss an emergent public health issue that has been recognized by public health officials as significantly impacting the health of the population in the past 5 years in the US. Be sure to include statistical disease epidemiology to support the significance of the issue.

2.Describe the significance of the role of the Public Health Information Officer in educating the public and stakeholders of the importance of the issue. Provide an example of a communication message on the issue, discussing the framing used (negative or positive spin)? How was the urgency of the issue conveyed?

3.Discuss the different mediums used in getting Public health education out to the public and compare it to how information was disseminated 20 years ago vs. today. List the pros and cons of both. i.e. social media vs. flyers etc.

Answer 1

1.Top Public Health Issues in USA

Some of the main health care issues facing America today include:

• Diabetes

Diabetes, causes abnormally high blood glucose levels, either type I (because the body does not produce insulin) or type II (the body does not produce enough insulin to function properly). Gestation Diabetes is also classified that affects pregnant women. Type 1 diabetes is considered genetic, while Type 2 diabetes is related to obesity, so type II can be prevented through proper diet and exercise. 25.7 million Americans (8.3% of whole population) have diabetes, which makes it a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes, blindness, kidney failure, limb amputation, it is also the seventh leading cause of death.

• Obesity

having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher is classified as Obesity, In 1990, every state had 15% or less residents who were obese; in 2000 49 states were above the 15 %; in 2010, every state in USA had at least 20 % obesity rate. 12 states went all above 30 percent, and as the number continues to rise, the cost of health care related to obesity soars, costing around $147 billion per year. Obese person has risk of development of heart disease, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, cancer and Type 2 diabetes. Some obesity might be genetics, but it is preventable through regular exercise and healthy diet choices.

• Heart Disease

Heart disease is the number one killer in America and world today, causing around 600,000 deaths (1 in 4) and $300 billion in cost each year. Major factors in the development of heart disease include high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking. Medical conditions such as diabetes, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, incorrect diet and alcoholism can induce heart diseases.

• Cancer

In the 2017 Annual Report to the Nation, it was revealed that cancer death rates have declined in the past 30 years. Yet, the rates of certain forms of cancers (the pancreas, liver, uterus, and brain) have persisted or increased. The exact cause of cancer has not identified, some measures of prevention can be taken, like limiting alcoholism, quitting smoking, using sunscreen, proper exercise and balanced diet, awareness against skin cancer and lung cancer has raised in recent years.

• Communicable Diseases

Not only chronic illness but communicable diseases can come without warning and preparation. In 2012, an outbreak of meningitis caused 720 cases and 48 deaths, West Nile Virus, which caused 243 deaths out of 5,387 cases. In 2015, the Zika virus emerged as a new threat to international travellers, between 2015-2017, the CDC reported over 5,000 cases of Zika. Since no vaccine for Zika exists, prevention is the best medicine in this case.

• Mental Illness

It should be regarded as serious as physical illness. Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the United States suffers from mental illness. Mental health problems contribute in other problems such as homelessness, substance abuse, gun violence and suicide.

2.There are a variety of roles to fill for public health officer such as case managers, directors or analysts. Public health workers specialize in a certain area like behavioural science, health education, biostatistics, epidemiology, medical scientists and global health.

Public health officers also have plenty of duties to do such as

• Advocate for patients and clients
• Planning rehabilitation care
• Coordinate patients discharge from health care facility
• Respond and manage environmental disasters or other crisis situations
• Collect and analyse data
• Plan, propose and conduct public health studies
• Provide individual or group counselling
• Raise awareness to patients or clients to assistance programs

Public health information officers and positive spin for AIDS awareness

In the early years, people living with HIV didn’t show up for treatment or even for detection. Now, Officers maintains a registry of thousands of patients and has been working with the AIDS Institute to find those patients who didn’t show up for the treatment and lost. When an HIV patient is found, officers helps getting them with primary care HIV specialists.

Labs reports, medications, meetings, procedures, diagnosis are recorded and maintained electronically as well as physically. Health data on millions of people has been maintained.

This is helping to identify HIV and AIDS patients. In USA, health departments are connecting data to identify and manage the care of patients with the help of public health officers and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

The agencies also monitor and spread the awareness in:

• Characteristics of out of care patients
• Alert to care entry.
• The number of patients retained.
• Sustained viral suppression.

This positive approach has also spread the awareness in public and the patients that were not showing up before, started their treatment. This has seen a surge in patients as well as treatment in recent years as compared to earlier years.

3.The most recent public health opinion poll identified in the United States (US) was completed over 20 years ago in 1996 by Louis Harris and Associates. The project revealed that majority of US citizens were not aware about public health services. The project findings are as following:

S.n.	Statement/awareness	Percentage (out of 1000 people)
1.	Well-being of public	36
2.	Did not know	12
3.	Government-provided health care system	11
4.	government-provided health care system for needy and elderly	9
5.	Proper definition	4

Nearly half of the US adult population has insufficient reading or computing knowledge, and one-third of adults need assistance with health terminology.

In the past the health information was provided by awareness advertisements on flyers or by making awareness videos, showing these kind of videos/advertisement during television shows and news as well as in the flights.

The advantage of conventional method such as flyers are as following

• Flyers are simple and easily read
• Flyers are cheap
• Easy to produce
• Face to face interaction

Disadvantage

• Flyers lack long term impact on people
• Flyers are simple, so many people don’t even read the information in the flyers, they just throw them away.

Present methods of delivering information

Public health surveillance process, in which a database is maintained, it can be used to trail the past, present and future status of the patients and also provides useful information such as epidemic information and management.

Social media, this is a new trend now a days sites like youtube, facebook, tweeter and linked In are being used for the mass communication throughout the globe. Some of the advantages and disadvantages are as following:

Advantages:

• Patients are online - In the US, there are more than 250 million people on Facebook and more on other platforms. Physicians can connect with patients and establish relationships online, build credibility and trust with the online community and other health care groups.
• Access to information – According to Survey, 80% of physicians use Internet browsers to access the latest diagnosis and treatment information. Facebook groups/diseases specific groups provide a sense of community and also are a good source of information and opinions.
• Cost-effective way to reach patients – it doesn’t cost anything to reach for help.

Disadvantages:

• You can’t control what’s said about you on social media. Which may sometimes discourage the patient.
• There is negligible to none Patient Privacy which violate HIPAA regulations.
• Social media requires commitment and continued efforts. It also proves to be costly sometimes as one has to maintain pages and support team.