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Public health is about helping individuals stay healthy by protecting them from possible threats to their health, this can be done through promoting medicine and nursing but before individuals get to the state of needing medicine, public health may put in place resources to improve their health and wellbeing and reduce the causes of ill health. This is done through the work put into these three domains which include health protection, health improvement, and healthcare public health. Health protection is related to protecting people’s health, this can be done by looking at the biological and environmental threats posed to individuals for example pollution has a massive impact on the health of individuals as long-term exposure to polluted air can have permanent health effects like asthma and possibly even cancer leading to lives being shortened. Therefore, to help combat the possibility of these conditions occurring for individuals due to high pollution levels, health protection may be put in place to preserve the health of the public. Health improvement aims to improve people’s health by helping and encouraging people to quit taking part in certain behaviors like smoking or helping to improve their living conditions that may be having an impact on their health. For example, if an individual sleeps in a damp and moldy room it can be extremely detrimental to their health as they could inhale mold fragments causing them to experience nasal congestion and wheezing which over time could lead to reduced lung function and chronic health problems like asthma. Healthcare public health works to ensure that health services are the most effective and efficient for individuals as well as equally accessible to ensure everyone who needs healthcare can get access to it.
Before getting further into public health now, it’s important to talk about the origins and aims of public health policy and how they contributed to the public health systems. World War II started in 1939 and ended in 1945, it had a massive impact on the public within the UK both during and after it ended which then led the government and other major political parties to become aware and concerned about the health of the public. There were serious injuries that had never been seen before and they were due to the bombing raids that happened during the war, people who had also fought in the war sustained these serious injuries. For these injuries, the people who could afford it had private health insurance that would help towards their medical bills but those who couldn’t afford to pay for a doctor or medicine had to go without proper medical help for their injuries. It was reported that approximately 450,700 civilians from the UK and in the military died during World War II. This highlights the many losses that the whole UK has taken, many had lost their families and there also may have been fewer people to fill job opportunities within the UK. This led to the Beveridge Report being published as the government had commissioned Sir William Beveridge to investigate how the country could recover from this war. Beveridge had experience with political affairs and was an expert on the problem of unemployment meaning he could give helpful ideas to help the UK government recover from the recent events. The report was published in 1942 and was welcomed by the public, it stated how the post-war period was a time for radical change and one recommendation given was that the government should find ways to fight disease. During World War II measles was a notifiable disease in both England and Wales, highlighting it as one of the diseases the Beveridge Report said to fight. Measles is a highly infectious viral disease that could lead to serious complications like pneumonia or encephalitis which is the inflammation of the brain. If an individual was to be infected by measles it would damage and suppress their whole immune system making this individual more likely to catch other infectious diseases. This effect can last for as much as 3 years after they’ve recovered from measles, this shows the importance of the government to tackle the disease to help protect the health of the public. Measles is spread through water droplets either by the coughing or sneezing of an infected person. In 1940, there was an epidemic of measles with approximately 400,000 cases that were reported showing how much of a serious illness it was at the time, especially as this epidemic was during WWII showing how it may have been negatively affecting the immune systems of the public along with health conditions that came because of the war. Every year people die because of infectious diseases like pneumonia, meningitis, tuberculosis, and polio which showed evidence that there was a need for healthcare within the UK. Although there had been numerous reports on improving healthcare between the First and Second World Wars nothing had been implemented until 1945. 1945 was the year that the new labour government took on the recommendations of the Beveridge report resulting in the National Health Service Act being passed in 1946 and coming into force in 1948. On July 5th, 1948 the NHS was introduced to ensure that people in the UK would receive free healthcare no matter their income, it was the first health service of its kind in the world. For the NHS to provide free healthcare for everyone it means that it would be completely financed by tax (national insurance), benefiting every person in the country and being available from birth to death. The NHS being introduced meant that for the first time, people could receive diagnosis and treatment of any illness either at their home or hospital, this also included dental and ophthalmic care. The government’s decision to implement a national health service has had a significant impact on the nation’s health as it has improved the health of millions.
Now that healthcare was being prioritized due to the introduction of the NHS in 1948, it showed how the UK government was able to put together the 6 main aims of the public health policy. The UK government had an overriding moral aim to ensure that the health of its citizens was paramount meaning it was put in high importance for all service users. This was especially important for the time during and after the second world war because of how much of an impact it had on the citizens of the United Kingdom both in terms of the number of causalities and the aftermath of the war. Planning national provision of health care and promoting the health of the population was an aim of the public health policy, this started as the NHS began providing a more accessible health service for everyone so this aim could be met. This was done through ensuring fair and equal health services were available for the whole of the UK at a good standard regardless of the public’s social status or geographical location within the UK. To provide these types of services for citizens and meet the needs of the changing demographic, public health policy must be responsive and ready for the future by planning the future needs and care the public may need in certain situations that could occur. The government must gather statistical data and commission reports on the current trends within health to help predict any possible future developments in the health status of the nation so that action can be taken quickly to prevent or combat any health issues that have a chance of occurring in the future. A way in which health can be promoted to the population within the UK is by highlighting factors that can influence health, for example, lifestyle choices including whether you drink or smoke and others such as unemployment and housing, by the government discovering and conducting this kind of information it can help to shape the planning process for health provision. For example, the Better Health campaign was launched in 2020, the job of this campaign is to support individuals with their weight loss journey by providing advice on how they can quit smoking and drink less. This highlights the promoting health aim of public health policy to keep the public fit and healthy. Throughout the years as technology has advanced and more resources like equipment and medicine are now being available, it shows how the public may have high expectations for public health to provide good healthcare. Furthermore, as there are now more resources due to the health trends throughout the year and many medical conditions, the new resources have allowed these medical conditions to become more treatable leading to the life expectancy within the UK increasing. Even though life expectancy has increased over time, there are still significant health problems the people of the UK suffer from, including dementia and mental health issues, this has led public health to public health raising awareness of how these health issues can be overcome, including eating healthy and exercising. Doing these actions will help to improve the health of the public.
During and after the war, it was noted that health officials rationed food, and this was said to have improved the health of the public. By food being rationed it meant that the public had a fixed allowance of food, this may have stopped them from getting more than their body needed therefore improving their health. Many illnesses and conditions were brought on by the war or other reasons such as poverty, this then led the local authorities at the time to introduce the children’s and mental health departments to help support the individuals with these illnesses and conditions. This became known as the ‘social citizenship’ agenda, which allowed the government, for the first time, to become the provider of welfare in terms of the public’s health, happiness, and fortune. This shows how public health identified the needs of the public and provided a way in which these needs could be met, through this agenda. In 1946, the World Health organization identified health as a separate issue in which governments must be involved to benefit the physical, mental, and social well-being of the public. As a way to benefit the wellbeing of the public, films on topics such as fireworks, crossing the road safely, and sexual helped to raise public awareness therefore benefiting the public and their wellbeing as they were being educated. For public health to continue to identify and monitor the needs of the population their understanding and predictions on social change were pivotal for providing treatment and controlling diseases. Ways in which the government adapts to social change is by raising awareness on social topics like illegal drug use through the use of campaigns. The government would also respond to medical evidence on the links between smoking and various types of cancers such as lung cancer, this then allowed them to lead a range of interventions that would monitor what the public had access to, and the advertising of cigarettes would be restricted to preserve the wellbeing of smokers and the public as a whole. Smoking in the workplace within England was then banned on July 1st, 2007.
Another aim of public health policy was to identify and reduce the inequalities between groups and communities within society. Health inequalities between groups and communities include one’s health status, access to care, and the quality of their care. It is important to identify and reduce these because inequalities are unfair and it leads to individuals not being treated equally or being treated according to their needs, this then impacts negatively on their wellbeing something that public health policy is aiming to benefit. For some people within the UK, there are unfair and avoidable inequalities in their healthcare access and experiences which public health policy aims to overcome. This leads to the public health policy aim of protecting individuals, groups, and communities from threats to their health and well-being that arise because of environmental hazards and communicable diseases. Health inequalities may mean that people are unable to receive healthcare because of their social status or where they live, this protection aim then highlights how public health aims to protect the public no matter any other existing factors such as where they live. Environmental hazards are hazards that can cause harm with or without contact such as pollution or tobacco smoke and a communicable disease is an illness that can be transmitted from one person to another. From the 1970s onwards factors like crime rate, housing conditions, and education were observed as affecting the health and wellbeing of individuals. This then led to worldwide and national guidelines being put into practice to monitor these issues and protect society from health threats and hazards. Legislation about toxic waste and standards governing air quality within cities was put in place to keep society safe from environmental hazards like pollution. To protect society from communicable diseases the director of health required local authorities to be directly responsible for the health of their residents by telling their residents to report their illnesses to their GP or local hospital, this then allowed the regional health team to monitor these health illnesses. There was a system put in place where if several cases of an infectious disease was reported, an outbreak management team would investigate monitor its spread through the local area, and then put in place medical resources to prevent any further spread, this would then protect the public from the spread of communicable diseases, reducing the likelihood of the disease infecting more of the public.
National health problems are issues that can affect any sector of society, they may be more prevalent in some sectors rather than others and some regions may find that they are at a higher risk of developing this health problem in comparison to other regions. For example, a health problem like pollution affects everybody but pollution levels may be higher in one area rather than the other. Therefore, from the problem of pollution, individuals who have asthma may be affected more by the higher levels of pollution in comparison to someone who doesn’t suffer from asthma. This is because pollution can make asthma symptoms worse and as a result trigger attacks. Public health policy aims to address specific national health problems to help tackle them which would then improve and benefit the wellbeing of individuals who are impacted by these health problems. One recent guideline that has been published and concerns public health is about raising awareness of the importance of good indoor air quality within homes, this highlights how public health is tackling health problems through the use of guidelines to overcome health issues.
Health screenings are important because they look for diseases before you even have symptoms, this will allow diseases to be found early making them easier to treat. This is very good for conditions like cancer because the condition is found, and more can then be done to combat the cancer before it worsens, negatively impacting the health of the individual. If an individual is found to have a problem after their screening test a further investigation will be recommended to conduct the solution to their health problem. Public health aims to develop programs to screen for early diagnosis, which will put the health of the public first as diseases can be found quicker which will allow treatment for these diseases to also take place quicker which will then help to fight the disease.
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