Health and Livibility

Task 1: What is public health?

Your first task this week is to access and use materials produced by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC). Following the link below to access/download a slide show that introduces some definitions and key terms, provides a brief history of public health and approaches, cover the core functions of public health, the various stakeholders and different types of influence on the population’s health.

Resource:
– PowerPoint format
– PDF format
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Introduction to Public Health. In: Public Health 101 Series. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2014. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/publichealth101/public-health.html .

As you go through this slide show and using the notes section, for your portfolio, make your own notes on:
a. The different historical phases of public health as it has developed and responded to events over time, noting one example for each to illustrate (Topic 2)
b. Summarise the approach, from surveillance to implementation (Topic 3)
c. Summarise the core public health sciences (Topic 3)
d. For the core functions of public health, look at slide 30 (Core functions at different government levels in the USA for Tobacco control) and try to come up with an equivalent relating to another public health issue (e.g., reducing alcohol consumption; promoting healthier eating; Topic 4).
e. List the main stakeholder groups in public health (Topic 5)
f. Summarise your reflections on the different types of influence on public health (Topic 6).

Task 2: Models of public health

Download and read the pdf file ‘Ecological PH_Ch3 (models of PH)’. For each of the five models of public health proposed, briefly summarise the concept in one-to-two paragraphs and save in your portfolio.

Task 3: Influences on public health

In Task 1, we considered some of the types of influence on the health of populations, from biological/genetic to societal/social. Week 2 will consider these in more detail. For now, using your notes on these broad types of influence, we would like you to consider how they might influence a specific disease; in particular, a disease that is one of the leading causes of premature mortality in your chosen country.

Your task is, therefore, to:
a. Search online to determine the leading causes of mortality and morbidity in a country of your choice. If you have not sought morbidity and mortality statistics before, you might consider starting with the Centre for Disease Control (for USA) or the Office for National Statistics (UK) to gain information on the main causes of death and ill health.
b. Select a disease that is one of the top five causes of mortality and make a note of this, with some explanation of your choice (quoting statistics/figures where possible).
c. Now think of individuals in society that you would consider to be at high risk of such a disease and make a list of the reasons or factors that put them at risk (risk factors); for each, note the type of influence. The table below illustrates how you could present this (please note, this is not complete, but shown for illustrative purposes. We expect the lists will be quite long).

Disease Risk factor Type
Ischaemic heart disease Older adult Genes and biology
Overweight / obese Genes and biology
Smoker Health and behaviour
Sedentary lifestyle Health and behaviour
Live in deprived neighbourhood Societal (or environmental)
Poor access to high quality food Societal (or environmental)
Etc… Etc…
Optional task: Health inequalities (or health disparities)
Health inequalities (more commonly referred to as health disparities in America) are a global concern. You will learn more about the causes in the ‘social determinants’ week. For a brief introduction, your task for this week is:
1. To read the WHO ‘key concepts’ page, which nicely summarises this and related concepts:
http://www.who.int/social_determinants/thecommission/finalreport/key_concepts/en/

2. Use the link below to find the Fairer Society, Health Lives review by Professor Sir Michael Marmot. Access the report and read, as a minimum, pages 16-20 of the full report. Although specific to England, this nicely summarises the strong case for tackling health inequalities.
http://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmot-review