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This passage aims to make a brief comparison the public health systems of Louisiana and Washington based on several key public health indicators. In our analysis, we choose 3 indicators in each category: health status, resources and risk factors for measuring the differences. We select the indicators not only based on their importance in public health, but also on whether they can be integrated into a comprehensive reflection public health conditions. And based on these, we find 3 meaningful differences in the public health systems of two states for further analysis.
We use the data (America's Health Rankings, 2016) to make our comparison. The reason for choosing this dataset is that it offers reliable and comprehensive public health data
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Immunization. It is measured by combined average z-score of the percentage of adolescents of age 13 to 17 years who have received 1 dose of Tdap since the age of 10 years, 1 dose of meningococcal conjugate vaccine, and 3 doses of HPV. Louisiana gets 0.655 in this area and Washington gets 0.287.
2c. Dentists. Among every 100,000 population, there are 48 practicing dentists in Louisiana and 71 practicing dentists in Washington.
3. Risk Characters. The three indicators of risk characters are smoking, obesity and children in poverty. All the three factors are closely related to multiple diseases. And they reflect factors of habits, lifestyle, and social status among the population, respectively.
3a. Smoking. It is measured by self-report as smoking at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and currently smoke. There are 24% of the population of Louisiana are smokers compared with the ratio of 15.3% in Washington.
3b. Obesity. The measurement of obesity is the self-report with a body mass index (BMI) of 30.0 or higher in adults. In this measurement Louisiana has 34.9% of the population in obesity, while Washington has 27.3% of the population in
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To focus on the important differences between public health systems between Louisiana and Washington, we choose the indicator in which the two states have the most disparity from each category: 1a. Diabetes, 2b. Immunization and 3c. Children in Poverty.
In Louisiana, 11.3% adults have diabetes, 27% higher than the ratio of 8.9% in Washington. It may partly due to the higher obesity in Louisiana. The higher prevalence of diabetes needs more doctors, medicine and other health resources for costly third prevention, so it is a heavy burden to public health in Louisiana in a long time. To fill the gap in the future, Louisiana can put more resource into primary prevention, such as promoting healthy lifestyle projects (in diets and exercise) in the community.
As well, Louisiana has 33.7% children in poverty, twice more than the ratio of 16.8% in Washington. This social risk factor has both direct negative effects on health, such as lacking financial access to health service, and indirect negative effects, such as lack of education in health and unhealthy lifestyle. And both effects are important obstacles to primary prevention. To reduce the effects of the gap needs not only the extension of public services but also reforms in economic and social policy for more benefits to the poor in
Diabetes Mellitus (Type 2 diabetes/adult onset diabetes) is an epidemic in American Indian and Alaska Natives communities.7 AI/AN have the highest morbidity and mortality rates in the United States.7 American Indian/Alaska Native adults are 2.3 more times likely to be diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus than non-Hispanic Whites.7 More importantly, AI/AN adolescent ages 10-14 are 9 times likely to be diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus than non-Hispanic Whites.7 Type 2 diabetes is high blood glucose levels due to lack of insulin and/or inability to use it efficiently.8 Type 2 diabetes usually affects older adults; 8 however, the incident rate is rising quicker amongst AI/AN youth than non-Hispanic Whites.7 This is foreshadowing of earlier serious complications that will be effecting the AI/AN communitie...
Urban poverty driven by globalization and rapid uncontrolled urbanization also needs to be recognized as a social, political, and cultural process that has profound impacts on health care system. However, structural factors that contribute creating poor urban population are not taken into count. Addressing urban poverty as an urgent health care issue opens a policy space for fairer health opportunities and healthier and more equitable cities. Therefore, poor health care is a product of global and local forces in the urban setting. For example, Arline and Geronimus, emphasize that rate of mortality increases in urban areas of concentrated poverty. Furthermore, chronic diseases are key contributors to mortality and health inequalities
Diabetes is a prevalent health disparity among the Latino population. Diabetes is listed as the fifth leading cause of death among the Latino population in the website for Center for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC, in 2009. According to McBean, “the 2001 prevalence among Hispanics was significantly higher than among blacks.” (2317) In other words among the Hispanic or Latino community, there is a higher occurrence of diabetes as compared to other racial/ethnic groups such as Blacks and Native Americans. The prevalence of diabetes among Latinos is attributed to the social determinants of health such as low socioeconomic status and level of education. Further, this becomes an important public health issue when it costs the United States $174 billion in both direct and indirect costs, based on the 2007 The National Diabetes Fact Sheet released by the CDC. In turn, medical expenses are twice as high for a patient that has diabetes as opposed to one without. Finally, this high cost becomes another barrier to receiving care for Latinos when some are in the low socioeconomic status.
Henceforth, Mississippi leads the nation in a number of health care problems, especially in the Mississippi Delta because the majority of the residents is living under the poverty line and cannot afford decent healthcare. In addition, Michael Harrington wrote in...
America's Health Ranking Report by the United Health Foundation is an annual report that focus's on behaviors, the environment and community, public and health policies, clinical care, and outcomes to provide a score that gives us a picture of the nation's overall health. Several measures are used to determine the overall health rankings. In 2013, Tennessee was ranked 42nd, down from 39th in 2012. Dr. Randy Wykoff explains that this is due to a change of the metrics used to calculate this years rankings. What he suggests is that if the same metrics were used in 2012 as in 2013, Tennessee would have been 42nd in 2012 as well. Therefore, Tennessee only looks worse on paper, rather than actually being worse in overall health.
The local health government (local health departments) are established to carry out the critical public health responsibilities embodied in state laws and local ordinances and to meet the needs and expectations of their communities (Turnock, p.188). The most dramatic change in the structure of public health practice was the development of local health agencies. They share responsibilities for public health with their state agencies. However, the top priorities for local health departments overall communicable disease control, environmental health services, and child health. They do this by providing a common core of services that generally includes immunizations for adults and children, tuberculosis screening/treatment, community nutrition services, community assessment/outreach/education, food safety inspections, and health education. (Turncock, B.
Alaska: Closing the Resource Gap. Association of State and Territorial Health Officials Website. http://www.astho.org/Programs/Health-Equity/Alaska-Health-Equity-Case-Study-2012--Closing-the-Resource-Gap/. Accessed January 30, 2014
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. Public Health and Schools Toolkit. Arlington: Association of State an d Territorial Health Officials, 2014. PDF file.
Mensah, G. A., Mokdad, A. H., Ford, E. S., Greenlund, K. J., & Croft, J. B. (2005, January 24). State of Disparities in Cardiovascular Health in the United States. Circulation. Retrieved April 28, 2014, from http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/111/10/1233.short
Each state health department and local health department will be different. They health concerns on a national level are the same but within each unique community there is a greater need for some things than others. For example my home state of Louisiana our state and local health department are very active and engaged with the public. As well many civic groups and Greek letter organizations contribute, through their community initiates. Each parish has their own Parish Human Services Authority which contribute to the State General fund, interagency transfers and Statutory Dedications. Louisiana Office of public health has programs which help underserved communities. An example would be the WIC program which stands for women infants and children it helps the low income mothers get the healthy items for healthy children. Due to this program there has been a reductions in premature birth rates. Children whom have special needs can also get resources, health services and support through this office.
It is no secret that low income communities are at a disadvantage when it comes to health. Studies have repeatedly shown that people with low income tend to be in poorer health and also be more at risk for health complications. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation notes that economic stability, neighborhood and physical environment, education, community and social context, food, and the health care system are all factors that play a role in health outcomes (Heiman & Artiga, 2015) which has also been articulated in class. Many of those are factors in the lives of families in the Northern Virginia Family Service (NVFS) Early Head Start program (EHS) which creates complications presently and in the future for communities. Some of the main factors
Geography and the American rural areas have posed a problem when receiving adequate care. “One-fourth of the U.S. population lives in rural areas” (Sylvan, 2013). In comparison to the urban areas, rural occupants have a much higher poverty rate, including more elderly resulting in poorer health and people facing difficulty getting to health services. Primary care is directly aff...
In the United States, community health field is anchored in the history of innovations of public health methods and programs aids at reducing risk factor prevalence, decreasing acute and chronic disease burden and injury occurrence, and promoting health (Goodman, Bunnel, Posner, 2014). “Community Health refers to the health status of a defined group of people and the actions and conditions, both private and public (governmental), to promote, protect, and preserve their health” (McKenzie et al., 2005).
Institute for Research on Poverty. (2013). Health & Poverty. Retrieved February 20, 2014, from http://www.irp.wisc.edu/research/health.htm
The health of a nation is dependable on the community health and for that reason it should be given enough attention. Community health service is a service for everyone no matter the age, gender, race, ethnicity in the community. The uninsured and underinsured would be able to get treatment, immunization, preventative and health care. There are four types of community health care: “the free clinics, community health center, hospital clinics or for-profit clinics” (Solomon. L., & Asaro, T., 1996., p.260).