In the article, Transforming Epidemiology for 21st Century Medicine and Public Health, I learned a great deal of information ranging from the historical origin of epidemiology and its role in different research studies to eight broad recommendations intended to transform cancer epidemiology. The article was very insightful and engaging to the hard work epidemiologists go through to make the world a better place. The eight recommendations included in the article focused on enhancing transparency, multidisciplinary collaboration, and strategic applications of new technologies. These recommendations lay a strong foundation for epidemiology as a whole not for just one specific disease. In my opinion, there is no end to research and recommendations …show more content…
Harold Varmus, NCI Director, he believes to witness a revolution in epidemiology that defines cancers by genetic subsets and find ways to discriminate between early lesions and pre-cancerous lesions that may have malignant potential. Before this could occur, I believe it will take more time to fully understand cancer and the exposures we encounter on a daily basis. His theory has been influenced by advances in bioinformatics and technology, which has allowed epidemiologists to collect and analyze data at a faster pace. However, this approach also has its downfalls when dealing with millions of data. For example, the database systems will be overwhelmed with data if every disease was put under surveillance. In my opinion, even though technology has advanced there is still opportunity for error. If the data on a certain disease is misplaced into a different file it can cause serious complications and cause epidemiologists to conduct a whole new research …show more content…
As of today, we have not found a solution to make healthcare affordable for everybody. From the expenses of medical technology advances, people without insurance are suffering to keep out of debt. While in undeveloped countries, people are living in poverty with no type of healthcare system and limited benefits. Unfortunately, they don’t have the access to the technology advances as we do, but are these advances really a benefit to us? Or are they just a burden to those who can’t technically “afford” it. Granted, technology is a great advancement to medical research for epidemiologists. It is convenient, fast, and reliable to understanding how diseases spread and what preventive measures work best for each disease. However, these measures will only be successful if they are measured in both developed and undeveloped
In conclusion, the ultimate significance to this type of work is to improve the quality of healthcare in these extremely impoverished nations. This argument is represented in Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains, Monte Leach’s “Ensuring Health Care as a Global Human Right”, and Darshark Sanghavi’s “Is it Cost Effective to Treat the World’s Poor.” The idea that universal healthcare is a human right is argued against in Michael F. Cannon’s “A “Right” to health care?” Cannon claims that it would not work, and fills the holes that the other authors leave in their arguments. All of these articles share the same ultimate goal, and that is to provide every individual with adequate health care, and to not let so many people die from things that could easily have been prevented or treated.
Healthcare has now become one of the top social as well as economic problems facing America today. The rising cost of medical and health insurance impacts the livelihood of all Americans in one way or another. The inability to pay for medical care is no longer a problem just affecting the uninsured but now is becoming an increased problem for those who have insurance as well. Health care can now been seen as a current concern. One issue that we face today is the actual amount of healthcare that is affordable. Each year millions of people go without any source of reliable coverage.
Global health risks: mortality and burden of disease attributable to selected major risks. (2009) WHO Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
The World Health Organization defines universal health care as, “ensuring that all people can use the promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, while also ensuring that the use of these services does not expose the user to financial hardship.” This means that every citizen of a country will have access to health care; if someone cannot attain it themselves, then the government will provide it. This topic is controversial because the state provides health care funding for every citizen; it can easily be described as being socialistic. Also, without state provided care, every citizen may not have access to the level of care needed due to costs. This topic is especially relevant because thirty two of the thirty three developed nations have universal health care with the United States as the exception. However, recently the United States has adopted the Affordable Care Act, which possess traits of universal health care. Universal health care is not a good choice for society for three reasons. The first is that it lowers quality of care. Also, the whole system and the way it is set up could certainly be a burden on taxpayers and the government which could lead to some major debts. Third, it would be easy for people to abuse the system.
Many would argue that here, in the United States, we have the best healthcare in the world. We benefit from the most up to date medical technologies, medications, and services. People come from every corner of the world to take advantage of our top notch physicians and facilities. But is this reputation warranted, and if so, at what cost? The average annual cost per US resident is $7,681; this comprises 16.2% of our gross domestic product. These costs rank us among the highest of industrialized nations (Lundy, 2010). Does this high expenditure equate to better outcomes? According to the National Scorecard on US Health System Performance (2008), the US received a 65 out of 100 possible points. Compared with 19 other industrialized nations, the US came in last place in preventable mortality. Preventable mortality means just that, deaths which could have been prevented if “timely and effective care” could have been provided (The Commonwealth Fund on a High Performance Health System, 2008). In 2000, the World Health Organization performed their first ever comparison of the health systems of the world. They reviewed 191 different countries and ranked them on numerous parameters, the United States ranked 37th for overall health system performance (WHO, 2000). Is it that our healthcare system is truly that poor, or is it that our care is only excellent for those patients who can actually afford it? A universal healthcare system would not only provide healthcare for all, it could also decrease our healthcare spending and potentially produce better health outcomes.
It is hard to imagine life without health insurance. If you have any type of medical problem that requires attention, and you have appropriate health care insurance, you can be cared for in the finest of private hospitals. You can get great treatment and your ailments, depending on the severity, can be treated as soon as possible. Doctors, physicians and surgeons are willing to put out a big effort if they know that they are dealing with patients who are insured and have the money to go under extensive medical treatment. But imagine life without such luxuries. For example, what happens if a relative requires much needed surgery, but does not have health insurance to cover the procedure? What happens if a lack of medical insurance prevents you or your family from seeing a doctor, which could result in health problems that had not been identified but could have been treated before they became life threatening? These scenarios may seem far-fetched, but these types of situations happen to people who lack health coverage everyday. There is a true story about a patient who was insured and diagnosed with treatable cervical cancer. Unfortunately, she lost her job and with it her insurance. She was then unable to see her private doctor, and was turned away from other hospitals because ?cancer treatment is not considered an emergency in a patient who can?t pay? (?Help for D.C.?s Uninsured?). The woman later died at her home without ever being treated. This example raises the question, since when are people with less money less deserving of health care or appropriate treatment?
In the United States of America, there are millions of individuals that live with chronic medical problems. In which these conditions require some sort of medical attention at least once a month for revaluation, and possible treatment. Thankfully, for the majority of those individuals with their health insurance covers those costs that essentially would cripple their bank accounts. On the contrary, there are millions of people living in the United States, who are uninsured. Even with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act or as it is known by the public Obama Care, there are still individuals who cannot afford the basic needs of healthcare. Health care should not be looked at as a privilege but a right for everyone regardless of their
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that challenges to battling some of these diseases is, “The limited access to health care, the lack of perception about risk and inadequate knowledge about diseases and its prevention have contributed to the high magnitude of the epidemic (2005, para
During the past years, interest in health care promotion has increased which has been due to several factors. The major factor has been the shift from infectious diseases to chronic diseases that has been named as world killers. This shift is commonly referred to as epidemiologic transition characterized by low birthrates, ageing population and increased cost of health care (Kessler et al, 2013). Previously, disease identification was easy but with changing times and the emergence of many diseases, characteristics of diseases hav...
Key Data Measurement During module two, we began to gain an understanding of various key data measurements and terms of epidemiology. There are many advantages to using bar, chart, line graph, and pie chart data presentations. The terms ratio, rates, proportions, percentages, prevalence and incidence play a vital role in epidemiology. Data Presentation
Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study of the demographics of disease processes, including the study of epidemics and other diseases that are common enough to allow statistical tools to be applied. It is an important supporting branch of medicine, helping to find the causes of diseases and ways of prevention. It can, using statistical methods such as large-scale population studies, prove or disprove treatment hypotheses. Another major use of epidemiology is to identify risk factors for diseases. Epidemiological studies generally focus on large groups of people and relate to a target population that can be identified.
In the 1960s, doctors in the United States predicted that infectious diseases were in decline. US surgeon Dr. William H. Stewart told the nation that it had already seen most of the frontiers in the field of contagious disease. Epidemiology seemed destined to become a scientific backwater (Karlen 1995, 3). Although people thought that this particular field was gradually dying, it wasn’t. A lot more of it was destined to come. By the late 1980s, it became clear that people’s initial belief of infectious diseases declining needed to be qualified, as a host of new diseases emerged to infect human beings (Smallman & Brown, 2011).With the current trends, the epidemics and pandemics we have faced have created a very chaotic and unreliable future for mankind. As of today, it has really been difficult to prevent global epidemics and pandemics. Although the cases may be different from one state to another, the challenges we all face are all interconnected in this globalized world.
If the countries do not invest in health care, they will go bankrupt. There could be less distinction between the poor and the rich. However, not every country is at the forefront of developing care, which is why it is difficult for some countries to make this distinction. Having an insurance policy is certainly necessary for everyone who should only custom make to the people themselves. Therefore, if someone suddenly gets ill there do not have to put all his or her income in order to get better.
In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, technology has increased worldwide and affected many aspects of human life. Unarguably, advancements in technology over the years have made our lives easier. Advances in research, diagnosis, and treatment, particularly during the past couple of generations, have significantly contributed to both the length and quality of human life. Medical Technology has improved human health through surgery, diagnostics and the use of information technology in the administration of patient care. From the beginning of time, human life has faced problems with diseases and health care.
Discussions throughout this essay will focus on the relevance of epidemiology to public health; firstly the concepts of epidemiology will be discussed alongside two examples of why epidemiology is relevant in the 21st century.