PHHE 295. Chapter 1. Community Health: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

PHHE 295: Intro to Public Health

Chapter 1 Reading Notes (Community Health: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow)

Chapter Objectives:

1)      Accurately define the terms health, community, community health, population health, public health, public health system, and global health.

2)      Briefly describe the five major determinants of health.

3)      Explain the difference between personal and community health activities.

4)      List and discuss the factors that influence a community’s health.

5)      Briefly relate the history of community/public health, including recent U.S. history of community and public health in the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

6)      Provide a brief overview of the current health status of Americans.

7)      Describe the major community health problems facing the United States today.

8)      Describe the status of efforts to improve world health and list some plans for the future.

9)      Describe the purpose of Healthy People 2020 goals and objectives as they apply to the planning process of the health of Americans.

Key Terms:

·         Health: A dynamic state or condition of the human organism that is multidimensional in nature, a resource for living, and results from a person’s interactions with and adaptions to his or her environment; therefore, it can exist in various degrees and is specific to each individual and his or her situation.

·         Community: A group of people who have common characteristics; communities can be defined by location, race, ethnicity, age, occupation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds.

·         Public Health: Actions that society takes collectively to ensure that the conditions in which people can be healthy can occur.

·         Public Health System: The organizational mechanism of those activities undertaken within the formal structure of government and the associated efforts of private and voluntary organizations and individuals.

·         Community Health: The health status of a defined group of people and the actions and conditions to promote, protect, and preserve their health.

·         Population Health: The health status of people who are not organized and have no identity as a group of locality and the actions and conditions to promote, protect and preserve their health.

·         Global Health: Describes health problems, issues, and concerns that transcend national boundaries, may be influence by circumstances or experiences in other countries, and are best addressed by cooperative actions and solutions.

·         Community Organizing: A process through which communities are helped to identify common problems or goals, mobilize resources, and in other ways develop and implement strategies for reaching their goals they have collectively set.

·         Herd Immunity: The resistance of a population to the spread of an infectious agent based on the immunity of a high proportion of individuals.

·         Spiritual Era of Public Health: A time during the Middle Ages when the causation of communicable disease was linked to spiritual forces.

·         Modern Era of Public Health: The era of public health that began in 1850 and continues today.

·         Bacteriological Period of Public Health: The period of 1875-1900, during which the causes of many bacterial diseases were discovered.

·         Health Resources Development Period: The years of 1900-1960, a time of great growth in health care facilities and providers.

·         Reform Phase of Public Health: The years of 1900-1920, characterized by social movements to improve health conditions in cities and in the workplace.

·         Medicare: Government health insurance for older adults and those with certain disabilities.

·         Medicaid: Government health insurance for the poor.

·         Bioterrorism: The threatened or intentional release of biological agents for the purpose of influencing the conduct of government or intimidating or coercing a civilian population to further political or social objectives.

·         Health Disparities: The difference in health among different populations.

·         Public Health Preparedness: The ability of the Public Health System, Community, and Individuals to prevent, protect against, quickly respond to, and recover from health emergencies, particularly in those in which scale timing, or unpredictability threatens to overwhelm routine capabilities.

·         Medical Preparedness: The ability of the Health Care System to prevent, protect against, quickly respond to, and recover from health emergencies, particularly those whose scale, timing, or unpredictability threatens to overwhelm routine capabilities.

Chapter Summary

·         The four factors that affect the health of a community are physical, social and cultural, community organization, and individual behaviors.

·         It is important to be familiar with and understand the history of community health to be able to deal with the present and future community health problems.

·         The earliest community health practices went unrecorded; however, archeological findings of ancient societies show evidence of concern for community health. There is evidence during the time of the classical cultures that people were interested in physical strength, medicine, and sanitation.

·         The belief of many living during the Middle Ages was that health and disease were associated with spirituality. Many epidemics were seen during this period.

·         During the Renaissance period, there was a growing belief that disease was caused by the environment, not spiritual factors.

·         The eighteenth century was characterized by industrial growth. Science was being used more in medicine and it was during this century that the first vaccine was discovered.

·         The nineteenth century ushered in the modern era of public health. The germ theory was introduced during this time, and the last fourth of the century is known as the bacteriological period of public health.

·         The twentieth century can be divided into several periods. The health resources development period (1900-1960) was a time when many public and private resources were used to improve health. The period of social engineering (1960-1973) saw the U.S. government’s involvement in health insurance through Medicare and Medicaid. The health promotion period began in 1974 and continues today.

·         Great concern still exists for health care, the environment, diseases caused by an impoverished lifestyle, the spread of communicable diseases, the harm caused by alcohol and other drug abuse, and terrorism.

·         Both the WHO and the U.S. Government continue to plan for the health of humanity. The planning of the United States is reflected in the Healthy People documents, the health agenda for the nation.