Question

write about a public health problem you are going to examine.

2. Describe the scope of the problem. How many people does this problem affect? In what ways does it affect them? What statistics can you use to illustrate this (gather several options to choose from)?

3. Why is addressing this problem important?

4. Describe at least 2 policies/strategies that have been used in the past (or in other countries) to address the problem. What are the strengths and or weaknesses? Building on these previous policies and other relevant research, what new policy solution do you propose to help address the problem? State your recommendation and provide rationale for why it was chosen as compared to the other options.

Answer 1

1.PUBLIC HEALTH PROBLEM

A public health problem is a medical issue that affects a significant portion of the specific population.

Some examples include chronic illnesses like Type 2 diabetes mellitus, infectious diseases such as HIVand tuberculosis , mental health challenges, motor vehicle accidents , alcoholism etc..

The public health problem I am going to examine is alcoholism.

ALCOHOLISM

A chronic frequently progressive and sometimes fatal disease marked by impaired control over consumption of alcohol despite its adverse effects.

2. SCOPE OF ALCOHOLISM

Alcohol consumption in worldwide responsible for about 3.2% of global mortality and about 4% of life years lost according to WHO.

If Europe is considered alone, the numbers are higher with 4% global mortality and 7.9% life lost

To evaluate the effect of any particular factor on a population, a useful measure created by the WHO is Disability Adjusted Life Year(DALY).

Using this measure, alcohol is responsible for 17.3% of Male and 4.4 % of female in DALYs in Europe.

Chronic alcohol related diseases depends upon the amount of alcohol consumed.

3.Alcoholism is considered important because

Harmful use of alcohol is an important problem and it affects the society in many ways.

It is well known that there is a casual relationship between increased alcohol use and a range of mental and behavioral disorders ,including alcohol dependence, liver diseases etc.

Harmful use of alcohol creates considerable negative health and social consequences for people other than drinker.

POLICIES USED IN THE PAST TO ADDRESS ALCOHOLISM

Alcohol research and public health policy

The economics of alcohol abuse and alcohol control policies

Public health policies