Question

Briefly explain current public health crisis in simple words? Give one example of Public health intervention?

Answer 1

Public Health Crisis is a complex situation that affects humans in one or more geographic locations from a particular locality to encompass entire planet. It has many impacts on community health, loss of life, and on the economy and may result from a disease, industrial processes or poor policy.

In present situation,COVID 19(Corona) is the pandemic disease which has affected people throughout the world.It has originated from Wuhan in China and then it spread to many countries.

COVID 19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.People infected with the COVID-19 virus experiences mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular , diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.

The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes.There are no specific vaccines or treatments for COVID-19.But there are many ongoing clinical trials evaluating potential treatments.

At present, about 50 lakh people are affected with this disease and nearly 3 lakh people has died.Corona virus affected public health in many ways.The social distancing, along with access to care and health resources, have highlighted disparities for individuals who are homeless or housing insecure, and those who live in rural regions.The push for social distancing results in questions about food security and the ability for high-risk individuals to obtain access to food.

It also affected pregnant women and newly born babies who need regular checkups.It ruined transport systems and made it difficult for refugees or others who wanted to come back to their native places.

Public Health Interventions or the measures to reduce disease transmission both locally and globally include bans on public gatherings, compulsory stay-at-home policies, mandating closures of schools and nonessential businesses, face mask ordinances, quarantine and  defined quarantine area from which those inside are not allowed to leave among others.

All these measures thus prevent public gatherings for certain period of time until COVID 19 is cured.It takes many months to find vaccines,thus creating mask culture ,avoiding unnecessary travelling can thus reduce the effect of corona virus.