Question

Chapter 5 Discussion No unread replies. No replies. In previous chapters, we have learned about the role of public health, social determinants and behavior and social theories related to health. This week, we are broadening our discussion to include how law, health policy and ethics impact health, quality of life and health outcomes. In this context, you will gain a better perspective of the role of public health and the overall goal of improving health, including the importance of multi-sectoral collaboration. After you view the videos, reflect on the four goals of Healthy People 2020: Improve quantity and quality of life Eliminate health disparities and achieving true health equity Protect health throughout all stages of life Make environments healthier through a better understanding of the true social determinants approach to health Using the above framework for the list of health issues below, first discuss what factors such as social determinants, law, and ethics impact or affect the issue. Describe how public health initiatives, such as Healthy People 2020 and multi-sectoral efforts can improve health outcomes pertaining to the issue. Your post must be at minimum two paragraphs (five sentences per paragraph) in APA format (in text citations and bibliography). Your must respond to at least one other student. Your post is due by

Answer 1

• The Affordable Care Act reaffirms the themes of Healthy People by promoting population-based prevention and sets the stage for Healthy People 2020.The heart of Healthy People 2010 lies in its leading health indicators, reflecting high-priority health issues for the nation. National progress requires broad application of the ecological health model.

• Healthy People sets goals for a robust and efficient health care system, facilitates healthy behaviors, and strives for healthy communities, families, homes, and worksites.Moreover, it concretely applies the ecological model of health,placing the individual biology of disease within the context of the entire life course as well as the social and physical environments where people live, work, learn, and play. In this way, Healthy People captures the critical and modifiable determinants of health that most affect length and quality of life.

• HP2020 places great emphasis on the social determinants of health and health disparities and includes education and income objectives. HP2020 also takes a more expansive view of the impact on health resulting from the built and natural environments.

• The ACA creates a National Prevention, Health Promotion, and Public Health Council that will help formulate a National Prevention Strategy. The strategy will recognize and incorporate the ecological model of health that underscores the importance of various health influences such as access to healthy foods, prevention of violence, access to quality education, and employment.

• The ACA establishes a Prevention and Public Health Fund that will provide $15 billion in new funding over the next 10 years to expand and sustain the necessary infrastructure to prevent disease; detect it early; and, in concert with other provisions in the ACA, manage conditions before they become severe. Finally, the ACA authorizes investment in a host of other programs, including the National Health Service Corps and community health centers that will strengthen the public health infrastructure for the future.In these ways, the ACA also sets the stage for Healthy People 2020 (HP2020), released in December 2010, which sets the national health objectives for the decade and the new HP2020 goals.

• The ACA-authorized Community Transformation Grants will build on community-based prevention grants funded by the Recovery Act to enable multisectoral ways to promote physical activity and other health outcomes through a “health in all policies” approach, including education, planning, and transportation.

• The ACA supports reducing overweight and obesity in several ways. For example, the Food and Drug Administration is charged with implementing new federal requirements for nutrition labeling of foods sold at certain chain restaurants and similar retail food establishments. Menu labeling will raise awareness of the caloric load in foods and, in conjunction with other initiatives, has the potential to reduce intake as much as 10%. (Nestle M. Health reform in action—calorie labeling goes national. N Engl J Med. 2010;362(25):2343–2345)

• The National Health Promotion and Prevention Council has an opportunity to increase attention to our physical environment, a key determinant of health. Along with the US Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency has long focused on health consequences of environmental exposures.