In recent years, the focus on public health has increased immensely. Previously, healthcare had a more individualistic approach, where most of us assumed that community health had little effect on personal health. However, recent events, such as the COVID-19 outbreak, have highlighted how an unhealthy community can profoundly affect personal health too. Longevity Live Paid Content.
Contributing to public health is thus essential to ensure that we can maintain personal and community health. Doing so, however, can seem like a pretty complicated task. It is a huge undertaking to bring about changes on a public level to ensure better health throughout the community.
If you have entered the field of public health and want to learn how to play a better role, keep reading below.
1. Understand the factors that contribute to health issues
The spread of disease and other conditions that impact health often have more deep-seated issues than simple contamination. What makes a community vulnerable to disease outbreaks usually signals unhealthy lifestyles, genetics, socioeconomic conditions, and more. To contribute to public health, it is first essential to understand the various factors that contribute to public health issues in the first place.
Assessing these issues is the first step to making sure that we can start preventing public health problems. However, doing so without a specialized degree can be challenging. A specialized program can help examine various factors influencing public health. These can include socioeconomic factors, environmental factors, genetics, and more.
With an online masters in health policy, public health professionals are better equipped to contribute to public health in the most informed way possible.
2. Ensure barrier-free access to healthcare
One of the key reasons why it can be so challenging for all communities to prosper and maintain health is that healthcare often has several barriers. Although technically, healthcare should be easily accessible for all groups, that is rarely the case. In reality, many socioeconomic, religious, racial, or sexual minorities typically have various barriers preventing them from equal access to care.
Whether it’s social taboo, financial constraints, or biases within the system, it’s important to tackle all these issues to improve access to care. Diseases such as AIDS, in particular, have flourished due to barriers to healthcare access. Therefore, tackling this issue is critical.
Educating healthcare providers is one way we can work on providing barrier-free access to healthcare. Teaching these providers to put aside their personal biases is essential. Additionally, providing pro bono care or offering affordable facilities is one way to address financial constraints that can keep many from seeking the treatments they need.
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3. Work on prevention rather than cure
A lack of focus on preventative care can be one of the biggest reasons most avoidable healthcare problems evolve into full-blown crises. While it may seem challenging to prevent healthcare issues, the truth is that most issues can be easily avoided through proactive lifestyle changes and safety precautions. However, a lack of education on the necessity and seriousness of such changes often leads to people neglecting these steps until it’s too late.
A prime example of this would be the COVID-19 pandemic and how many people were unnecessarily exposed because they didn’t follow proper social distancing measures. Working on preventative measures can be instrumental in not just ensuring better public health, but in reducing the load on healthcare institutions.
By educating the public on preventing exposure to any particular illness. Doctors have more time to focus on clients with chronic and unpreventable conditions.
Some healthcare issues can be managed through lifestyle changes or safety precautions. These include heart disease, obesity, certain respiratory illnesses, and more.
4. Encourage healthy living
One of the biggest reasons it can be hard to break unhealthy patterns is because they’re so deep-seated. It can be hard to break out of your unhealthy habits if they’re all you’ve ever known, and there are few options accessible enough to help you change. While it can be hard to change patterns for adults, we can change things for newer generations.
One of the best ways to encourage better health in younger generations is by partnering with schools. Once this happens, we can educate them on the need to eat better. Children nowadays have access to an incredibly unhealthy, sugary, and processed diet. Which can be detrimental in the long run. Partnering with schools can help us ensure children develop the habit of having a healthy lunch at least once a day. Moreover, these subsidized lunches can help authorities ensure that children from all backgrounds can access healthy, nutritious meals.
5. Encourage more activity
Lack of activity is one of the biggest contributors to some of the most prevalent healthcare crises we see today. Our lifestyles can become increasingly sedentary, especially as remote or hybrid work becomes more common. Encouraging greater activity is an excellent way to contribute to public health and is something that can be super easy to do.
Making physical activity a communal activity is one of the best ways to ensure that people form lasting habits. Cycling, walking, jogging, or swimming clubs offer great solutions. These are excellent ways for community members to bond and help each other stick to their fitness goals.
6. Reduce carbon emissions
Carbon emissions are among the biggest causes of health issues in our society. Reducing emissions is vital if we want to create a healthier environment for ourselves and our children. These carbon emissions from vehicles contribute to all sorts of diseases that impact not just us, but the ecosystem as a whole.
Working towards reducing emissions is thus an excellent way to contribute to public health. Encouraging carpooling or using public transport is one of the best ways to help people get by with their daily lives. This can be done without contributing to any further air pollution.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are numerous ways in which individuals can contribute to public health. This will make a positive impact on the well-being of communities. Every individual effort, no matter how small, has the potential to make a significant difference in shaping the public health landscape for the better.
Who is the author?
Eliza Jeffrey
Eliza Jeffrey is a senior editor at a leading internet strategy, marketing, and development firm. She is responsible for designing an online strategy, marketing, and development campaigns for maximum impact. She is responsible for ensuring that every blog post she writes is EPIC.
