The Importance Of Public Health

Health care expenditure accounted for an estimated 11% (214.9 billion) of Canada’s GDP in 2014 (CIHI, 2014). Canada boasts a universal, cost-effective and fair health care system to its citizens (Picard, 2010). However, despite great claims and large expenses incurred Canada’s health care system has been reported inefficient in it’s delivery to the population (Davis, Schoen, & Stremikis, 2010; Picard, 2010). As inconsistencies exist in health care delivery across the country, choosing priorities for the health of the Canadian people becomes of vital importance. In Ontario, progress toward a better health care system has been stated to be moving forward by putting the needs of the “patient’s first” (Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care [MOHLTC], 2015). This policy brief will give a background of health care issues in Canada related to Ontario. Three evidence-based priorities will be suggested for Ontario’s health policy agenda for the next three to five years. Furthermore, through a critical analysis of these issues a recommendation of the top priority issue for the agenda will be presented.

One of the key points in chapter 3 is the Ottawa Charter. The Ottawa Charter is a health promotion model that was established in the 1980’s. The Charter is based off the belief that to be able achieve health people need to have peace, shelter, education, food, a stable income, social justice and equity. This is why people found the Charter so appealing. It doesn’t just focus on one viewpoint for achieving health, it focuses on many.

In order to sustain the health care system, the Canadian government needs to strategically plan for the years ahead and invest more in preventative care rather than curative care. Canada should enforce non-medical health policies which are not only going to promise healthy living for

3) Which one of those below is not used to define a profession? A profession

In 1967, Tommy Douglas had a great impact in establishing Canada’s universal health care system which guarantees health care to its residents regardless of factors such as race or ethnicity, religion, income, and age (Tommy Douglas: The Father of Medicare, n.d., para.1). In the 1974 Lalonde Report it emphasizes that health services were only one of the many factors that affect health (A New Perspective On the Health of Canadians, 1974). Others factors which include income, food security, the level of education, shelter, status of health, social status, employment and working conditions, and living conditions also contribute to the status of ones’ health. These factors are known as the social determinants of health or one’s socio-economic status that provide an insight to the health of Canadians.

Research has since shown that such models are ineffective and simply perpetuate negative social determinants of health (Raphael, 2009). In Canada, the economic basis for health care administration has been the concept of social welfare (Raphael, 2009). Succinctly defined, social welfare theory advocates for an increased role of the state in administering certain vital functions (Monique, 2007). To a degree, all societies feature some aspect of social welfare, with police,

In order for health promotion to achieve its goal, programs that promote and support change have to be implemented before individual health issues arise. The individual based treatment and lifestyle programs that are predominant in Canada often do not contribute to social change and have limited societal effect. The paper by Alvaro entitled “Moving Canadian governmental policies beyond a focus on individual lifestyle: some insights from complexity and critical theories” argues that Canadian health policy is focused on promoting individual lifestyle change and neglects, or to a lesser degree overlooks, societal and economic issues, both of which are factors prevention programs consider. Alvaro argues that governments should refocus their efforts towards programs that remedy societal and economic issues that affect health. This argument is made by referencing reputable studies and sources, employing logical reasoning, and addressing issues that may evoke an emotional response in the public.

There exist some limitations. According to the authors, the study was on a provincial level, and not so much on the regional, community, and municipals levels. This is seen as an issue, because it contained only social determinants of health that require a multi-sector change at the provincial level. Next, the intervention ONLY looked at initiatives like healthy eating and physical, without identifying social programs in sectors like housing. Last, the intervention was not an entirely successful one, because “it did not document attempt to document whether the searched initiatives achieved desired outcomes related to the social determinants of health; such results require many years to manifest themselves” (p.12). United States can learn that having insufficient healthcare for some people can become a greater problem which is associated with costs, time, and the government bureaucracy still faces challenges when it comes to healthcare in the United

Since 1984, the Canadian health care system is based on five principles of the Canada Health Act: universality, accessibility, portability, comprehensiveness, and public administration (as cited in Madore & Tiedemann, 2005). This federal document introduces a frame how the public health care has to be delivered across the country. The delivery of the health care

To start off this lecture is about, “Comparative Health Policy: Health on the Frontlines”, with our two quest speaker. The first quest speaker Dr. Jim Sugiyama, MD, discussed the front lines of primary care. Also, Tim Heffernan, retired high school teacher and member of Socialist Alternative, Politics of education. Dr. Jim discussed the various perspectives in health policy. His perspective was on the view on the health care system being a part of collectivism, mutual support, and health rights. He explains that the health care system is a part of non-medical structure of Canadian determinates of health. Finally, the lecture touched base on how our health systems fit into the greater structure of Canadian governance, and how it is globalized,

The federal, provincial and territorial governments are in charge of Canada’s health care system including the achievement of the social determinants of health such as proper housing, education, sanitation for every eligible citizen (Health Canada, 2011). Majority of the responsibilities of delivering, maintaining and improving health and social services are directed by the provincial and territorial governments, while the federal government is responsible for funding health care services to provinces and territories that are covered by the Canada Health Act (CHA), setting and ensuring that every province and territories adheres to the Canada Health Act principles and providing health and social services to certain group of people such as

In the whole of the United States, the Public Health System comprises of the National, State and community, often referred to as Local agencies (Slover, 2005). As opposed to Medical Care, Public Health focuses on the promotion of health in the community. It, further, promotes and enhances prevention of diseases and injuries to the community members. As such, the primary goal of the Public Health System lies in the promotion and protection of health in the local community (Slover, 2005).

Many changes have been mad through these action strategies. (Global Health Promotion, 2007) For example, in the past 25 years, due to healthy public policy there were massive progresses in controlling tobacco. However, this strategy needs to be re-constructed to better reflect and respond to the dominant economic growth policies being pursued by most countries in the world, and particularly to reflect the impact of the globalisation of trade on health. (Critical Public Health, 2008) However there were not many progresses within reorient health services. World widely, it is challenging to access appropriate and affordable health care because of cost or cultural problem. It is true that reorienting health services has remained substantially unfinished and ongoing. However number of critiques mentioned that ‘Ottawa Charter’ is still useful and useable up to now with several key points such as international relations, environmental conditions or global health. (Global Health Promotion,

The ‘Declaration of Alma-Ata’ delivered the foundations of PHC by identifying a lack of, and requirement for equality in health and health care between different communities and countries (Talbot & Verrinda, 2013). The Alma-Ata defines PHC as being a responsibility of governments to enable equal access to health care despite the varying impacts of socioeconomic, sociocultural or environmental determinants, and should incorporate, at a minimum; education to patients, preventative care, curative care, rehabilitation, adequate food and water supply, access to medication, prevention of disease spread through immunisation, adequate sanitation, and support through affordable access to care and increased awareness (Talbot & Verrinda, 2013). The ‘Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion’ further builds on providing PHC, as outlined by the Alma-Ata, by taking a HP approach (Talbot & Verrinda, 2013; WHO, 2017). The charter defines HP as a process that encourages individuals to take charge over improving their health by providing a framework of resources aimed to educate, enable, support and provide (Talbot & Verrinda, 2013; Keleher & MacDougall, 2015; WHO, 2017). PHC and HP are largely focused around the social determinants of health and aim to reduce the inequalities in health that may potentially be caused by the impact of these determinants.

The 21st Century has seen the healthcare system struggle with challenges such as an increase in chronic conditions, an increase in government spending on public health, and emerging threats such as global health security and antibiotic resistance. On the positive side, more people have gained access to care. To deal with these emerging issues as well as existing challenges, we need an effective public health workforce. The public health has the role of protecting the health of citizens. This could be through health promotion and lobbying for increased access to care. To address the problem of the rise in chronic ailments, public health has a role of creating awareness on chronic conditions, their symptoms and management. This is because these conditions are expensive to treat and drain the resources of patients and their families. Public health should therefore educate the public on the importance of screening and conduct these screening services for early diagnosis and prevention of chronic diseases. Another role of public health in the 21st Century is to provide and use evidence based practice in providing clinical services. This would help in addressing some of the emerging challenges such as antibiotic resistance.