Public health often offers directives. You should wear seat belts. You should get vaccinated. You shouldn’t smoke. This command language, with its moral tinge, is at odds with the language of shared decision-making that has become central in the medical world and in some ways may marginalize the message of public health.
Why does public health seem to revel in an approach that is at odds both with notions of individual freedom and with norms in medicine? In the shared decision-making world of modern medicine, doctors are meant to discuss options with patients, the final health decision is made by the patient, who may in the end, make an unhealthy choice. But public health persists in suggesting courses of actions for the entire population.
Why? And is this ok?
A Word of Welcome | Dean's Note
One of the joys of working at a school is the opportunity, each September, to reconnect with returning members of our community, to welcome new students and faculty, and to experience the accompanying sense of possibility and renewal. It is an optimistic time, informed by our hopes for the coming year. As the fall begins, and we welcome new members to our school, I would like, in this season of return, to use this Dean’s Note to reaffirm the core values of SPH and revisit some ideas I have written about in prior notes.
The Public's Health: Can We Reverse Course on Health? | Public Health Post
The United States lags in health indicators behind all our high-income peer countries. Most well-informed readers know this and know that we have lower life expectancy and higher mortality on multiple causes than do, for example, Italy, Greece, France, or Norway. It is worth noting that our health measures were not always this poor compared to other countries; as recently as the mid-1980s we were roughly in the middle of the pack in high income countries and we have slowly fallen behind. Other countries have passed us, both high-income nations and other not so usual suspects like Chile, Cuba, and Singapore.
So the bad news is that we have fallen behind. The good news, perhaps, is that if we fell behind on health in such a short period of time, we can reverse course and catch up in the next few short decades.
Feeling Sick? You May Have A Case Of Climate Change | HuffPost
Climate change is, quite literally, making us ill.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported this spring that diseases from mosquito, flea and tick bites tripled in the U.S. between 2004 and 2016, with more than 640,000 cases seen during that period of time. Maine alone saw a 20-fold increase in cases of the tick-borne illness Lyme disease. The danger showed no sign of abating this year, with ticks crawling into Mainers’ lives as early as May.
Their premature arrival was largely a product of warmer temperatures in the region ― temperatures that reflect the broader trend of global climate change. It is perhaps for this reason that Lyme disease—once a regional problem largely confined to New England—has now been detected in all 50 states.
The Public's Health: What Kills Our Kids? | Public Health Post
One of the greatest triumphs in health over the past century has been the dramatic decrease in childhood mortality. And yet, children still die, and that suggests that we should be looking carefully at what kills our children, and asking what we can do about it.
Are we prioritizing what we need to for a healthy future? | GenPop
As an epidemiologist, Dr. Sandro Galea is always concerned with the aspects of our lives and environments that determine our health as individuals and society.
When he thinks What the Future, he’s worried that we’re not prioritizing the right things and that we don’t understand that the choices we’re making affect the policies we put in place. Those policies have huge impacts for equity of healthcare – even larger impacts than we might think.
GenPop: You asked about life expectancies and how those are different for the richest and poorest Americans. What did you think of the results?
Dr. Sandro Galea: I thought it was clear that most people had the general idea [about the differences] and also clear that only a minority of people actually got the specifics and understood how big the problem is. What struck me is that the narrative about health inequality is out there, yet about a quarter of the people thought there was no difference at all [in life expectancies of the rich and poor]. But I’m an optimist. I think the fact that most people know the difference is good.
On Keeping the Faith in 2018 | Dean's Note
Before beginning today’s note, a word about the SPH This Week publishing schedule. As we have in years past, we will pause SPH This Week for the next four weeks, recommencing on August 26. We do this to acknowledge the heart of summer, a time to relax and reflect before the bustle of fall.
In 2018, of course, on many days it is not so easy to relax. Amid the swirling outrages of the last two years, the sheer number of health threats that emerge from the actions of the Trump administration have been truly concerning. From its recent actions against breastfeeding, to its rollback of environmental standards, to its determination to place an opponent of reproductive freedom—and progressive change more broadly—on the US Supreme Court, to its assault on the well-being of migrant families, the Trump administration has allowed little peace to those who care about creating a healthier world.
The Public's Health: The Health of the Poorest 50 Percent | Public Health Post
No relationship is more clearly established in population health science than the one between income and health. Those among us who are fortunate enough to have higher income live longer, healthier lives. By way of example, those born in 1960 who are in the lowest income quintile, can expect to live till age 76; those in the highest income quintile can expect to live till age 89. Money buys access to the resources that create a healthier life, from safe neighborhoods to walk in, to clean air to breathe, to time off to care for sick children, to nutritious food to eat. We write about this today, not because it is news, but because, quite simply, the United States is on the brink of creating a class of permanent health have-nots, shaped by entrenched class divides and ever increasing income disparity.