Final Paper Progression

Today's topic deals with my continuance of the final paper. Honestly, I think the paper is going to be a little more complicated from my original thoughts. As I finally decided my final topic, I realize that the requirements for this paper are a little time consuming and slightly confusing.



I decided to discuss the issue of obesity in adults 18 and over in Michigan, considering that's home and I have visual data for my paper. As far as surveillance goes on regards to obesity, I think that hospital records could be a source. If adults are going to the doctor on account of health issues and they appear overweight obesity could be present. According to an obesity report series for Michigan in 2008, obesity rates rose by 21.8% which is not good. Especially considering only 34.7% of Michigan adults were not overweight or obese. Michigan also had the 8th highest prevalence of obesity in the US with 30.1% in 2008. In addition to obesity being a huge issue in Michigan, it's more significant in the African American community; especially in African American females.

Direct indicators that deal with adult obesity in Michigan are the high rates of adults who eat fast food. As discussed in class, fast food is very unhealthy and depending on what restaurant people eat at, their calorie intake is extremely high. Also a direct indicator could be adults with an office setting job who eat "snacks" all day in substitution for lunch. I have friends and a few family members who work in these environments and they feel as though a quick bag of chips makes up for their daily lunch. Many adults feel as though they don't have to follow a healthy lifestyle and they can eat whatever they please, because they are "grown". In Detroit, fresh produce is limited and fast food restaurants are numerous. If there are a limited amount of resources for fruits and vegetables, how can people eat healthy.

Indirect indicators could be the amount of fast food restaurants that surround the homes of obese individuals. From personal experience, I can testify that these fast food places are everywhere; many in walking distance. There have been times when my family and I didn't feel like cooking and I drove about a mile or so to pick up pizza. We knew it wasn't healthy, but when you are hungry and fast food is at your finger tips, what do you do? Another indicator could be the mental health issues. Some people were not born to obtain an obese body, but some people suffer from depression and eating "helps" to temporarily satisfy their needs.

I know that these indicators are not the best especially considering many of them come from personal experiences and "he/she said". I do believe that my opinions and semi-facts matter in this paper because I am personally affected by obesity with close friends and a few family members of mine. Also, a lot of the data that I've looked up is from 2001-2009. Sure 2009 is the most recent, the further I go back into the past the numbers are normally relatively low.

Well, as I researched adult obesity, I found a lot of information on childhood obesity in Michigan. I think I may put the two together and focus on family issues too, that may result in obesity.

Until next time, stay healthy!!

Kiara

Problem Definition

Today's topic will focus on my problem definition for my final paper. I honestly still have not decided in my final topic yet, but I will make a final decision this weekend. As far as my problem definitions, I have a possible definition for the three topics I am debating on.

My problem definition for obesity would go some what as follows:

Obesity has become a huge problem in the United States and a rising epidemic in children ages 6-19 from 1999-2009. This issue has become so severe that it has been detected to decrease the life expectancy of children by 5 years.

My problem definition for injury prevention would be similar to this:

Noticing the obvious is sometimes an issue in the United States. Things that are most common, just seem normal, especially with injury prevention. A rising problem in injury prevention deals with children. We need to make the world a safer place for children without limiting their environment.

Lastly, I think if I were to write about health care, I would focus on quality health care for low income families. My problem statement would fall somewhere around:

Families that "make too much" money, or don't qualify under the federal poverty level, have a harder time receiving quality health care. In the United States, quality health care is not "equal" for everyone. Low income families whose income exceeds the federal poverty level due to more or less people who live in their homes, have more problems with health care.

Unitl next time, stay healthy!

Kiara

My Final Paper For Public Health

Today's topic focuses on my final paper topic for Intro. to Public Health. I have honestly enjoyed this course so much, that it's really hard for me to pick one topic. As of now, I am a little undecided. Since time is running out, I am going to pick between the following topics: Injury Prevention, Obesity, or the US Health Care System. I think these three topics grasped my attention the most.

The reason why I liked injury prevention so much is because it's a serious issue in public health. A lot of people believe that injuries are accidents, and that's true, but in most cases these injuries can be prevented. Unintentional injuries account for 2/3 of the injuries in the country. These injuries are almost 80% of the years of potential life loss chart. Considering the US spends so much money, $406 Billion, on injuries I though it would be a interesting topic. Also, I found the different types of injuries to be very interesting. Injury is a population level problem and this problem is not obvious.

The lecture that focused on obesity by Dr. Kahan had my undivided attention. Although I paid close attention to every lecture, obesity was the most interesting. I would like to write about obesity, because I have close friends, family as well as friends of my family that are obese. This particular topic hit close to home for me, and I felt it was necessary to find out more about why and how this epidemic is growing so rapidly in America. Obesity in the US is rising every year. Based on information provided in lecture, 1 out of every 3 Americans are clinically obese, and 68% of people are overweight. Being obese increases the chance of a shorter life span as well as the increase in risk of death and also increasing the chances of type2 diabetes. While in class I was informed that obesity rates in children has sky rocketed since the 1980s which isn't a good thing. Considering the life expectancy for the generation now and the one after will decrease significantly.

Lastly, I thought about health care in the US. I've expressed my thoughts on the US health care system in my previous blog postings. But I cant emphasize how much health care means to me. I want to make a difference in the world by becoming a cardiac surgeon, but I cant help everyone who needs it because the lack of quality health care in the US. I didn't realize how many people were uninsured in America and it really brings tears to my eyes knowing that all the sick people in the US cant be healed or treated.

I really took these three topics to heart mainly because they either hit home really hard or for the simple fact that I really care about improving these things in the population.

Until next time, stay healthy.

Kiara

My Public Health Experience

Today's topic focuses on my perspective of the first "half" of my Intro. to Public Health course. Throughout the course we discussed a variety of topics ranging from what public health is and health policy and worked our way to obesity. I honestly enjoyed each topic because there was so much information that I never knew. Each class discussion taught me something new, and although there were a few things I did know, learning the information a second was refreshing. My favorite class discussions were the ones that focused on health care and obesity. Based on the information we learned these are two of the biggest issues public health is facing. I enjoyed the health care lecture, because I have a sincere concern for the public. I love to help people and I really want to make a difference in the health field, and this cannot be done without access to quality health care. To think that there's a mother out in the world who doesn't have quality health care which means she has no access to vitamins and medicines needed during her pregnancy really gets to me. While in class, we talked about other countries having health care for their citizens yet they don't spend as much money as the US annually on health care. In the US 47 million uninsured Americans and yet we spend trillions of dollars on health care, all the while the rates continue to rise. As far as obesity being one of favorites, I really enjoyed learning about healthy eating, how pricing is associated with the government and how being overweight and/or clinically obese is harmful to our bodies.

One thing I found surprising about public health is that we spend more money than other countries combined but we have so many uninsured Americans. I could not believe it! I thought we were in better standings in terms health care. We have a numerous amount of doctors, physicians, and health care workers, there's no way our health care system is this bad. Right? No wrong. Considering these health care workers have to be paid, and since people are uninsured there is the problem. There is a big problem with health insurance and money for US citizens.

When I signed up for this public health course I wanted to learn more about the health care field and I did. Nothing has changed about my perception in regards to the public health field. If anything I am more interested into going further into the public health aspect as well as being a hearth surgeon. Taking this course has really opened my eyes to the public health field. I think that this course has made me more aware of issues the public faces and I am really interested in making a difference in the near future. I really am glad I took this course and I look forward to the other public health courses I will take while continuing my education here at Hopkins.

Until next time, stay healthy!
Kiara

Health Care Reform 2010

This week's topic focuses on the latest health reform bill that was recently passed in Congress this week. The health reform bill was announced in Iowa City by President Obama May, 2007. This health reform bill should focus mainly on reducing long-term growth in health car costs for businesses and government, guaranteeing the choice of doctors and health plans, improving patient safety and quality of care services, help maintain coverage if you change or lose your job, investing in prevention and wellness, helping to protect families from filing for bankrupcty or going into debt because of health care costs, and helping to end barriers to coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions. Based on all the main focal areas, this bill was created to help Americans who have issues with health care costs, but mainly to support uninsured Americans.
As far as the stakeholders who were most in favor of this health reform bill were the Democratic arty. From my personal opinion, I think the Democratic party was most in favor of the bill because they strive "to create a sustainable and independent clean energy economy, provide all American children the first rate education they deserve, and finally guarantee high-equality, affordable health care to every American man, woman, and child. " I found this statement on the Democratic party website. Although 34 Democrats voted against the bill, it was still passed. I think this minor portion of the Democratic party are considered to be conservatives and believe in limited change in the government. The stakeholders who were most opposed to the bill were the Republican party. They all voted against the bill. According to the Huffington Post, the Republican party is pretty much against "Democrats making fundamental progressive change." So the entire Republican party voted against the health care reform bill in order to stop the progression the Democrats are trying to bring in the country.
My thoughts about the health care reform are beyond ecstatic. I am excited, because I think this bill is going to provide a helpful service for uninsured Americans. As we discuss the issues with public health care issues, I felt as though America was doing a mediocre job as far as providing health care for its citizens. As rich as we are, our health care system spends so much money on health care, yet so many Americans are uninsured. The part that really upsets me is the fact that other countries actually provide health care for all of their citizens and have less money than the U.S. I think it's a good piece of legislation, because it shows that the government actually cares about the citizens and their health care. I'm not sure how much the bill will affect my family and I, but hopefully the health care system improves a great deal. By the time I enter the health care professional world, hopefully all U.S. citizens will have a definite availability of health care.
Until next time, stay healthy!

Kiara

The U.S. Health Care System

Today's topic focuses on issues with the U.S. Health Care System. For this particular topic, the article studied was "Health Spending Projections Through 2019: The Recession's Impact Continues" by Christopher J. Truffer, et. al. This article describes the National Health Expenditures (NHE) from 2007 to 2019. The projected estimates are based on the current spendings that are occurring now and the ones that have occurred in previous years. The three main sources of health care that are discussed in this article are Medicaid, Medicare, and Private health insurance. Medicare was established in 1965 for the elderly and disabled citizens. There are three parts to Medicare, which are part a. Hospital Impatient (which is the pay as you go plan) part b. Physician Outpatient (financed by general revenue) and part d. Prescription Drugs (added in 2006 administered through private drug plans and also financed by general revenue, payments from the state and beneficiary premiums). Medicaid was also established in 1965 and covers certain low-income groups of people. People that are eligible for Medicaid are children and parents, the disabled and the elderly. Medicaid is administered by the states and financed by federal/state FMAP. This particular form of health care is also referred to as SCHIP, State Children's Health Insurance Program. Medicaid is also based on a family or a household's federal poverty level (FPL). FPL is based on a fixed income for a certain amount of people in a household. For example, a family of three may receive Medicaid if their income is $2o,ooo a year (this is not a exact source, I just used random numbers). Private health insurance is when people either buy directly from the insurance company, receive it because they are an employer of a company that offers special plans, or they join cooperative and purchase insurance as a group. Based on the 2007 personal health care expenditures, Medicaid was 9%, Medicare was 22% and Private health insurance was 36%. Based on this article these from if health care are expected to decelerate by the year 2019 based on better financial expenditures in which the U.S. is expected to have in upcoming years.
Implications of continued increases in health care spending and continued proportional increases in public spending are medical prices and utilization. Medical prices as stated in the article are "influenced by economywide factors and 'relative medical price inflation,' which is the difference between medical and economywide price inflation." The growth of medical prices is steadily increasing. Utilization "which includes both the volume and the intensity (or complexity) of services" also accelerating. Though Medicare and Medicaid are both expected to decelerate by 2019, private insurance spending is expected to increase. Due to the changes in health care premiums and people who have high-costing claims, private insurance will constantly increase.
Based on the readings, class lectures, and common knowledge, I think the most pressing issues for healthcare reform are the issues that relate to spending. I think that there is so much money spent on healthcare and I personally feel as though the government needs to come up with a better budgeting plan. If I could change one thing about our healthcare system it would be the distribution of healthcare to all Americans. I think it is very important that U.S. citizens all have healthcare. I would change the FPL so that it would help families with a certain income. I don't know as of now how I would change these things, but I would come up with a way for healthcare to be distributed to all U.S. citizens no matter if they're sick, jobless, homeless, etc.

Until next time, Stay healthy!
Kiara

Global Health

Today's topic comes from the article "The Challenge of Global Health" by Garrett, Laurie, Foreign Affairs, 0015720, Jan/Feb2007, Vol. 86, Issue 1. This article focused on global health as mentioned in the title, but mainly the lack of resources we have available to the world's poor and sick citizens. In this article they discuss a variety of different issues that are affecting the world's health in countries like Botswana, Ghana, Haiti, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Kadoma, Mozambique, and Guinea-Bissau. The government does not have enough money to fund for all of these countries as well as others that were mentioned in this article. In order to fun for these countries there has to be a donor organization that will provide money for these government agencies. As government agencies sometimes raising money or have trouble receiving money from donors, most people just donate money independently of their government. For example, the article mentions "Americans donated $7.4 billion for disaster relief in 2005 and $22.4 billion for domestic and foreign health programs and research." This was more money than the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation had given away, they gave away $6.6 billion. I think that when it comes to global issues, Americans are absolutely amazing for raising money. As it is a little off topic, Haiti was recently hit by a devastating earthquake, and Americans are working hard to raise more and more money in order to provide relief for people in Haiti.
In this article that author suggests many reasons why in spite of the enormous monetary resources now available for global health, but we continue to see worsening of public health globally in the developing world. The reason I believe is most valid is health-care systems. The article states various times that in developing countries a lot if their doctors and nurses are either a) dying from HIV/AIDS or b) being removed by emigration and education to the United States. "One out of five practicing physicians in the United States is foreign-trained." I do agree with this statement. A lot of people learn and study medicine and come to the US for a better life. The shortage of doctors and nurses is a result of death possibly from exposure to TB and possibly infected needles from working with HIV/AIDS infected patients. In a recent reading, I can't remember what it what as of now, but when it comes back to me I will post it, but I read that in some poor countries, doctors and physicians use the same needles for their patients. I am not 100% sure if that is still happening, but it could be a possibility.
The two markers that are considered the most important indicators of the status of health care systems in developing countries are funding and health-care workers. These markers are so important because they determine the future for people in developing countries. Funding is important because these countries need money in order to provide their citizens with health care, medicine, and treatments. Without funding there is no hope for these countries. As far as health-care workers are concerned, if there are no doctors who's going to treat the ill people? There have to be doctors in order for the citizens in these countries to be taken care of.
Throughout the article, the author provides several examples of how faulty systems and lack of sustainability of current donors practices lead to more deadly states than initially encountered. Two of these diseases are HIV/AIDS and TB. The current donor of these two diseases are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation recently starting donating as of August 2006 and so far they have donated $6.6 billion. The Bush Administration as also donated toward these two diseases with $11.4 billion in 2001 and increased to $27.5 billion in 2005.

Until next time, I hope you've enjoyed my blog. Stay healthy!
Kiara