scholarly journals The public’s health and the social meaning of guns

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandro Galea ◽  
Salma M. Abdalla
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Gun Control ◽  
Social Meaning ◽  
American Population ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social

Abstract Guns have long affected the health of the American population. The preponderance of evidence showing that guns harm the public’s health suggests that regulating civilian access to guns should be universally embraced. Yet, action on guns has been vanishingly small. Why? At core, the inaction reflects a clash between our knowledge and our values. Despite the compelling public health argument for better gun control, we have not been able to grapple with the social meaning of guns, which informs the values that shape the public conversation. Doing so will require public health to engage in transdisciplinary work that pushes the field’s boundaries.

scholarly journals A Panel Evaluation of the Changes in the General Public’s Social-Media-Following of United States’ Public Health Departments during COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272199545
Author(s):  
Areej Khokhar ◽  
Aaron Spaulding ◽  
Zuhair Niazi ◽  
Sikander Ailawadhi ◽  
Rami Manochakian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Public Health Department ◽  
Health Departments ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Departments ◽  
The Social ◽  
The U.S

Importance: Social media is widely used by various segments of society. Its role as a tool of communication by the Public Health Departments in the U.S. remains unknown. Objective: To determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on social media following of the Public Health Departments of the 50 States of the U.S. Design, Setting, and Participants: Data were collected by visiting the Public Health Department web page for each social media platform. State-level demographics were collected from the U.S. Census Bureau. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention was utilized to collect information regarding the Governance of each State’s Public Health Department. Health rankings were collected from “America’s Health Rankings” 2019 Annual report from the United Health Foundation. The U.S. News and World Report Education Rankings were utilized to provide information regarding the public education of each State. Exposure: Data were pulled on 3 separate dates: first on March 5th (baseline and pre-national emergency declaration (NED) for COVID-19), March 18th (week following NED), and March 25th (2 weeks after NED). In addition, a variable identifying the total change across platforms was also created. All data were collected at the State level. Main Outcome: Overall, the social media following of the state Public Health Departments was very low. There was a significant increase in the public interest in following the Public Health Departments during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: With the declaration of National Emergency, there was a 150% increase in overall public following of the State Public Health Departments in the U.S. The increase was most noted in the Midwest and South regions of the U.S. The overall following in the pandemic “hotspots,” such as New York, California, and Florida, was significantly lower. Interesting correlations were noted between various demographic variables, health, and education ranking of the States and the social media following of their Health Departments. Conclusion and Relevance: Social media following of Public Health Departments across all States of the U.S. was very low. Though, the social media following significantly increased during the early course of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it still remains low. Significant opportunity exists for Public Health Departments to improve social media use to engage the public better.

scholarly journals Politics of citizenship during the COVID-19 pandemic: what can educators do?

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adeela Arshad-Ayaz ◽  
M. Ayaz Naseem
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Environmental Stewardship ◽  
Death Rates ◽  
New Normal ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Fault Lines

AbstractAs a once in a 100 years emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in repercussions for the economy, the polity, and the social. Also, the ongoing pandemic is as much a teaching moment as it to reflect on the lack of critical citizenship education. The fault lines of the health system have become visible in terms of infection and death rates; the fault lines of the educational system are now apparent in the behavior of the citizens who are flouting the public health guidelines and, in certain cases, actively opposing these guidelines. The main objective of this commentary is to initiate a dialogue on the social contract between the state and the subjects and to see how education and educators can respond to the challenge of the new normal. It is contended that education under the new normal cannot afford to keep educating for unbridled productivity education under the new normal. It must have welfare, human connections, ethical relationships, environmental stewardship, and social justice front and center.

Consequences of a match made in hell: the harm caused by menthol smoking to the African American population over 1980–2018

2021 ◽  
pp. tobaccocontrol-2021-056748 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Mendez ◽  
Thuy T T Le
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
African American ◽  
African Americans ◽  
Smoking Initiation ◽  
African American Community ◽  
American Population ◽  
The Public ◽  
African American Population ◽  
Menthol Cigarettes ◽  
Life Years

BackgroundFor many years, national surveys have shown a consistently disproportionately high prevalence of menthol smokers among African Americans compared with the general population. However, to our knowledge, no prior study has quantified the harm that menthol smoking has caused on that population. In this work, we estimate the public health harm that menthol cigarettes have caused to the African American community over the last four decades.MethodsUsing National Health Interview Survey data, we employed a well-established simulation model to reproduce the observed smoking trajectory over 1980–2018 in the African American population. Then, we repeat the experiment, removing the effects of menthol on the smoking initiation and cessation rates over that period, obtaining a new hypothetical smoking trajectory. Finally, we compared both scenarios to calculate the public health harm attributable to menthol cigarettes over 1980–2018.ResultsOur results show that menthol cigarettes were responsible for 1.5 million new smokers, 157 000 smoking-related premature deaths and 1.5 million life-years lost among African Americans over 1980–2018. While African Americans constitute 12% of the total US population, these figures represent, respectively, a staggering 15%, 41% and 50% of the total menthol-related harm.DiscussionOur results show that menthol cigarettes disproportionally harmed African Americans significantly over the last 38 years and are responsible for exacerbating health disparities among that population. Removing menthol cigarettes from the market would benefit the overall US population but, particularly, the African American community.

Public Health and a President’s Racism

Pained ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 29-30
Author(s):  
Michael D. Stein ◽  
Sandro Galea
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Norms ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
The Public ◽  
Negative Side ◽  
Positive Side ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

This chapter addresses how racism presents a clear threat to the health of populations. In 2018, President Donald Trump made racist comments toward countries with predominantly nonwhite populations. Why did the president’s racism matter for the health of the public? To answer this question, one needs to understand where health comes from. Health is the product of the social, economic, and cultural context in which people live. This context is also shaped by social norms that do much to determine people’s behaviors and their consequences. Changing these norms can produce both positive and negative health effects. On the positive side, changing norms can promote health, by making unacceptable unhealthy conditions and behaviors that were once common, even celebrated. On the negative side, changing norms for the worse can empower elements of hate in society. When a president promotes hate, it shifts norms, suggesting that hate does in fact have a place in the country and the world. This opens the door to more hate crimes, more exclusion of minority groups from salutary resources, and little to no effort to address racial health gaps.

scholarly journals The prevalence of childhood bereavement in Scotland and its relationship with disadvantage: the significance of a public health approach to death, dying and bereavement

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 263235242097504
Author(s):  
Sally Paul ◽  
Nina Vaswani
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Close Relative ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Growing Up ◽  
Childhood Bereavement ◽  
The Public ◽  
Close Family Member ◽  
The Social ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Bereavement Care

Background and Method: There is an absence of research on the prevalence of bereavement during early childhood and the relationship between childhood bereavement and socioeconomic status (SES) and this poses a challenge in both understanding and supporting children’s bereavement experiences. Using longitudinal data from the Growing Up in Scotland study, which tracks the lives of three nationally representative cohorts of children, this paper aimed to address these gaps in research. It specifically drew on data from Birth Cohort 1 to document the recorded bereavements of 2,815 children who completed all 8 sweeps of data collection, from age 10 months to 10 years. Findings: The study found that 50.8% of all children are bereaved of a parent, sibling, grandparent or other close family member by age 8 and this rises to 62% by age 10. The most common death experienced was that of a grandparent or other close relative. The study also found that children born into the lowest income households are at greater risk of being bereaved of a parent or sibling than those born into the highest income households. Discussion and Conclusion: Given the prevalence of childhood bereavement and its relationship with disadvantage, this paper argues that there is an important need to understand bereavement as a universal issue that is affected by the social conditions in which a child becomes bereaved, as well as an individual experience potentially requiring specialist support. This paper thus seeks to position childhood bereavement more firmly within the public health approach to palliative and bereavement care discourse and contends that doing so provides a unique and comprehensive opportunity to better understand and holistically respond to the experience of bereavement during childhood.

scholarly journals The Challenges Confronting Public Hospitals in India, Their Origins, and Possible Solutions

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikas Bajpai
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Public Health System ◽  
Public Hospitals ◽  
Universal Health Care ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Development Paradigm ◽  
Universal Health ◽  
Class Nature

Despite the implementation of National Rural Health Mission over a period of nine years since 2005, the public health system in the country continues to face formidable challenges. In the context of plans for rolling out “Universal Health Care” in the country, this paper analyzes the social, economic, and political origins of the major challenges facing public hospitals in India. The view taken therein holds the class nature of the ruling classes in the country and the development paradigm pursued by them as being at the root of the present problems being faced by public hospitals. The suggested solutions are in tune with these realities.

Social Costs of Alcohol

1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 763-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jody Sindelar
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Costs ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Public ◽  
Economics Literature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Cost Studies

This paper provides an overall framework for understanding and interpreting the literature on the social costs of alcohol. The paper discusses several philosophical and practical perspectives that motivate different types of cost studies. The two broad motivating perspectives are the public health and the economic viewpoint; each have several subtypes. The types of cost studies are discussed along with findings of key studies. The perspective, type of study, and important findings are evaluated, and challenges for future research are discussed. Although this paper draws on the economics literature, it is written for the non-economist.

scholarly journals Path taken by morbidly obese people in search of bariatric surgery in the public health system

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudete Aparecida Conz ◽  
Maria Cristina Pinto de Jesus ◽  
Estela Kortchmar ◽  
Vanessa Augusta Souza Braga ◽  
Renata Evangelista Tavares Machado ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Bariatric Surgery ◽  
Health System ◽  
Professional Training ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Public Health System ◽  
Morbidly Obese ◽  
Obese People ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social

Objective: to understand the path taken in the public health system by people with morbid obesity in the search for bariatric surgery. Method: qualitative research based on the social phenomenology of Alfred Schütz, with 17 hospitalized morbidly obese people, with a scheduled date for bariatric surgery. The phenomenological interview with open questions was used and the statements were analyzed in the light of the theoretical-methodological framework and literature related to the theme. Results: the participants were able to schedule bariatric surgery by referring friends, family and public people. The waiting list for the procedure generated anguish and anxiety due to fear of surgery, weight gain, risk of worsening health and physical limitations, but it helped prepare for its performance. The experience lived in the search for bariatric surgery led these people to want continuity of care in the Basic Health Unit, after the surgery, by professionals trained to meet their needs. Conclusion: the aspects inscribed in the path of people in search of bariatric surgery signal the need to strengthen the assistance-related flows of the public health system and to invest in professional training to reduce the social inequalities in access to bariatric surgery and increased quality of services.

scholarly journals Biblical Appointments for the COVID-19 Control

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (7) ◽  
pp. 01-02
Author(s):  
Efraín Sánchez González
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
The Self ◽  
Definitive Treatment ◽  
Biblical Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Isolate ◽  
Leprosy Control

COVID-19 focuses the international strategic for the Public Health. The absence of a definitive treatment had carried to adopt several measures to control it. The biblical law affording leprosy is showing a defined epidemiologic strategic to control this illness. This strategy is focused in the value of the self inquest, the importance from the scientific research, the useful from the social isolate, the hygiene role in the prevention and the gradual insertion into the society post illness. These elements are showing that the epidemiologic strategic contained in The Bible for the leprosy control is effectively applicable to the COVID-19 control

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