scholarly journals Start at the Center: Age-Friendly Public Health Systems and Healthy Brain Initiative Frameworks

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 720-720
Author(s):  
Megan Wolfe ◽  
Molly French ◽  
John Shean

Abstract SIGNIFICANCE. Older adults can contribute wisdom, skills, and time to communities. The public health sector has unique capabilities for creating conditions that promote health, foster community connections, and quality of life. METHODS. Two frameworks provide public health (PH) with core strategies to improve outcomes for all older adults. The Framework for Creating an Age-Friendly Public Health System (AFPHS) supports the PH role, as demonstrated by 37 of Florida’s 67 county health departments that are piloting the AFPHS Framework. The Healthy Brain Initiative’s (HBI) State and Local Public Health Partnerships to Address Dementia is a framework for action used by PH to promote cognitive health, improve care for cognitive impairment, and increase caregiving supports. Both frameworks call for utilizing regional data and cross-sector partnerships. IMPLICATIONS. PH can contribute to community-wide initiatives to promote well-being and community connections for older adults. Cross-sector partnerships can start by using available tools and planning guides.

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 252-252
Author(s):  
Karon Phillips

Abstract Funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation, Trust for America’s Health’s (TFAH) Healthy Aging initiative has supported states as they develop Age-Friendly Public Health Systems (AFPHS). The goal of this national initiative is to make healthy aging a core function of state and local public health departments. Through this initiative, TFAH is working directly with states as they work to improve the health of older adults, with a particular focus on health equity. Given the increased prevalence of health disparities, prioritizing health equity has become important for many organizations. Through new partnerships and collaboration with aging services providers and health care systems, public health departments have developed innovative ways to improve the health and well-being of older adults from racial/ethnically diverse backgrounds. Areas of collaboration between the public health and aging sectors include sharing data on older adult health and working together to address social isolation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Marcelo Korc ◽  
Fred Hauchman

This paper highlights the important leadership role of the public health sector, working with other governmental sectors and nongovernmental entities, to advance environmental public health in Latin America and the Caribbean toward the achievement of 2030 Sustainable Development Goal 3: Health and Well-Being. The most pressing current and future environmental public health threats are discussed, followed by a brief review of major historical and current international and regional efforts to address these concerns. The paper concludes with a discussion of three major components of a regional environmental public health agenda that responsible parties can undertake to make significant progress toward ensuring the health and well-being of all people throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne De Biasi ◽  
Megan Wolfe ◽  
Jane Carmody ◽  
Terry Fulmer ◽  
John Auerbach

Abstract Background and Objectives The public health system in America—at all levels—has relatively few specialized initiatives that prioritize the health and well-being of older adults. And when public health does address the needs of older adults, it is often as an afterthought. In consultation with leaders in public health, health care, and aging, an innovative Framework for an Age-Friendly Public Health System (Framework) was developed outlining roles that public health could fulfill, in collaboration with aging services, to address the challenges and opportunities of an aging society. Research Design and Methods With leadership from Trust for America’s Health and The John A. Hartford Foundation, the Florida Departments of Health and Elder Affairs are piloting the implementation of this Framework within Florida’s county health departments and at the state level. The county health departments are expanding data collection efforts to identify older adult needs, creating new alliances with aging sector partners, coordinating with other agencies and community organizations to implement evidence-based programs and policies that address priority needs, and aligning efforts with the age-friendly communities and age-friendly health systems movements. Results, and Discussion and Implications The county health departments in Florida participating in the pilot are leveraging the Framework to expand public health practice, programs, and policies that address health services and health behaviors, social, and economic factors and environmental conditions that allow older adults to age in place and live healthier and more productive lives. The model being piloted in Florida can be tailored to meet the unique needs of each community and their older adult population.


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 100-107
Author(s):  
Anca Dinicu

AbstractAlthough the health sector is a great contributor to the well-being status of every individual and community as a whole, and it is recognized that good health supports the economy, the idea of connecting it with the national security was not very much promoted by the public policymakers, nor by the academics. Over the last three decades, not only that the situation has started to change, but even the concept of health security has gained acceptance and attractiveness. Nevertheless, there is a great debate in theory and practice concerning the real meaning of the concept and the way of understanding it by the professionals from different domains connected with the public health sector. Not to mention that its importance is brought into discussion mainly in times of crisis and the disagreement regarding its content and scope is much deeper between developed and developing countries. This paper proposes to make the necessary distinction between the concepts that constitute the foundation of the specific analysis, but without treating them in a separate way. Also, by dealing with the concept of health security, it aims at highlighting the role of government in the process and last, but not least, to emphasize the need of international cooperation in the global age.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 552-552
Author(s):  
Gwen McGhan ◽  
Deirdre McCaughey

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of our lives, but the population most at risk are older adults. Canadians over the age of 60 account for 36% of all COVID-19 cases but 95% of the deaths, and over two-thirds of ICU admissions. Older adults with chronic health conditions are especially at risk. Prior to COVID-19, family caregivers (FCGs) for older adults were managing their caregiving duties at the limits of their emotional, physical and financial capacity. As such, FCGs need special consideration during these times of uncertainty to support them in their role and enable the continuation of care for their older adult family members. This symposium will report on independently conducted studies from across Canada that have examined how the pandemic and associated public health measures have influenced resource utilization by FCGs and the older adults for whom they provide care. McAiney et al’s study examines the deleterious effect of reduced services on community dwelling FCGs and the wellbeing of their family member with dementia. Parmar & Anderson examined the effect of pandemic restrictions on FCGs of frail older adults and found they were experiencing increased distress and decreased wellbeing. Flemons et al report on the experiences of FCGs managing caregiving without critical services and the effect of restrictive visiting policies and the well-being of the caregiving dyad (FCGs and family member with dementia). Finally, McGhan et al will share how FCGs evaluated the efficacy of public health measures and the public health messaging about the pandemic.


2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Samwel J. Kabote

This paper examines the effect of corruption on quality of public health services. Corruption, in Tanzania, is a national concern that upsets public health services. There is a public outcry that corruption is increasing in the public health sector while the government’s effort to combat the phenomenon is unimpressive. This poses worries on the quality of public health services. The current study adopted cross-sectional research design, and a total of 180 respondents were involved in the survey. The Mann Whitney U Test was used to compare differences between perceived quality of health services and respondents’ characteristics. Overall, 87.2% of the respondents perceived low quality of health services, and corruption affected quality of health services to a greater extent. Based on age, employment and wealth status, there was significant difference on reporting perceived quality of health services at 5% and 1% level of significance. In addition, respondents’ sex and employment status showed significant difference in reporting the extent to which corruption affected quality of health services at 5% level of significance. The paper draws out two conclusions: first, the quality of health services was low. Second, corruption exacerbated poor quality of health services. To that effect, interventions to combat corruption in the public health sector are needed so as to improve quality of health services.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-129
Author(s):  
Adam Dwi Juliansyah ◽  
Dyah Ayu Febriani ◽  
Hisyam Yusril Hidayat ◽  
Mohammad Hernanda Trianggoro ◽  
Vanissa Noorizqa Prastowo

The problem in the health sector is one of the complicated problems faced by the government, this is evidenced by the extraordinary events (KLB) in various regions, one of which is the Hepatitis A outbreak in Depok that accumulates 306 cases. The main cause of these outbreaks is the low awareness and mentality of the public regarding the application of healthy and clean lifestyles and the government's preventive ability in terms of policies. Seeing this problem, the City Government of Depok has a strategic plan in the form of the Smart Healthy City (SHC) Depok policy as one of the policy efforts in order to improve the quality of public health through implementing technology and increasing competence in realizing the policy. This paper aims to review how the SHC Depok strategic plan policy can be collaboratively updated to carry out a mental revolution not only at the local government level, but also that policy can be understood by the public. The goal of the mental revolution is not only towards society, but also from the side of the government and various other parties. This paper was compiled from primary data in the form of in-depth interviews with various informants and secondary data from books, journals, and electronic sources. The expected outcome of the SHC Depok policy renewing itself is to improve the quality of services and improve the quality of public health based on preventive and collaborative actions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 437-449
Author(s):  
Mina Fanea-Ivanovici ◽  
Marius-Cristian Pană ◽  
Mihail Dumitru Sacală ◽  
Cristina Voicu

The aim of the paper is to provide an analysis of the dynamics of the public and private health sectors in Romania. Using descriptive statistics, it first investigates whether the public health sector follows the reformation trends suggested by official strategies and reports, and to what extent the private health sector is a viable alternative to the public one, by analysing the demand for private inpatient services. We look into the reduction in the occupancy degree in public hospitals as a means to increase the efficiency of public health expenditures, which represents one way to reform the public health sector. We also find that the increase in the occupancy degree in private hospitals is negatively correlated with the quality of services provided by public hospitals, but positively correlated with population wealth. Increase in the occupancy degree in private hospitals is an indicator of poor quality of services in public hospitals. It can also be explained by increasing expectations and requirements of beneficiaries as a reflection of increase in wealth and of their will to preserve their health capital. Using regression models, the paper then proposes the Wealth-Health Index, a composite indicator to explore the connection between wealth and health and the dynamics of the private health sector. Investment in physical infrastructure and the size of medical staff in the private sector is positively correlated with wealth increase.


2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Ptochos ◽  
Dimitrios Panopoulos ◽  
Kostas Metaxiotis ◽  
Dimitrios Askounis ◽  
John Psarras

2020 ◽  
Vol 135 (5) ◽  
pp. 650-657
Author(s):  
Jonathon P. Leider ◽  
Katie Sellers ◽  
Kyle Bogaert ◽  
Brian C. Castrucci ◽  
Paul C. Erwin

Objectives More than 16 000 graduate degrees in public health are awarded annually. Yet only 14% of the governmental public health workforce has formal public health training of any kind, and 8% has a master of public health (MPH) degree. We characterized the differences among governmental staff members with master’s degrees across US health departments. Methods We used data from the 2017 Public Health Workforce Interests and Needs Survey, a national survey of state and local public health departments (43 669 responses; response rate, 48%). We examined the characteristics of the workforce by educational attainment and compared respondents who had obtained a “terminal” (ie, highest degree obtained) MPH degree with respondents who had obtained a terminal non–public health (non-PH) master’s degree. Results Respondents who had a non-PH master’s degree were as likely as respondents who had an MPH degree to hold a supervisory role (43% vs 41%; P = .67). We found only 1 significant difference between the 2 groups: respondents aged ≤40 with a terminal MPH degree were significantly less likely than respondents aged ≤40 with a non-PH master’s degree to earn more than the national average salary (adjusted odds ratio = 0.67; 95% CI, 0.47-0.97; P = .03). Conclusions We found only marginal differences in career outcomes for people working in governmental public health who had a terminal MPH degree vs a terminal non-PH master’s degree. This finding does not necessitate a full reconsideration of the MPH as it relates to governmental public health practice but a greater recognition that there are multiple paths into practice.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document