During the past century, life expectancy and wealth not only increased notably in the US, but all around the world. In the early 1900s life expectancy in the modern Western democracies was around 40 years old, and nowadays it is almost the double. This amazing rise in living standards in just a hundred years was due to the great advancements in Public Health, especially in sanitation, water filtration and vaccine development.
The first decade of the 21st century had different, and still notable, achievements in Public Health, which are discussed in this article by the CDC. These achievements can be summarized in vaccine preventable diseases, prevention and control of infectious diseases, smoking bans, healthier mothers and babies, motor vehicle safety, cardiovascular disease preventions, safer workplaces, lead poisoning prevention and public health preparedness and response.
The context in which societies are living is what determines what it is needed to make their lives healthier and better. As we can see, in earlier centuries the greatest health related problems were due to the lack of sanitation and medical resources; but after the 20th century, most of the health problems we're facing have to do with the new ways and habits that we have been able to incorporate in our lives because of the growth of wealth and technological advances that we were able to achieve as soon as we were free from our previous problems. Take for example health problems derived from smoking; injuries from car accidents or firearms; the easier spread of epidemics, due to globalization and modern means of transportation that make traveling easier; heart problems, diabetes and obesity, due to the change in our diets because of the increasing sugars and carbs with all the new "industrialized food system"; childhood lead poisoning due to industrial pollution; and even the fear of bioterrorism, and our ability to respond to it, are some of the biggest health problems we now face.
For this reason, I consider that the greatest health achievements of the next ten years will have to deal with these great problems we have created in the last ten years: environment degradation, increasing incidence of carcinogens in our daily lives, hard access to natural and healthy foods and the development of biological weapons. In my opinion, solving these problems will have to do both with policy and advocacy (environmental laws, food regulations, and national security) and technological/medical advances (development of sustainable agriculture that can produce enough resources for the increasing population, alternate methods that can reduce the incidence of carcinogens, and development of vaccines for the new diseases).
You made an interesting point that the greatest problems we face are of our own creation. I agree that carcinogens and biological weapons pose a large threat and find it tragic that we are wasting our effort creating and destroying unnecessary problems.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you contrasted the health problems in the past centuries and the problems we have now. I think it is very ironic how the problems that we are now facing are caused by the advancements we have made in order to overcome past problems. I feel that in the future, if we can predict and analyze more about the long-run effects of the policies and such we create, we could stop new problems from arising.
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ReplyDeleteThis post definitely pushed me to think about today's health issues in a new way. It is true that many of the problems we currently face have been established because of relatively recent innovations in technology as well as the "luxuries" that we as a nation enjoy in today. As a country that has been viewed as very wealthy, we have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and this way of living has actually harmed our health as a whole.
ReplyDeleteThere are many things that we take for granted today. Our environment's resources are becoming more and more scarce without us realizing it. This is why i definitely agree with you in the need of policy making to protect our environment. Another point you made that really called my attention was about national security. Biological weapons will certainly always be a really big threat to a country's security. It is important for the country to be prepared in case of any attack that could be lethal to our country.
ReplyDeleteQuite a truth, that our problems are often our own invention
ReplyDeleteor that of our society.
You didn't mention if any of these achievements were particularly interesting to you,or had a personal affect (question 2 of the assignment). Did they?
I am really appreciative of the steps towards cardiovascular disease prevention, mainly because it has highlighted how important our activity levels and diet are in our overall mortality, and it has led scientists and physicians to be greater advocates for research in dietary behaviors. And now, the evidence I showing that much of the dietary behaviors that are assumed to be personal, can be very controlled by the environment, by socioeconomic status, by knowledge and by access. Our personal dietary habits are often not just personal choices. So I’m interested to see where we go as a country with regards to access to healthier nutrition for all, and related to that, what advances we will make in changing growing trend towards obesity.
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