Public health is the study of preventing
disease, extending life expectancy, promoting
the dignity of human life by education, and
improving lifestyle choices. Public health
involves the entire community: government,
private sector, and citizens. Public health, and
its related discipline, epidemiology, also
involves analysis and disease modeling. To
understand the foundation of public health,
one must identify key figures and their
contributions to the field. The health of the whole population is a very
important issue. Conditions which are likely to
affect the whole population or large sections
of the population are considered to be public
health issues and are the subject of specific
healthcare promotions and interventions.
These can take a range of forms; those aimed
at raising awareness of symptoms or lifestyle
factors that are implicated in developing a
particular condition; management of health
conditions to improve quality of life and/or
longevity or recognition of symptoms to
obtain early treatment. Public health
interventions are developed to address
identified public health issues.
According to Alcohol Concern Organisation,
more than nine million people in England
consume alcoholic beverages more than the
recommended daily limits. In relation to this,
the National Health Service actually
recommends no more than 3 to 4 units of
alcohol a day for men and two to three units a day
for women. The large number of people
consuming alcohol more than the
recommended limits, highlights the reality that
alcoholism is a major health concern in the UK
which can lead to a multitude of serious
health problems. Alcoholism and chronic use of alcohol are
linked to various medical, psychiatric, social
and family problems. It is safe to declare that alcoholism is a lay
term that simply means excessive intake of
alcohol. It can be divided into two forms
namely; alcohol misuse or abuse and alcohol
dependence. Alcohol misuse simply means
excessive intake of alcohol more than the
recommended limits. A good example of this is
binge drinking.
It showed that there were clearly
associated health impacts with the use of
cannabis, some of these impacts were severe,
and often included mental illness and
behavioural change, especially where high
potency cannabis was used. It also showed
that despite many years of government
strategies and policies, there still does not
appear to be a solution that can reduce the
use or impacts of cannabis and other drugs.
Stress in Health Care line
Studies have shown that healthcare
professionals, particularly nurses and
paramedics, are at an increased risk of work-
related stress compared with other
professionals. This is
likely to be due to the innate long hours and
high pressure of maintaining quality care
standards in the job, as well as pressures
caused by staff shortages, high levels of
patient demand, a lack of adequate
managerial support as well as the risk of
aggression or violence towards nurses from
patients, relatives or even other staff. Stress may be defined as the physical and
emotional response to excessive levelssof
mental or emotional pressure, which may
arise from issues in both the working and
personal life. Stress may cause emotional
symptoms such as anxiety, depressioon,
irritability or low self-esteem, or even manifest
as physical symptoms including insomnia,
headaches, loss of appetite and difficulties
concentrating. Individuals experiencing high
levels of stress may experience difficulty in
controlling emotions such as anger, and may
be more likely to experience illness or
consume increased quantities of alcohol. The pharmaceutical industry has developed
considerably over the past 40 years with
respect to the rate at which new chemical
entities are being discovered. This increased
rate is primarily due to the invention of high
throughput screening, but there is no
correlation between the rate of synthesis of
these novel compounds and the release of
new drugs on the market due to the high
failure rate during the development process.
In order to minimise cost and resources
associated with this loss, effective screening
methods for both pharmacological action and
bioavailability have to be used.
To conclude, One of the main factors that needs to be
considered in public health interventions is
cost-effectiveness.
The NHS has increasing demands on its
services and so, when developing new
interventions or reviewing those already in
place, cost effectiveness is one of the most
important issues. A further aspect of the
effectiveness of public health interventions is
the extent to which they have demonstrably
achieved the aims set for the intervention. These two areas
will now be considered in greater detail.
There is a finite budget available to the NHS to
provide healthcare and this has to be utilised
in the most efficient way. The economic
constraints that have been in place for some
time have created an even greater needed
financial efficiency.
Stress is very dangerous because it lead to many bad things