healthy people 2020 is a plan introduced by the federal government to promote healthy communities in the united states. the plan identifies 12 leading health indicators that can be used to measure the relative healthiness of various communities within the country. the goals of healthy people 2020 are to increase the quality of life and the life expectancy of americans,
to create environments that promote good health, to encourage healthy behaviors in all life stages, and finally, to eliminate health disparities amongst the communities that make up the nation. it is this last goal that focuses on closing the gaps in health amongst different populations.
this goal inspired the movement toward population-based health care, which takes into account the prevalence of different conditions so that prevention and treatment campaigns can target the people who need them most. the office on minority health has a program called the "initiative to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health." as part of this program, the office of minority health tracks statistics among different populations for five different health issues: infant mortality, cancer management, diabetes,
cardiovascular, or heart disease, and immunizations. a health disparity, or gap, exists when one group is significantly healthier than another with regards to a particular health indicator. once a health disparity has been identified, health officials can work to correct it by generating education programs, prevention campaigns, and treatment options that are customized to reach the populations that are most at risk. one of the fastest growing populations in the united states is the hispanic population. this rapid growth makes hispanic people a priority in public health since they comprise an ever larger portion of the u.s. population. each year the centers for disease control and prevention, or cdc, publishes lists of the leading
causes of death for various age groups, genders, and races, or ethnicities. for the hispanic population in 2009, the leading causes of death were cancer, heart disease, accidents, stroke, chronic liver disease, chronic lower respiratory disease, flu and pneumonia, homicide,
and kidney disease. this information can serve to direct public health initiatives. in other words, we can see what the biggest problems are for this population and do our best to fix them. since cancer is the leading cause of death, it might be smart to investigate which types of cancer are most commonly causing death amongst hispanics, and what is causing these types of cancer. once we figure out that information, education programs can be designed for this population to make more people aware of the risks, and how they can change their behavior to avoid those risks. over time, as improvements are made,
we might see changes in the list of leading causes of death, which might lead us to change our focus for public health measures. in addition to monitoring a specific ethnic group, we can also hone in on a specific age group within that ethnicity. suppose we were to examine the leading causes of death amongst hispanic youth between the ages of 15 and 19. the leading causes of death amongst members of this group are as follows: suicide, cancer, birth defects, stroke,
septic infections, and pregnancy and childbirth. just as before, this information can help public health officials decide which are the most important issues on which to focus. since accidents can be hard to foresee or control, health officials might focus instead on the second leading cause of death for hispanics ages 15 to 19: homicide. this could involve looking into drug and alcohol use, gang activity, or weapons control for this age group and ethnicity. health officials might also want to investigate disparities with regards to this cause of death, for example, why are more males the victim of homicide than females in this group? why is homicide the number one killer of african
americans in this age group while it's only the number two killer amongst hispanics?
Healthy People 2020 Diabetes,all this information can help direct programs aimed at reducing homicide deaths amongst teens each year. as you can see, gathering information about the prevalence of various health issues is crucial to population-based health care. the data can help to inform decisions on which health concerns should be priorities, and for which groups of people. population-based health care is therefore an important strategy for eliminating health disparities amongst various population groups.
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