Elements that Impact Population Health

Population health is a wide concept encompassing the eradication of diseases and the intersecting and corresponding elements that impact health. The main objective of population health is to improve the physical and mental health of the whole population. This concept holds that numerous factors, or rather determinants, influence a population’s health and well-being. Notably, some of these determinants lie beyond the grasp of healthcare services. This paper will explore the various factors that will influence population health in the next five to ten years.

Climate change effects are already being felt today, and based on future projections, there will be an unacceptably high and possibly catastrophic hazard to population health. Climate change impacts social and environmental health determinants, including sufficient food, water resources, clean water, clean air, and secure shelters, just to name a few (Watts et al., 2015). As such, the direct effects of climate change include drought, heat stress, floods, more frequent and intense storms, air pollution, food insecurity, and an increase in zoonoses and vector-borne illnesses, among many others. According to the World Health Organization, between 2030 and 2050, these climate changes are expected to bring about approximately two hundred and fifty thousand additional deaths yearly due to heat stress, malaria, malnutrition, and diarrhea. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recommended that to prevent these climate-change-linked deaths and health effects, the world must make sure that the temperatures do not rise over 1.5º C. This means that before the end of the century, carbon dioxide emissions have to be kept below 2900 billion tonnes (Watts et al., 2015). However, as of 2011, emissions from the year 1870 had already exceeded half of this and are expected to exceed the recommended amount in the next two to twenty years (Watts et al., 2015). As such, climate change, if not averted, will only worsen, and the negative consequences, especially on population health, will also increase.

One of the best aspects of this generation is the growth in technological advancements. The scope of the impact that technology can have on population health is only scratching the surface. So far, we can integrate assorted and disparate data to help gain insight into trends that could be used to boost population health. There has been an increase in digital health technologies; for example, medical devices and health informatics tools all not only improve health outcomes but also have a significant potential to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities, which have, for the longest time, been a problem in the healthcare industry. In addition, technological advancement has led to incredible innovation that will help tackle incurable illnesses, especially those with huge prevalence, like cancer. An example of this technology is nanotechnology, which is expected to take over various medical applications, including gene therapy to treat genetic diseases, drug delivery in chemotherapy, diagnosis of diseases, and medical imaging, just to name a few. According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the leading cause of death globally (Cancer (n.d) World Health Organization). As such, innovations that can help solve this problem can save a lot of lives. With this and many other technological innovations, the future of population health can only be expected to get better.

One important factor in determining a person’s health is their lifestyle. World Health Organization stated that 60% of people’s health and quality of life are directly linked to their lifestyle. Habits like smoking, unhealthy eating, drug abuse, dieting, and alcohol consumption are linked to various diseases. In addition, some habits like overuse or misuse of technology, for example, social media apps, are linked to physical and mental health challenges. In 2016, the World Health Organization reported that 39% of adults were obese, which was compared to 6% of women and 3% of men’s obesity rate back in 1975. Obesity has been linked to numerous prevalent diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cancer, just to name a few. Notably, obesity is on the rise, with more than a billion people being obese as of March 2023, according to a report by Forbes magazine (Laurence, 2023). Other lifestyle factors like the use of social media have been linked to unhealthy habits like children’s consumption of unhealthy foods (Tatlow-Golden & Garde, 2020) and eating disorders in teenagers (Frieiro et al., 2021). With the expected growth of the internet and social media platforms, these effects are only expected to rise in the next decade. The same applies to other lifestyle habits like unhealthy eating, especially with increased fast and processed food consumption (Jia et al. 2021).

In conclusion, there are several critical elements that will impact population health in the next five to ten years. Some of these elements include lifestyle factors, technological advancements, and climate change. Some of these factors, specifically technological advancement, lie in the grasp of healthcare services, while others, like climate change, are way out of reach of this grasp. In addition, while technological innovation promises a bright future for population health, other factors like climate change and lifestyle have shown not-so-good results.

References

Cancer (no date) World Health Organization. World Health Organization. Available at: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer (Accessed: April 22, 2023).

Frieiro Padin, P., González Rodríguez, R., Verde Diego, M. D. C., & Vázquez Pérez, R. (2021). Social media and eating disorder psychopathology: A systematic review. Cyberpsychology Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace.

Jia, P., Luo, M., Li, Y., Zheng, J. S., Xiao, Q., & Luo, J. (2021). Fast‐food restaurant, unhealthy eating, and childhood obesity: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Obesity Reviews, 22, e12944.

Laurence, E. (2023) Obesity statistics, Forbes. Forbes Magazine. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/health/body/obesity-statistics/#:~:text=The%20same%20data%20set%20suggests,million%20children%2C%20according%20to%20WHO. (Accessed: April 22, 2023).

Tatlow-Golden, M., & Garde, A. (2020). Digital food marketing to children: exploitation, surveillance and rights violations. Global Food Security, 27, 100423.

Watts, N., Adger, W. N., Agnolucci, P., Blackstock, J., Byass, P., Cai, W., … & Costello, A. (2015). Health and climate change: policy responses to protect public health. The Lancet, 386(10006), 1861-1914.

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

Question