The health of the nation is one of the major concerns of any state. Healthy populations guarantee the ability of a country to evolve and move towards the achievement of new goals. However, today the situation remains complex because of multiple problems and health issues linked to the environmental or other epidemiological factors. Fort this reason, it is vital to select strategies to reduce the incidence and the number of undesired behaviors and promote the health of the population. It can be achieved by the comprehensive analysis of problematic areas via statistical and epidemiological tools to offer recommendations and strategies. For this reason, the problems of alcohol abuse and tobacco use are selected for the research as the nagging problems of contemporary society.
The choice of problematic areas is justified by several factors. First of all, regardless of multiple efforts, the problem of alcohol use remains topical nowadays. Statistics show that alcoholism is the third leading lifestyle-related cause of death globally (WHO, 2018). Moreover, 40% of all hospital beds across the state are used to provide care to patients who suffer from the negative effects caused by alcohol abuse (Sudhinaraset et al., 2016). Another dangerous factor is that many young people face a high risk of becoming alcohol addicted, which means that there is a serious threat to the nation’s health in the future (WHO, 2018). The given factors evidence the need for the intervention and the use of strategies that will help to promote the positive shift towards the reduced number of addicted people.
As for tobacco use, the situation is also complex. WHO (2020) reports that about 8 million people die from smoking every year. Tobacco is a major cause of the emergence and development of multiple complications such as cancer, heart disease, hypertension (WHO, 2020). At the same time, smoking can also be dangerous to people who surround addicted people, or second-hand smokers, as they also face the high risk of acquiring and developing multiple health diseases (Mwenda et al., 2018). Although there are numerous regulations and prohibitions to protect populations from tobacco use, the number of smokers remains high, as about 34.2 million adults in the USA have the given addiction (Mwenda et al., 2018). For this reason, there is a need for effective measures to solve the problem.
Research works focused on alcohol abuse traditionally outline some important descriptive characteristics. First, a higher percentage of addicted people is observed in low-income communities or problematic families, as alcoholism is viewed as a way to escape reality and avoid solving the nagging problem (Sudhinaraset et al., 2016). Men consume more alcohol than women, which means that this type of abuse is related to gender, as heavy drinking behaviors are also prevalent among males (Sudhinaraset et al., 2016). Among ethnic groups, Whites have higher drinking rates than other ones (Sudhinaraset et al., 2016). Moreover, there is a relationship between alcohol abuse and social determinants of health as individuals with better support have a lower risk of engaging in abusive behaviors (Sudhinaraset et al., 2016).
Speaking about tobacco use, several factors should be considered. First, individuals from low-level communities or families belong to group risks (Mwenda et al., 2018). Statistics show that 80% of tobacco users live in low and middle-income groups characterized by the heavy burden of tobacco-related illnesses and complications (Mwenda et al., 2018). Additionally, there mean age of tobacco use initiation is 16 years for women and 19 years for men (Mwenda et al., 2018). Smoking is also associated with people with no or middle education, while tobacco use rates among university graduates are low (Mwenda et al., 2018). In such a way, descriptive characteristics of tobacco and alcohol use are similar, which means that it is possible to offer practical and universal solutions.
The selected groups can be studied by applying several epidemiological tools. The prevalence of tobacco and alcohol uses in various groups is analyzed by using statistical data and its following organization in graphs and charts (Aschengrau & Seage, 2018). Second, the incidence is a potent epidemiological tool used to analyze the selected groups (Aschengrau & Seage, 2018). Building an epidemic curve can help to visualize the current situation in various groups and trace the development of the problem and monitor how many strategies affect it. Risk ratios can be useful for outlining groups that face the biggest chance of developing dependence or undesired behaviors (Aschengrau & Seage, 2018). Finally, mapping is a tool that helps to investigate the current epidemiologic situation and conclude about the need for particular interventions.
The significant scope of the problem means that there is a need for improvement. It can be achieved by improving the well-being of risk groups and educating them about risks associated with the given behaviors. Second, young people start to smoke and drink early, which means that it is vital to provide them with assistance and recommendations on how to avoid engaging in these addictive behaviors and remain healthy. Third, it is essential to outline the adverse effects of both smoking and alcohol use and diseases that can precondition the critical deterioration in the quality of life and early death. The given measures might help to improve the situation, which is nowadays described as a pandemic.
References
Aschengrau, A., & Seage, G. (2018). Essentials of epidemiology in public health (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Mwenda, V., Gathecha, G., Kendagor, A., Kibachio, J., & Macharia, E. (2018). Characteristics and factors associated with tobacco use: findings of Kenya Global Adult Tobacco Survey, 2014. Tobacco Induced Diseases, 16(1). Web.
Sudhinaraset, M., Wigglesworth, C., & Takeuchi, D. (2016). Social and cultural contexts of alcohol use. Influences in a social–ecological framework. Alcohol Research. Current Review, 38(1), 35-45. Web.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2018). Alcohol. World Health Organization. Web.
World Health Organization (WHO). (2020). Tobacco. World Health Organization. Web.