Why the United States Is Concerned About Improving the Health Status of the World
The world health status is a modern concept of human development in science today, although it has roots in antiquity. From the beginnings of human civilization, it was recognized that polluted water and lack of proper waste disposal spread communicable diseases. The early religious convictions attempted to control behavior that specifically associated to health with some types of food eaten which included regulating certain indulgent behaviors, such as drinking alcohol or sexual relations (Grodin, 2005). The establishment of governments such as the United States placed responsibility on leaders to develop public health policies and programs in order to gain some understanding of the causes of disease and thus ensure social stability prosperity, and maintain order.
The United States is concerned about improving the health status of the world to provide leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed to control diseases.
Benefits of Public Health System in the United States
The United States recognizes the importance of public health programs in reducing the incidence disease, disability, and the effects of aging and other physical and mental health conditions. In recent years the United States has provided vaccinations and made incredible strides in promoting public health funding of health programs such as USAID. The government has also helped in the eradication of smallpox and controlled diseases that have plagued people for thousands of years.
The other benefits of public health system in the United States include providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships where joint action is needed, shaping a research agenda and stimulating the young generation, translation and dissemination of valuable knowledge regarding health, setting norms and standards that promote and monitor the implementation of public health programs, it has also helped the government of the United States to articulate ethical and evidence-based policy options that monitor the health situation of the people.
The United States also has a public health surveillance program that serve as an early warning system for impending public health emergencies (Grodin, 2005). It also monitors and clarifies the epidemiology of health problems in the United States and allows priorities to be set in regard to the government’s public health policies and strategies. To some extent the surveillance program in the United State can be used to diagnose, investigate, and monitor health problems and health hazards of the people.
Importance of Good Health Status of the World
The central ethical dilemma in public health is not for humanitarian reasons but to balance respect for individual freedom and liberty with the responsibility of governments to provide their citizens with some degree of protection in relation to health. With the present economic crisis within many governments, it has become hard for them to fulfill their role of ensuring certain basic services, such as clean air and water, are provided to the people (Gruskin, 1999). Measures that were previously hotly contested and seen as “nanny state interference”, such as pasteurization of milk and fortification of white bread, are no longer contentious.
With the increased number of diseases and advancement of microbes into drug resistant stages, the traditional bioethics that was applied in the old days can not work today and hence modern techniques of disease control need to be applied. This can only be achieved by Educating and training public health professionals throughout the world in Medical Schools, Veterinary Schools, Schools of Nursing, Schools of Public Health, and Schools of Public Affairs (Gruskin, 1999). The training typically requires a university degree with a focus on core disciplines of biostatistics, epidemiology, health services administration, health policy, health education, behavioral science and environmental health.
The Return on Investment (ROI)
Return on Investment (ROI) is a performance measure that is used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. In order to calculate Return on Investment (ROI) the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment and the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio.
In the above formula “gains from investment”, refers to the profits obtained from selling the investment of interest. Return on investment is a very popular metric because of its versatility and simplicity. That is, if an investment does not have a positive ROI, or if there are other opportunities with a higher Return on Investment (ROI), then the investment should not be undertaken.
References
Grodin, M. A. (2005) “Perspectives on health and human rights.” USA: Routledge.
Gruskin, S. (1999). “Health and human rights.” USA: Routledge.