Part -1: Health Status in Canada
This week's Learning Resources include the 2010 report "Stepping It Up: Moving the Focus from Health Care in Canada to a Healthier Canada." Recognizing that socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental conditions have a strong impact on the health of its people, the Health Council of Canada created the document to challenge the mindset that the Ministry of Health is the sole responsible government body that can improve the health of Canadians. As you begin to explore the population health status in various countries around the world, think about the conceptual and practical challenges inherent in shifting the focus from individual health to population health. What is being done in the various nations, and what still remains to be done?
This week, you examine Canadian initiatives intended to better health inequities and consider what principles might be drawn from the Canadian experience that can be applied to other societies.
Assignment: Upstream Approaches to Canadian Population Health
Although Canada is contiguous to the United States and has some cultural and historical similarities, Canada's population enjoys a vastly superior health status. Reasons are many, can be traced historically, and are related to a different view of the role of government. The experience of Canada demonstrates that neither a heterogeneous population, nor a health system that has waiting lines for services, are reasons for poor health. By looking critically at what produces good health in Canada, much can be learned about steps the U.S. might need to take if population health is its goal.
The Canadian Best Practices Portal challenges Canadian public health practitioners and researchers to create upstream interventions aimed at the source of a population health problem or benefit. What is being done to address the influences on population health in Canada?
To prepare for this Assignment, review your Learning Resources. Search the Internet and scholarly research for examples of Canadian "upstream interventions" that can be put forth as examples of either effective or ineffective efforts to improve population health.
The Assignment (2-4 pages):
- Provide a description of an existing intervention in Canada, intended to improve health inequities. Include an explanation of the inequity and how the intervention targets upstream determinants of health.
- Describe the organizations involved and/or social policies enacted in the implementation of the intervention.
- Explain whether or not the intervention was/is successful and what lessons public health practitioners can learn from that experience that might improve population health in the United States.
- Expand on your insights utilizing the Learning Resources.
Use APA formatting for your Assignment and to cite your resources.
Part -2:
What Can America Learn From Japan?
As the week's resources reveal, the Japanese experience demonstrates the importance of cultural issues, such as caring and sharing, that profoundly influence health outcomes. Without considering culture, one cannot begin to explain why Japan is the world's healthiest nation on most mortality indicators despite having a high proportion of men smoking and the highest rates of low-birth weight babies among rich nations.
Furthermore, health outcomes in Japan are significantly better than those in the U.S., even though the U.S. spends much more on health care. What can the U.S. learn from this country?
To prepare for this Discussion, review your Learning Resources on Japan's health status.
Post a brief analysis of how reconstruction after World War II contributed to Japan's contemporary health status. Then, summarize one significant political feature and one legal feature of Japan's contemporary health care system that contributes to Japan's population health status. Offer two reasons (historical, political, legal, and/or cultural) for the disparity between the Japanese and American populations in health achievement. Finally, suggest two lessons other countries can learn from the Japanese experience to improve their own health status. Expand on your insights utilizing the Learning Resources.
Use APA formatting for your Discussion and to cite your resources.
Part -3:
Discussion: Is the EU Closing the Gap on Health Inequities?
The World Health Organization and European Union (EU) DETERMINE Consortium has acknowledged gaps in health equities within and between member countries. A variety of efforts are underway to help close those gaps.
To prepare for this Discussion, review your Learning Resources, particularly the readings from the DETERMINE Consortium and European Commission and the National Social Marketing Centre video programs. Select two EU countries on which to focus. Look at efforts in those countries designed to reduce health inequities and inequality and examine appropriate outcomes for those efforts. Evaluate the performance of the health systems in those countries as reflected in population health data for each of the countries. Be sure to access the CIA country profiles (found within the CIA World Factbook) and WHO websites provided earlier for the most current resources.
Post a brief comparison of the health status of the two EU countries you selected with that of the U.S. Then, describe two efforts in those EU countries to reduce health inequities. Explain what lessons can be learned from the EU efforts you selected that can be implemented in the U.S. nationally or by individual states. Explain how the community you live in might adapt these interventions. Expand on your insights utilizing the Learning Resources.
Use APA formatting for your Discussion and to cite your resources.
Attachment:- Discussions.zip