GLOBAL HEALTH POLICY

Global Health Policy

Table of Contents

Introduction2

Pertinent Issues to the delivery of Healthcare3

US Involvement in Healthcare5

Health Care Policies in Practice6

HR 941 - Bill Related to Health Care9

Conclusion10

References12

Global Health Policy

Introduction

Health care is assumed to be able to cope better with the changing pattern of disease than hospital-oriented health care. Strong health care has a generalist approach, taking into account the social and family context of patients, and provides continuity, comprehensiveness and coordination. Health care can counteract the current fragmentation of health care by guiding patients through the system where necessary. Also, the integration of health care and public health is important for tackling health inequalities, especially in areas with low social cohesion. Health care favors access to care for the population in general and minority groups in particular. Health care is also more responsive to patients' needs and preferences. The objective of global health policy is to improve population health by enhancing accountability and improving the evidence base of global health programs through the provision of best possible information and rigorous monitoring and evaluation. The department's members generate knowledge and ideas through their research, strengthen technical and leadership skills through educational programs, and enhance national capacities through collaborative projects, especially in the developing world (Stoddart, 2009).

Pertinent Issues to the delivery of Healthcare

Public health policies seek to modify these behaviors, thereby avoiding unnecessary expenditures. In terms of the relative costs of public health and health care services, numerous studies demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of public health strategies such as smoking cessation, weight control, and dental preventive care. Evidence consistently shows a correlation between public health spending and improved mortality rates. Although many health care services also have demonstrable cost-effectiveness, the cumulative effect of our country's sizeable investment in health care is limited. Even the most optimistic statistics estimate that health care has contributed less than four percent to the decline in mortality since 1900. Furthermore, future investments in medical research and development will produce many more “half way technologies,” which “add small increments to health at large cost.” Because policymakers have deprived public health of stable and adequate funding, there are still substantial gains to be made from investments in health promotion and disease prevention. In contrast, continuing to preferentially fund health care “perpetuates a system that does more and more for fewer people.”

Data indicate that individual behavioral risk factors — e.g., smoking, poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, excessive alcohol consumption, risky sexual behavior, firearms, motor vehicle accidents, and illicit substance abuse — account for nearly 50 percent of all premature deaths in the U.S. each year. It is not surprising then that public health interventions targeting behavior modification have dramatically improved the population's health. For example, although tobacco still contributes to approximately 18 percent of premature deaths, tobacco-related mortality has been significantly reduced through policies such as cigarette taxes, packet warnings, advertising restrictions, and smoking bans (Simpson, 2007). Similarly, evidence suggests that policies targeting the built environment have a greater effect on health than do investments in health ...