Fluent Essays

A healthy people 2020 goal that is important to me and in my community is the issue of immunizations and infectious diseases. I work in a pediatric environment and this issue is something I come across everyday. Not all parents are well educated on the benefits of receiving vaccinations. Due to I believe social media, parents have misguided information, and incorrect information that gets passed around. While many professional organizations and agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emphasize the importance of scheduled vaccinations, advocates of the anti-immunization movement endorse the view that vaccinations are unsafe and potentially harmful. As Johnstone (2017) states,” mistrust in science has compromised the possibility of engaging in sound policy analysis owing partially to justified concerns by anti-vaccination proponents regarding outright manipulation and undue interference for commercial interests”. Claims by such supporters have motivated a number of parents to refuse their children the right to obtain immunizations. In spite of this, overwhelming evidence continues to support the efficacy of immunizations on various public health outcomes.Recent outbreaks of diseases such as measles and whooping cough are a reminder that infectious illnesses once thought of as eradicated or “rare” are making a gradual comeback in the United States. Dube, Vivion, and MacDonald (2015) acknowledge that immunization programs usually rely on high vaccine uptake in order to be successful in reducing the incidence and prevalence of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs). In addition to offering direct protection for the vaccinated individuals, immunization programs also induce indirect protection through herd immunity for the whole community, especially with regard to those infections spread from one person to another. Its important at my job, that I inform parents the risk of not having their children vaccinated. I have witnessed very sick children, most couldve been prevented.ReferencesJohnstone, M.-J. (2017). Ethics, evidence and the anti-vaccination debate. Australian Nursing & Midwifery Journal , 24 (8), 27Dube, E., Vivion, M., & MacDonald, N. E. (2015). Vaccine hesitancy, vaccine refusal and the anti-vaccine movement: Influence, impact and implications. Expert Review of Vaccines , 14 (1), 99–117. Health Assessment and PromotionGood health is critical to the social and economic growth of the world as well as the improved quality of life for all people. Thus, certain conditions and resources become critical components of improved health within individual communities. In other words, people require a minimum of safe living conditions, adequate nutrition, suitable financial income, and equality. At a closer look, many communities suffer from food safety issues which ought to be addressed immediately with the following health promotion action areas: building healthy public policy, creating supportive environments, strengthening community actions, developing personal skills, and reorienting health services. Unfortunately, among forty-eight million Americans suffer from food-borne illnesses each year (“Food Safety,” 2020). With that, more than three thousand deaths occur per year due to food germs and poor behaviors leading to some form of food contamination. Therefore, the first step to rectifying this issue is to build better public policies towards food safety. The food industry is continuously battling issues with employees preparing food including, but not limited to variation in food preparation skills, inability to trace food items to the source, and lack of employee policy. Here, it is imperative for the food industry to create policies diminishing the number of employees attending work when sick, especially those handling food items. Then, leaders within the food industry need to take necessary steps with policymakers in order to set food safety and preparation standards as well as demanding credentials from food distributors to understand exactly where the food is coming from. Next, food-borne illnesses affect all people with those at the age above fifty years and under four years as the most susceptible to certain bacteria strains. In this way, the community must act together to build a supportive environment protecting populations with a greater risk of illness. If better policies within the food industry lead to improved food safety, it is likely the population will increase in quality of life and decrease the burden to healthcare facilities. Moreover, a supportive environment includes open communication on how people may safely handle food to decrease the risk of food-borne illnesses. Easy steps to take if informing local people of what temperatures certain foods should be cooked, what foods need to be separated from others, how to safely store food, and properly cleaning for food handling (“Food Safety,” 2020). Community support inevitably leads to the strengthening of community actions. Here, the community ought to know about hazardous products and consumer complaints regarding public health. The necessary officials, including healthcare professionals, government officials, and food providers, must work together to reveal to the public any food recalls or potential hazards within the community. Besides that, the community needs to understand how to dispose of such food items and why they should do so. Further, pertinent officials within the food industry must identify the source of the problem and eliminate it from declining the health of the local community. Additional initiatives include control activities among the distribution and sale of food as well as food practices within individual households. Moreover, developing the personal skills of each individual is the quickest and most efficient way to progress food safety and quality of life to the community. The first step to better food safety within households is for any person in the kitchen handling food items to thoroughly wash his or her hands as well as disinfect the counter tops and any cooking tools. Then, raw meats, poultry, and eggs must be separated from other items. More importantly, cooking raw foods until hot kills any lingering germs. Additionally, expired foods must never be used and excess foods when cooking must be stored properly. Perhaps most critical, if a household suspects food-borne illness, it must be reported to local officials immediately. Finally, reorienting health services to lead to better food safety relates to inspection, surveillance, administrative compliance, and judicial enforcement. The United States Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture may focus food safety efforts including distributing safety experts throughout local communities, supporting education and assistance, holding the source of widespread food-borne illnesses accountable, conducting frequent surveys and inspections, enforcing food safety compliance, responding immediately to outbreaks diminishing public health, and preventing future outbreaks (“Operational Strategy,” 2017). Overall, officials and community members working together ultimately leads to increased public health in terms of food safety.ReferencesFood safety (2020). Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectiv...Operational strategy for implementing the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA)protecting public health by strategic implementation of prevention-oriented food safety standards (2017). United States Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved fromhttps://www.fda.gov/food/food-safety-modernization-act-fsma/operational-strategy-implementing-fda-food-safety-modernization-act-fsma