HCM425 IP4

Epidemiology In Public Health

Student’s name

Institutional affiliation

Course name

Professor’s name

Due date

Part 1: John Snow’s Epidemiology Contribution

John Snow is among the most significant figures of the period, considered the founder of modern epidemiology. Some early works done by Dr. John Snow involved using a map of the cholera outbreak in London in 1854. Prior to the process spear-headed by Dr. John Snow, disorders such as cholera were neglected through lack of right understanding and cholera was thought to be a air-borne disease. The ideas of Dr. Snow were to take primary data and try to draw it on a graph to locate the source of the outbreak which he found was a contaminated water pump (Caplan et al., 2020). Snow’s hypothesis that cholera was waterborne further indicated by mapping cholera cases around the water pump changed the method of disease transmission and can be seen as a monumental shift in public health.

This early spatial analytic contribution is one of the core case studies in modern epidemiology, trying to describe the disease, its source, and its dissemination to prevent epidemics. Principles developed within this fledgling field have since been brought into modern times with more advanced tools and methodologies—those of geographic information systems and risk terrain modeling. These methods can analyze environmental and spatial risk variables for disease outbreaks. Epidemiology has evolved by incorporating innovative statistical models, data analysis techniques, and technology in dealing with public health challenges. Dr. Snow's work remains a historical benchmark that illustrates the strength of epidemiologic methods to transform public health practice.

Part 2: Hypertension of African Americans in Georgia

Hypertension is one of the main health risks for African Americans in Georgia. Hypertension happens when there is a lot of plaque buildup in arteries—so much that blood pushes extreme amounts of force against vessel walls. The heart propelling blood through obstructed vessels raises blood pressure. In Georgia, hypertension rates are high, and the problem tends to be more acute in large towns and cities such as Atlanta. WHO (2023) showed that the global age-standardized prevalence of hypertension for those adults aged between 30 and 79 years has risen to over 47%. The findings relate to the nation's statistics, whereby 47% of adults in the United States have hypertension. Amongst the population, African Americans experience higher incidence compared to other ethnic groups. The prevalence is caused by obvious factors, including obesity, diabetes, and stress, among others. Georgia has a high population of African Americans, and this ethnic group is more predisposed to hypertension. This increased risk is in part due to socioeconomic differences, psychosocial stress, and neighborhoods where the promotion of healthy living is not supported (Ko et al., 2021). Managing these social determinants of health is important in decreasing hypertension occurrence and enhancing cardiovascular health among African Americans in Georgia.

References

Caplan, J. M., Kennedy, L. W., & Neudecker, C. H. (2020). Cholera deaths in Soho, London, 1854: risk terrain modeling for epidemiological investigations. PLOS ONE, 15(3), e0230725. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0230725

Ko, Y.-A., Shen, J., Kim, J. H., Topel, M., Mujahid, M., Taylor, H., Quyyumi, A., Sims, M., Vaccarino, V., Baltrus, P., & Lewis, T. (2021). Identifying neighborhood and individual resilience profiles for cardiovascular health: a cross-sectional study of blacks living in the Atlanta metropolitan area. BMJ Open, 11(7), e041435. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-041435

WHO. (2023). Hypertension Georgia 2023 country profile. Www.who.int. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/hypertension-geo-2023-country-profile