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Universal Disease and Medical Conditions

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Introduction

In the recent past, concern and attention has been directed towards climate change, politics and the war on terrorism. The federal and state governments have shifted their focus and attention in trying to eradicate these national issues that have been affecting the world at large. The issue of climate change has brought about a lot of unwarranted effects on the climatic conditions experienced in the US and other countries (Brownson et al., 2018). Issues such as heat waves and floods arising from Hurricanes have been reported rapidly in the country. Thus, its justified for the authorities to concern themselves in trying to balance the climate from the effects brought about by human activities and practices.

This justification can also be extended to other emotive issues such as the war on terrorism and politics, which also affect the welfare of the people as well as the performance of their economy. Without a healthy population, the government will not be able to combat the war on terrorism successfully and neither will it be able to mitigate the environment against the ill effects of climate change. All in all, there is greater need for the federal and local governments to shift their focus on matters to do with public health and come up with scientific evidences necessary to reduce the already discovered medical conditions in the US (Brownson et al., 2018).

Thesis Statement

In this paper, I am going to highlight some study cases that have been conducted by researchers in different fields of medicine and show how the Federal and state governments have ignored the issue of public health. The paper will be discussing the medical conditions in the US that have been researched and documented, but the government is not giving them the attention it deserves. My point in the paper is that the US government has focused its attention and resources on national issues such as climate change and the war on terrorism and forgot to fund research on public health medical conditions that also area a national concern. I will be using scholarly articles to discuss the discovered medical conditions.

My argument is that public health is strategically centered in the achievement of developmental and sustainable goals by the national government. There are several studies that have been conducted to document some public health concerns that are affecting the human populations, animals and the environment. I sought to discuss some of the medical conditions through an overview of articles published to highlight the effects of these conditions on humans and the environment and what the authorities need to do in order to reduce or eliminate such public health concerns

The Health Effects of a World Without Darkness

This article was composed by Rebecca Boyle. According the article, constant exposure to light has various health effects to animals, humans and the environment. The author cites studies that were conducted to determine the health implications of constant exposure to light on the migratory patterns of animals, human sleep patterns and causes of depression, cancer and weight gain in humans (Folger, 2017). The article indicates the effects of humans and animals living in the realms of constant light exposure due to an industrialized world.

In the article, it is cited that constant exposure to artificial light affects human beings and animals. My biggest concern was on the health effects of constant light exposure to human beings. Studies reported in the article indicated that constant exposure to light was the leading cause of cancer, depression and obesity in humans. Well, this is a concept that the average public will not realize under normal circumstances. Nevertheless, the article reports of scientific researches that were conducted to illustrate the effects of constant exposure to the health of humans (Folger, 2017). The article comments, ‘A growing body of evidence shows that light pollution exacerbates and might directly cause cancer, obesity and depression.’

Based on the article, it is illuminating to note that a small issue as constant exposure to light through cellphones, Televisions and other light emitting components causes a big health issue such as cancer amongst others (Folger, 2017). This is a medical condition that is linked to matters of public health and the government together with other stakeholders need to shift their attention to the health effects of constant exposure to light to reduce cases of cancer, depression and obesity in the population.

Perfect Nails, Poisoned Workers

This article was composed by Sarah Maslin Nir. The author has also made great efforts to report scientific evidence on the health effects of dealing with chemicals that are associated with nail care on workers (Maslin, 2015). In the article, the author tries to shed more light to the medical conditions affecting nail workers in the US brought about by their constant exposure to chemicals in products they use to do nail care. The article tries to show the systematic failures in the US which have motivated the said medical conditions in the country. According to the article, immigrants of Vietnamese, Korean and Chinese origin have found themselves working in nail care salons to sustain and provide for their families. In their places of work, they are constantly exposed to volatile and harmful chemicals, which bring about a variety of medical conditions to their bodies and for the pregnant ones, lead to still births or children born with birth defects (Maslin, 2015).

Some of the health effects arising firm exposure to such chemicals include respiratory problems, severe allergies, reproductive or developmental effects to their unborn babies and irritations to their eyes and skin (Maslin, 2015). The article also tries to point out that in the nail beauty shops, no efforts have been made to ensure that there is proper ventilation systems. The biggest failure has been to government authorities such as the Food and Drug Administration that has failed to list the harmful chemical products in nail care products as illegal. In addition, the US Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) has also done very little to advocate for the enactment of laws that give them the mandate they need in order to force employers to improve the working conditions of workers working in nail care beauty shops(Maslin, 2015). This article shows how the US government has failed to deliberate on the health effects associated with working with nail beauty products. Countries such as Australia has put measures in place and enacted laws to protect workers in such environments.

Proportion and Cost of Unplanned 30-Day Readmissions After Sepsis Compared With Other Medical Conditions

The article gives research findings on a study of the unplanned costs that health care providers may undergo due to unplanned readmissions of patients to medical facility (Mayr et al., 2017). The article reports that out of the major leading causes of patients being readmitted to medical facilities, which include AMI, chronic conditions and heart failures, sepsis was actually the leading cause of unplanned readmission of patients to the medical facilities (Mayr et al., 2017). This study had compared patients’ readmission data across national databases in the US. This article also provides another exemplary example on the failure of the federal and local authorities to tackle sepsis as a leading contributor to death in the country. The authorities have failed to lead a national campaign sensitizing the public on the medical conditions. This clearly demonstrates that public health and the medical conditions debate has been shut down and efforts directed to other tempting issues of national concern.

Will Viruses Save Us From Superbugs? Nautilus’

The article showcases another classic example of how the government has neglected the subject or debate of public health despite evidences in the treatment of patients. The author who is a university graduate with specialty in epidemiology uses cases of different patients to show how antibiotics in the field of medicine have failed to cure bacteria (Walter, 2016). The author cites that the use of viruses such as phages can be used in medical treatment as the ultimate killers of bacteria. Surprisingly enough, no hospital in the US embraces the practice. There are many diseases, which are caused by bacterial infections affecting majority of the people in the US. With such discoveries made on how effective the use of viruses such as phages is effective in the killing of bacteria, the authorities have not given the matter the necessary attention it needs (Walter, 2016). The governments could have funded research by many medical institutions and agencies to provide more elusive data on the subject and shift from traditional treatments using antibiotics.

Reducing Potentially Excess Deaths From the Five Leading Causes of Death in the Rural United States

This is the last article that I considered to showcase that the government has not given adequate attention to the topic of public health is titled. The author in the article presents statistical data on why mortality deaths in the rural areas in the US are significantly high compared to the urban areas (Garcia, 2017). The five leading causes of death highlighted in the article are stroke, heart diseases, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases. The author tries to show measures adopted to eradicate the leading number of deaths arising in the rural areas (Garcia, 2017). Again, this is another undisputable example of how the authorities have ignored or treated the issue of public health with little attention and concern. Rarely do debates on the why the rural areas of the US lead with the highest mortality rates compared to the urban populations.

Conclusion

There is greater need for the federal and local governments to shift their focus and attention to matters of public health concerns highlighted in the articles earlier aforementioned in this document. The way matters to do with climate change and the war on terrorism have been given importance, public health too need to be treated with the same hands. This is the only way to come up with scientific evidences on how to reduce the already discovered medical conditions.

References

Brownson, R. C., Fielding, J. E., & Green, L. W. (2018). Building capacity for evidence-based public health: reconciling the pulls of practice and the push of research. Annual review of public health, (0).

Folger, T. (2017). The best American science and nature writing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 44-54. (Folger, 2017)

Garcia, M. C. (2017). Reducing potentially excess deaths from the five leading causes of death in the rural United States. MMWR. Surveillance Summaries, 66.

Maslin Nir, S. (2015). Perfect Nails, Poisoned Workers. Mobile.nytimes.com. Retrieved 22 March 2018, from https://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/05/11/nyregion/nail-salon-workers-in-nyc-face-hazardous-chemicals.html?referer= http://m.nautil.us/issue/43/heroes/will-viruses-save-us-from-superbugs

Mayr FB, Talisa VB, Balakumar V, Chang CH, Fine M, Yende S. Proportion and Cost of Unplanned 30-Day Readmissions After Sepsis Compared With Other Medical Conditions. JAMA. 2017;317(5):530–531. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.20468

Walter, K. (2016). Will Viruses Save Us From Superbugs? Nautilus. Retrieved 22 March 2018, from http://nautil.us/issue/43/heroes/will-viruses-save-us-from-superbugs