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Chloe You-Lee, RN-BSN
HLTH501, Liberty University
Author Note
Chloe You-Lee. I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Chloe You-Lee.
Email: cyoulee@liberty.edu
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Introduction
Public health the study of safeguarding and enhancing the health of people and
communities. Promoting healthy lifestyles, conducting research on disease and injury prevention
and responding to infectious diseases all contribute to their mission ( , What Is Public Health?
2023). In the United States, the public health infrastructure consists of federal, state, and
municipal health agencies designed to cohesively work together. In 1994, the Public Health
Functions Working Group established the 10 Essential Public Health Services (EPHS) that serve
as a standard for public health practice (Wallace et al., 2019).
The framework distinguishes the role of public health from other sectors in the health
field, particularly health care and is built on the three basic functions of public health:
assessment, policy making, and assurance. This flexible and adaptable framework continues to
offer essential direction despite the tremendous improvements in medical technology and the
changing nature of health issues today. In circumstances such as when medication advertising,
the consumer behavior, commercial interests, and public health intersects, its relevance is more
evident. In this paper, the writer will explore how the EPHS interacts with medication
advertisement and the pivotal role of biostatistics in marrying the two.
4 of the Essential Public Health Services (EPHS)
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the ten Essential Public
Health Services (EPHS) offer a way for public health to protect and enhance the health of
everyone in each community. The EPHS actively supports community circumstances, processes,
and policies that advance overall health in order to achieve equity (CDC - 10 Essential Public
Health Services - Public Health Infrastructure Center, 2023).
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The first service in the EPHS is to assess and monitor population health status, factors
that influence health, and community needs and assets. This provides comprehensive health data
monitoring, collection, and analysis, with a specific focus on health disparities and inequities.
The understanding of population health and health factors lay a solid foundation for the
development and implementation of health treatment, including medication (PHNCI, 2020). It
also includes collaborating and sharing data with various multi-sector partners and using
innovative technologies. This could mean working with health experts, patient advocate groups,
and healthcare providers to warrant that medication advertisement are accurate, understandable,
and able to reach the intended audience.
The role of biostatistics in relation to service of assess and monitor population health
status is important in analyzing health data to identify patterns, threats, and rising issues, as well
as understanding the root causes of health disparities and inequities (PHNCI, 2020). For instance,
vaccines or annual flu shots are often heavily advertised to increase public uptake. As the
vaccines are rolled out, biostatistics plays a role to monitor the effectiveness and safety within
the population. The gathered data is important not only for making decisions about public health,
but also for informing the public about the benefits and safety of the vaccines, thereby
encouraging uptake (Master of Public Health, 2021).
The second service provided by EPHS is to investigate, diagnose, and resolve public
health concerns and dangers (PHNCI, 2020). (Wallace et al., 2020) suggests that before new
drugs are out in the market, it needs to be thoroughly tested and diagnosed to make sure they are
safe and effective. Clinical trials have many stages, and all of them depend heavily on
biostatistics for planning, analysis, and interpreting the results. For example, the rapid
development and advertising of COVID-19 vaccines during the global pandemic allowed the
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public health and researchers to investigate the efficacy and safety of these vaccines through
multiple clinical trials Study shows there were 819 randomized experiments which were run by
174 various public health organizations and reached 2.1 billion populations in 15 languages
(Athey et al,. 2023).
Monitoring real-time health status and recognizing patterns in order to build strategies to
address chronic diseases and injuries can help pharmaceutical companies with their advertising
efforts such as diabetes and hypertension. In response to acute outbreaks, such as flu or COVID-
19 variant vaccines can impact medication advertisement by using real-time data to identify
emergencies and other health hazards. Through advanced epidemiological models, biostatistics
can help in identifying such outbreaks and can guide the targeting and timing of such
advertisements (PHNCI, 2020). This service also includes the use of public health laboratories
and modern technologies to integrate the process of medication development and advertisement.
High volume testing and rapid screening techniques, for example, can expedite the process of
conducting clinical trials for new drugs. In this setting, the biostatistics role is to design these
studies, assess the data, and ensure the statistical validity (Master of Public Health, 2021).
The third service in the EPHS is to communicate effectively to inform and educate people
about health, factors that influence it, and how to improve it. In the realm of medication
advertising, communication means to give clear, precise, and timely information that allows the
public to make well-informed health decisions. This means communicating not only the benefits,
but also the risk and adverse effects of drugs (PHNCI, 2020).
A study demonstrate that 80% of the practitioners agree that using EPHS framework is
useful in communicating about public health (Castrucci, 2021). The COVID-19 pandemic
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highlighted the significance of effective public health communication. It helped to disseminate
accurate and timely information about vaccines and its risks and benefits. During the COVID-19
pandemic, there were many problems with the public health system, such as outdated data
systems, social policies that made the disease spread faster, a lack of partnerships, poor
communication, and a workforce that did not have enough resources. All of these problems can
be related to an inability to deliver one or more of the Essential Services (Castrucci, 2021).
The role of biostatistics in this context is indispensable. Through statistical analysis of
clinical trial data, the efficacy of the drugs can be assessed and then communicated in
advertisements. The relative and absolute risk deductions associated with these drugs are all
results of biostatistical analysis. In addition, biostatistics plays a role in monitoring post-
marketing surveillance data to identify and communicate any potential side effects or adverse
reactions in the general population (Master of Public Health, 2021).
Lastly, the fourth service in the EPHS is to create, champion, and implement policies,
plans, and laws that impact health (PHNCI, 2020). This service focuses on ensuring fair and just
policies and laws to achieve optimal health in the communities. Often, we observe that
advertisement campaigns for drugs emphasize on the benefits without providing a balanced view
of the associated risks. While it has some benefits, like increasing patient awareness and
participation in their health management, it also poses significant challenges. This can result in
an uninformed public with unrealistic expectations about a drug’s efficacy and potential adverse
effects. In these cases, creating policy is required to regulate how medications are advertised.
These regulation aims to protect the public from misleading information and ensure that they
have access to a balanced perspective when making health-related decisions (So & Kim, 2022).
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One of the important roles of biostatistics provides comprehensive, evidence-based
information about a drug’s efficacy, safety, and potential side effects which shapes policies to
govern medication advertising. Biostatisticians provide the Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) and other regulatory bodies with recommendations for direct-to-consumer advertising by
analyzing data from clinical trials and observational studies (So & Kim, 2022). The practice of
biostatistics aids in making sure that advertising efforts for pharmaceutical companies adhere to
guidelines and give public accurate and balanced information. Since the FDA does not require
prior approval of advertisements, it is up to the public health officials to continuously monitor
the content of these ads. This, in which would be impossible without the support of the
biostatistics (So & Kim, 2022; Master of Public Health, 2021).
In conclusion, the ten Essential Public Health Services provide as a guide and a
framework to protect and promote the health of our communities. Among the EPHS, the four
services as discussed above are all important in the context of medication advertising and the
broader realm of public health. Biostatistics serves as the backbone by offering the data and
insights needed to assess the health status of communities. It ensures that communications,
educational resources, and policies are all evidence-based and geared towards protecting and
promoting public health.
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Reference
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Castrucci, B. C. (2021). The “10 Essential Public Health Services” Is the Common Framework
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