Chapter 4 Abstact

            In this chapter, it was important to note than diseases can be classified into different categories: communicable (infectious) or noncommunicable (noninfectious), and acute and chronic.  As we have previously learned, acute illnesses last for less than three months, and chronic illnesses last for longer than three months. 

Communicable diseases are caused by biological agents and are transmissable from a source of infection (wound) to a different person (host).  To best describe how communicable diseases are transmitted, the book details the chain of infection model.  In this, the interruption of disease transmission can be visualized as the breaking of one or more links in the chain.  On the other hand, noncommicable diseases are often the result of multiple risk factors that can genetic, behavioral, and environmental in origin.  Although they aren’t transmissible, several of the noncommunicable diseases rank among the leading causes of death in America.

There are three levels of disease prevention; primary, secondary, and tertiary.  Primary prevention includes measures that forestall the onset of disease or injury, while secondary prevention encompasses efforts aimed at early detection and intervention to limit disease and disability.  Tertiary prevention, on the other hand, includes measures aimed at re-education and rehabilitation after significant pathogenesis has occurred.  Both the spread of communicable diseases and the prevalence of noncommunicable diseases can best be reduced by the appropriate application of the three preventative measures by the community and the individual.  And, as always, the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases require both individual and community efforts.

Chapter 3

Epidemiology: The Study of Disease, Injury, and Death in the Community

This chapter explored the idea of epidemiology. Epidemiologists are concerned with the course of disease in a population. The definition of epidemiology is the “study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to control health problems”. The use of rates (birth, death, injury and disease) is frequent. Three different types of rates are incidence, prevalence and attack. The data collected by epidemiologists are used in the planning of health programs and facilities. There are many ways in which the data can be obtained. The U.S. Census, the Statistical Abstract of the United States, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), and National Health surveys are some of the most popular sources of information. There are two types of studies conducted by epidemiologists to help determine the cause of disease outbreaks: descriptive and analytic. Descriptive studies aim to describe the who, when, and where of an outbreak, while analytic studies focus on the idea of diseases and risk factors. 

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 consists of general information about different health agencies and organizations, both governmental and nongovernmental. The reason health agencies/organizations exist is to respond to community health issues that cannot be taken care of by society alone. There are three basic types of organizations: governmental, nongovernmental, and quasi-governmental. All contribute to the promotion, protection, and maintenance of community health. Health agencies are a little different in that they have three levels (nations, state and federal) and are funded through tax dollars. The largest international government agency is the World Health Organization (WHO), while the Department of Health and Human Services is the largest health governmental health agency in the United States. As far as quasi-governmental organizations in the US are concerned, the two most prominent are the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Nongovernmental health agencies consist mostly of voluntary health services, such as the March of Dimes. These agencies were created by citizens who felt that a certain issue was not being dealt with by the governmental agencies. These agencies usually fundraise and send most of the money to their national office, where the money is then used for research purposes.

Questions:

1)     What are the main differences between a governmental and nongovernmental health agency?

2)     What is the World Health Organization (WHO) and what does it do?