Foundations of Public Health Exam - Assignment Example

Statistics also report high levels of cirrhosis in poverty-stricken countries, and the cause of such increased incidence rates in those places is partly due to malnutrition. Malnutrition, therefore, is an indirect cause of cirrhosis as it disrupts the immune mechanisms of the human body. Further, infections may lead to the development of cirrhosis. For instance, hepatitis non-A, non-B, or B can cause cirrhosis cases (Prasad, n.d.). Hepatitis B, non-A, or non-B are all diseases that affect the liver and consequently, lead to the development of liver cirrhosis. Studies continue to document the relationship between various agents and cirrhosis. What remains clear though is that alcohol-containing substances appear to have a more direct relationship while other factors such as disease and malnutrition aggravate cirrhosis or spur its development. The direct and indirect contributing factors are of equal importance as they are associated with a disease that does not have any treatment.

2. Health Disparities
Health disparities mean variations that exist between cohorts or groups of people. These variations can impact the frequency at which the group gets diseases, the number of people who get sick, and the frequency of mortality due to the disease. Common populations affected by health disparities include ethnic and racial minorities, rural areas residents, children, women, the elderly, and people with disabilities (NIH, 2013). Health disparities mirror a deficiency of efficiency in healthcare systems and thus lead to unnecessary costs. Mortality ratios for cancer of the lungs are elevated for men from Ireland and Scotland. The rates are also elevated for women from the two countries. Contrarily, the rates of lung cancer are low for women as well as men in migrant groups in the UK from countries such as W Africa, E Africa, S Asia, and the Caribbean (Aspinall PJ, 2004). Still, on cancer, prostate cancer appears to affect more black people than white people. Some studies assert that black women do not uptake cervical and breast screening tests as much as other groups of populations do (Kheirandish & Chinegwundoh, 2011). These studies show that cancer is unevenly spread among different populations. To avert further disparities, governments ought to consider population variations and employ various strategies to address the problems. Usually, increasing health resources and raising awareness among affected populations helps in addressing health disparities.

3. Health Problems and Prevention Levels
Health interventions have managed to reduce child mortality rates tremendously over the years. Most of the deaths among children occurred due to sanitation issues (MMWR, 1999). Sanitation problems usually led to infections, which did not have treatment at the time. Through the three levels of prevention, primary, secondary, and tertiary, public health workers were able to contain many of the preventable health concerns. Today, these public health prevention strategies, which are categorized into three levels, still exist. However, the interventions are changing according to inventions and increase in knowledge. In the first level of prevention or primary prevention, health care intervention teaches about sanitation as well as other measures that parents can use to avert illnesses. Early detection of illnesses through scanning is also done at this level helping to identify problems at an early stage. At this level, public health care recognizes the role of various health workers and professionals, not just those who are in health agencies (Turnock, 2009, p. 115). Neonatal deaths plummeted tremendously in the 1980s because of better technologies to identify or screen for diseases (Turnock, 2009, p. 149). Tertiary care involves treatments that are given to patients to avert the worsening of diseases or increase the rates of mortality (Turnock, 2009, p. 116). On the other that, tertiary care is also of importance to the reduction aims of child mortality as it ensures that children do not develop complications from long-term diseases (Turnock, 2009, p. 116).

4. Cervical cancer intervention in Paraguay
The country Paraguay has one of the highest incidences of cervical cancer in the entire world. Many women in that country possess various forms of Human Papillomavirus - HPV. Most of them harbor multiple forms of the virus, especially those that have squamous intraepithelial lesions (Mendoza et al., 2011). WHO data released in 2011 show that deaths from cervical cancer alone amount to 1.53% of total deaths, which is high (WHO, 2011). This requires an immediate mitigation measure and the ecological model of health can come in handy to save this situation. The ecological model can guide an intervention program that will help the women in Paraguay decrease their susceptibility to debilitating illnesses. This is because the model controls and averts the interaction of humans and harmful environments that might cause disease (Hilgenkamp, 2006). According to the model, some key characteristics will be of concern in the intervention. Individual factors such as personal behavior and genetics will be of importance in cervical cancer intervention. In addition to that, the intervention should pay attention to family and social support characteristics, which are interpersonal factors. Women may also be exposed to cervical cancer because of community and institutional environments, and the program should seek to highlight the particular factors in the milieu that could be affecting the prevalence. Read More