NPHW Day 5: Quote of the Day

I think this quote displays the meaning of public health quite nicely.

"Although it is an essential part of the picture, health is so much more than just access to care, which is most frequently discussed. It’s federal funding that provides for public health programs across the nation, it’s communities that are built in a way the supports physical activity, it’s workplaces that provide resources to help employees become tobacco-free, it’s schools that offer healthy food choices and it’s families that support each other in living and adopting healthy behaviors." --NPHW

NPHW Day 4: Health at Schools

The American Public Health Association is increasing awareness today about unhealthy food options in American schools. "Public health professional shave made great strides in raising awareness of the importance of getting unhealthy vending machines out of schools and replacing them with healthy options...But it's not enough. Too many schools continue to sell high calorie foods because they need the additional revenue to cover budget shortfalls."

A recent study showed startling statistics on what vending machine foods are available to students at school.

80% of the snacks were candy, chips, or sweet baked goods
.0026% of the snack options were fruits or vegetables
75% of the drinks had poor nutritional value
85% of snacks had poor nutritional value

Some school districts have successfully eliminated unhealthy food and drink options from public schools, like this district in California. More schools are considering a ban on unhealthy vending machine options as criticism mounts over the negative health consequences. Although money is an issue, one major report found that schools can raise just as much money without unhealthy food options than with.

NPHW Day 3: Health at Work

The American Public Health Association spent today focusing on health at work. They talked about how wellness committees can promote worksite health. "These committees advocate for healthier food options in the company cafeteria, set up discounted gym memberships for employees, offer workshops on stress reduction and much more. They work to ensure that the workplace helps workers become healthier, rather than serves as a barrier," APHA noted.

World Health Day 2009: Save Lives

Today is also World Health Day. Each year, World Health Day focuses on a major health issue. Last year focused on climate change. This year is focused on the safety and quality of health facilities, especially their ability to handle the health effects of major disasters.

"When an emergency or disaster occurs, most lives are lost or saved in the immediate aftermath of the event," Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Margaret Chan, said in her statement. "The tragedy of a major emergency or disaster is compounded when health facilities fail...In large emergencies, such as those caused by earthquakes or floods, some countries have lost as much as 50% of their hospital capacity, right at the time when life-saving services were most acutely needed."

In 2008, there was an alarming increase in natural disaster deaths. According to the WHO, 235,816 people were killed last year by such disasters. This was four times higher than the average death toll over the previous seven years. This increase was the result of two major natural disasters--Cyclone Nagris in Myanmar and a major earthquake in China.

The World Health Organization offered six solutions to help with the problem of insecure healthcare facilities.

1. Situate, design and build new health facilities
2. Assess the safety of existing facilities
3. Retrofit existing facilities
4. Protect non-structural elements: essential services, equipment, medicines
5. Plan and train for emergencies
6, Build partnerships for safe health facilities

NPHW Day 2: Community

The second day of National Public Health Week presents this question: How do we make sure that people understand that simply providing health insurance to all Americans isn't enough to make us healthy?

So many things in our community affect our health and livelihood. Check out this post about how where you live is important to your health.

How does this image relate to public health?


In so many ways.

Suburban neighborhoods provide safe roads for kids to play and less exposure to violence. However, there are also higher rates of obesity in suburbia, which many attribute to how suburban communities are designed. Suburban communities have an interesting geographic layout. For instance, a home might be geographically close to retail locations, but take a long time to get to because sprawling neighborhoods block easy access to a variety of locations. Cities often grow vertically, meaning that there are so many places in a short distance from any given place. However, suburban neighborhoods grow horizontally, making pedestrian travel inconvenient. Take a look at this picture--


View Suburban Community in a larger map

How long do you think it would take to get to a nearby retail location from the house down the street?


View Suburban Geography in a larger map

The house is only 1156 feet away, but according to Google Maps, the 1156 feet turns into 1.7 miles of driving because of the way the neighborhood is built into the surrounding roads.


View Driving to Retail in a larger map

The map shows that residents would have to drive over .5 miles before they can exit their neighborhood. Then they would have to drive another mile to get to the intersection, and finally do a u-turn to get to the opposite side of the road where retail locations are located. There are a lot of instances in suburban areas where residents are geographically close to many locations, but must take a longer drive to reach those areas. Suburbia promotes a driving lifestyle, which not only decreases physical activity of its residents, but also leads to higher levels of traffic pollution.

NPHW Day 1: Healthiest Nation in One Generation

National Public Health Week starts off with a campaign to create the healthiest nation in one generation.

Public health is your health. Many communities go far to make sure their citizens are safe, healthy, and happy, but much more is needed to create one of the healthiest generations in the world. Our country certainly has the resources, but it takes a large campaign like this to help spread the importance of all sorts of health factors, from clean air to safe roads.

National Public Health Week '09

This is a very exciting week--tomorrow will be the first day of National Public Health Week. This blog will cover how people all across the country are observing public health week. We will also investigate the importance of public health in our lives. The American Public Health Association's current motto is "protect, prevent, live well." These are values that will be explored throughout the week.

Public health is a broad field and we are faced with public health related objects everywhere we go. Can you tell how the following pictures relate to public health?




Find out this week.