What is Healthy People 2020, and how was it developed?

Healthy People 2020 is a U.S. Federal government initiative towards the creation of a healthy nation. Its agenda provides a 10-year objective of improving the health of Americans. Thus, its goal is revised every ten years. Regarding the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Healthy People 2020 helps in identifying and treating preventable diseases and establish a system of security against health threats.

The objectives of Healthy people 2020 was multi-agency cooperation of various federal government agencies who developed health goals based on reliable data sources. Proposed goals and objectives were made open to the public for their input. The Final Interagency Workgroup selected the objectives based on specific criteria and those became a part of the healthy people 2020 objectives. It is worth mentioning that there are more than 1,200 objectives in Healthy People 2020 (Hunt, 2013).

Four Overarching Goals of Healthy People 2020

The four goals include: attainment of high-quality lives that are presumably free from preventable diseases, elimination of disparities through achievement of health equity, creation of an environment that is physically and socially viable that promotes good health for everyone, and lastly, promotion of a quality life that healthy behaviors, and health development at all stages defines it.

A brief explanation of what these Goals Mean.

Attainment of high-quality living that is characterized by longer lives, free of disabilities and injuries, implies that the society or people should not be experiencing high mortality rates due to poor health standards. However, people should be living longer in good health.

Health equity is one of the goals of health 2020, which implies that health services should be disseminated to all individuals irrespective of race, color, gender, or religion, or geographical locations. The goal treats the value of life as equal for all (Hunt, 2013).

In terms of creating an environment that is physically and socially viable, health facilities should be available in plenty and well equipped. Also, easy access to this service will contribute to a healthy environment since people will be able to seek medical services quickly.

Quality of life and healthy development and behaviors are embedded in a person’s lifestyle, and therefore Healthy 2020 seeks to play a role in ensuring people subscribe to a healthy living which made up of; healthy diet, exercise, and health behaviors.

Discuss the four foundation health measures:

General Health Status: Briefly describe all measures of progress under each foundation. Life expectancy refers to data describing the mortality rate of a population. Healthy life expectancy: this talk about how long is the expectation for a person. While several days when a person becomes physically or mentally unhealthy, we refer to him/her as mentally and physically unhealthy days. Self-evaluated health status is determined by how a person perceives his health status. Limitation of activities: reduction in an individual’s ability to carry out their activity. Chronic Disease prevalence: the widespread of long-term diseases.

Quality of Life and Well-Being related to health.

Social, physical, as well as mental quality life related to health: the impact health status has on the quality of life of an individual. Well-being/satisfaction: positive evaluation of people’s daily lives. Participation in everyday activities: valuation of the effect of their health on social activities

Determinants of Health

They include and not limited to, the following: personal behaviors and lifestyle, accessibility to health care services, economic status, and environmentally related factors.

As far as disparities are concerned, they are characterized by the following; biasness depending on race or ethnicity, despising people based on gender, or geographical locations.

For each foundation category measure, select any one measure of progress and briefly discuss what it means and how it can be used to evaluate the foundation health measure category.

General health status: Life expectancy is data describing the mortality rate of a population. Life expectation at confinement and age 65 are used to evaluate public health status. Depending on general health status affecting a certain community or age, foundations of health measures can be re-assessed and evaluated.

Health-Related Quality of Life and Well-Being: engaging in economic exercises gauges a person’s functional rate and his productive capacity hence determining how long a person can live.

Determinants of Health: Personal factors that influence health statuses are such as a healthy lifestyle or even handwashing. Handwashing is being determined to decrease the spread of infection.

Disparities: they refer to health-related challenges and are associated with social, economic, or environmental factors. The U.S population is used to evaluate the foundation measure, for example, if a health outcome only affects view individuals in a society that is viewed as disparity.

Identify one health problem that you have observed in your local community briefly describe it. How big of a problem is it, and who does it affect most, and why?

Obesity is a health problem I have identified in my local community and seen more in women within my community. The reason might be because most of these women are more of a stay at home mums, they have developed a sedentary lifestyle which promotes obesity in the long run. Unhealthy meals, coupled with a sedentary lifestyle, do not only cause obesity but lead to other health threats such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and high cholesterol.

Briefly describe the mission and importance of Public Health Infrastructure.

Public Health Infrastructure serves quite vital areas and determines several functions within the health industry. Plays a role in supporting other health care functions. For instance, immunization of kids in schools is normally carried out by the public health system. It ensures health services are disseminated to the lowermost level of people.

List the three key elements and give an example of each.

A capable and qualified workforce such as the working-class members of the population, secondly updated information and data systems like usage of database and lastly the ability of the agency to assess and respond to the needs of public health, for example, installing more health care facilities.

Using the ten crucial public health services, explain how as a nurse you can use

each of the ten critical public health services to manage the health problem you have

Identified in your local community.

Observe health status to detect and solve community health issues:  As a nurse, I can develop a questionnaire or construct a survey to identify types of sedentary activities that people in my community are involved in that contribute to obesity. With this information, I will come up with alternatives to promote healthy lifestyles within the society.

Diagnose and examine health issues and health vulnerabilities in society: Using the nursing process to formulate a diagnosis after gathering information as to the health problems peculiar to the community.

Enlighten, educate, and empower individuals concerning health issues: Carrying out health rallies as well as health education classes to provide information on health issues to the public about obesity and its health risks. Handing out fliers containing relevant information on how to combat obesity would be some of the measures I will take to educate members of my community.

Mobilize society partnerships to pinpoint and solve health issues: Within my society, there are healthcare professionals that will be willing to partner with members in my community in promoting health. I will identify them, and together, we can come up with ideas on how to solve health issues facing our society.

Establish policies and strategies that support people and society health efforts: From researched work, I can propose systems and strategies that assist individual and social health efforts using evidence-based practices. For instance, encourage the community HOA to provide sanitary wipes to be used to clean exercise equipment at the gym after use by individuals: thus decreasing the spread of infection.

Implement laws and guidelines that safeguard the health and guarantee safety: I will encourage neighborhood kids to participate in trash pick-up weekly. Acts like these will promote a clean environment within the community.

Connect individuals to needed personal health services as well as guarantee the delivery of health care when otherwise unavailable: I will isolate other healthcare providers in the areas that are willing to provide essential services for community members and link them with community members in need of their expertise. Also, connect members of my community with health clinics that serve the general public at free or low cost. For instance, the Free Clinic in Leesburg provides care for the general public with low income.

Guarantee a proficient personal and public healthcare workforce: Ensure that there is a relevant health workforce sufficient for the needs of the population it is designed to serve.

Assess effectiveness, convenience, as well as the quality of population and personal-based health services: Through feedback mechanism, as a nurse, I can gather responses from members of my community on the efficiency, availability, and accessibility of the health facilities within the community. Moreover, the quality of services offered.

Research for new innovative solutions and insights into a health issue: Based on the information gathered from members of my community via my construct survey, I will identify the primary culprit of obesity. The information gathered may open up other health needs that may need to be addressed, used for the promotion of healthy lifestyles or improve the overall health of members of my community

References

Hunt, R. (2013). Introduction to community-based nursing. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Objective Development and Selection Process. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/About-Healthy-People/History-Development-Healthy-People-2020/Objective-Development-and-Selection-Process

https://www.cdc.gov/dhdsp/hp2020.htm

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