Home > Discussion: Controlling infectious diseases.
Discussion: Controlling infectious diseases.
Controlling infectious diseases is part of public health practice. Review approaches to prevention, control, and the obstacles that low-income and middle-income countries endure. Vaccines are a critical part of health, but health care systems are impacted by globalization. Some countries do not have surveillance systems in place that allow determining need. Provide an example of how globalization has impacted South America or sub-Saharan Africa. What three pieces of advice would you give the Minister of Health in countries of South America or sub-Saharan Africa when it comes to the integration of health care and public health (i.e., vaccines)?
Example.
Controlling infectious diseases has been one of the ten greatest achievements of public health over the past two decades, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For instance, the average life expectancy in the United States has increased by a startling 29.2 years over the past century (CDC, 1999). According to the CDC report, improvements in sanitation and hygiene, antibiotics, and other factors made this possible. Particularly, these advancements contributed to a reduction in tuberculosis (TB) mortality rates. The adult mortality rate from tuberculosis in the United States was 194 per 100,000 people in 1900, but by 1940, it had significantly decreased to 46 per 100,000 people. That rate decreased even more after antibiotics were introduced, but drug-resistant tuberculosis has emerged more frequently in recent years (Alami et al., 2014). However, these issues must be addressed by public health officials even when a cure is not readily available. The HIV/AIDS pandemic represents one of the most significant efforts to address this issue. There were no known AIDS-related deaths before 1980.
