'This Is Public Health' - a Comparison Between Old and New Public Health Systems in Australia
As the term ‘health’ progresses to even more dynamic and ambiguous territories in the world today, health promotion and public health organisations have become increasingly important and prevalent in our society. As the World Health Organisation has tried to define health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’, it is obvious that health is viewed from many perspectives today and this can help explain the trends and shifts in public health as it tries to address a more modern and relevant set of determinates of health.
The determinates of health are the circumstances under which people live that can contribute to their health or ill health and can cause drastic inequity between communities and people. As public health strives to shift towards this more holistic view of health among the public, we see focus on prevention, education, accessibility, promotion and policy, thus contributing to the health of the community through large-scale community efforts, rather than focusing on the individual.
This can be referred to as the population strategy, which forms the framework of the ‘new’ public health paradigm. According to findings in the The Lalonde Report, the new public health systems started to develop in the 1970s. The population strategy deals with the complexity of health by addressing social, behavioural and environmental determinants of health such as education, employment, socioeconomic status, environment and accessibility in the hope that these inequalities and inequities in health can be balanced. This is in contrast to the ‘old’ public health paradigm, which focuses on the biological determinants of health. This includes clinical treatment and more direct, clear-cut methods in treatment of communicable disease. Although the new public health understanding is a more modern concept, advantages and disadvantages exist in each model of public health.
In considering the
The determinates of health are the circumstances under which people live that can contribute to their health or ill health and can cause drastic inequity between communities and people. As public health strives to shift towards this more holistic view of health among the public, we see focus on prevention, education, accessibility, promotion and policy, thus contributing to the health of the community through large-scale community efforts, rather than focusing on the individual.
This can be referred to as the population strategy, which forms the framework of the ‘new’ public health paradigm. According to findings in the The Lalonde Report, the new public health systems started to develop in the 1970s. The population strategy deals with the complexity of health by addressing social, behavioural and environmental determinants of health such as education, employment, socioeconomic status, environment and accessibility in the hope that these inequalities and inequities in health can be balanced. This is in contrast to the ‘old’ public health paradigm, which focuses on the biological determinants of health. This includes clinical treatment and more direct, clear-cut methods in treatment of communicable disease. Although the new public health understanding is a more modern concept, advantages and disadvantages exist in each model of public health.
In considering the
References: Epstein, R.A (2002). In Defense of the “Old” Public Health: The Legal Framework for the Regulation of Public Health (p5), The Law School, University of Chicago. Global Education (2010). Sanitation Resources retrieved on March 20, 2011 from http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/cache/offonce/pid/3398. Healthy Kids Association (2010). Canteen Policy Action Plan-Where to Begin retrieved on March 22, 2011 from: http://www.schoolcanteens.org.au/page/34/action-plan. Hinton, R (2010). Close the Gap Steering Committee for Indigenous Health Equality report. Published by Close the Gap Steering Committee for Indigenous Health Equality Johnson, S (2006) Lalonde, M (1974), A New Perspective on the Health of Canadians Raferty, J (2009). Critical Perspectives on Public Health History. In Helen Keleher & Colin MacDougall (Eds), Understanding Health (2nd Ed), (p80-81), South Melbourne AU: Oxford Press. Sun Smart Victoria (2011). Retrieved on March 22, 2011 from: http://www.sunsmart.com.au/ Sun Smart Victoria (2011) http://www.sunsmart.com.au/about_us/our_achievements Victorian Health Care Association (2009)