The community we are a part of plays a significant role in shaping us to become who we are. Just like we take care of our homes, our communities also serve as our abodes and require us to be considerate towards others.
Amongst many aspects that make and affect the well-being of a faction, Community Health is essential.
What is Community Health, and Why is it Important?
Community Health is a constituent of the physical and mental welfare of the people within a particular geographic area. People can often provide services outside of clinics and hospitals. They consist of programs to assist residents in maintaining and enhancing their health, preventing the transmission of infectious diseases, and bracing for natural catastrophes.
Individual well-being is naturally interrelated to community health. If your neighborhood is ill, it might be challenging to maintain your health. Therefore, it is evident that the overall Community Health also illustrates our well-being.
We need information on health and health-related issues to combat common health issues—someone who can take the initiatives to arrange and implement health education programs. They may provide one-on-one instruction, work with small patient groups, or educate patients or healthcare systems on a broader scale. What’s more, this is precisely what a health educator job description implies.
Six Common Health Challenges
To best tackle health issues, you must also consider the health determinants and the problems themselves. Why? Because it’s not just about dealing with the issues but also identifying their root origin and knowing what they are.
With that in mind, here are six of the most common health issues people face.
- Obesity
Obesity involves having a significant percentage of fat in your body. It is a medical condition that raises the chance of various illnesses, including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and some cancers as well.
There are several factors affecting the struggle some people face to lose weight. Obesity typically develops from a combination of dietary, physiological, and environmental factors and lack of exercise, physical activity, and specific lifestyle choices.
- Substance Abuse
Substance abuse, often referred to as Drug addiction, affects an individual’s brain and behavior. It causes them to lose control over the use of drugs or medications, despite them being legal or illegal.
Each substance has a different level of danger associated with addiction and the velocity with which the addiction might develop. The rate and hazard of addiction are higher with some medicines than others, as with opioid painkillers.
- Mental Health
Our psychological, emotional, and social stability add to our mental health. They impact our emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Additionally, it determines how we react to stress, interact with people, and make reliable decisions.
Mental health is essential in every period of life, from childhood and youth until old age. Both psychological and physical health are central aspects of health in general. For instance, depression is a catalyst for physical health issues, including diabetes, heart disease, and stroke.
- Injuries
Millions of people injure themselves daily. The severity of these wounds ranges from mild to fatal. Severe and infected injuries might necessitate first assistance, then a trip to the doctor. Remember, accidents can occur at work or play, indoors or outdoors, while driving, or simply crossing the street.
- Access to Health Care Facilities
Having or not having access to health care facilities can make the difference between saving or endangering a person’s life. Patients in rural areas are significantly more inclined to struggle with this than those in urban or suburban areas.
Access to comprehensive, high-quality health care services is crucial to promote and maintain health, control disease, prevent needless disability and untimely death, and attain health equity for all.
- Lack of Physical Activities
Working out regularly is crucial for maintaining a healthy body. Moreover, exercising helps speed up metabolism, allowing you to reap the benefits of a good diet quicker.
Did you know that adults who engage in moderate-to-vigorous exercise live longer? As emphasized by this study, physical activity significantly influences your health more than very few other lifestyle decisions.
Following the identification of common health challenges, this part will describe the criteria for identifying them.
- Frequency of the Challenge
If the persistent health issue occurs more often, it will likely be prioritized and dealt with. Discovering potential causes of disease and figuring out efficient approaches for prevention and care require measuring the prevalence of an illness or other health outcome in a community and figuring out how the disease frequency may vary over time or among subgroups.
- Preventive Potential
This entails the likelihood of preventing or lessening the effects caused by the issue. Moreover, it determines how much time should be allocated to resolve the issue. If a disease is proven untreatable, it is redundant to misspend valuable resources to look for a cure.
- The severity of the Challenge
This refers to the magnitude of a problem. Is the problem too severe? If yes, then how much? Is it disrupting personal or community life? One thing to take into account is whether the problem is variable. This means that there’s a probability the problem can be reduced, controlled, or eradicated.
- Nature of the Challenge
It is necessary to know how a health problem can be regarded – whether the issue is with health status, health resources, or health-related. The first refers to the reduced capability for wellness, increase or decrease in fertility, mortality, or morbidity.
The second implies an absence or lack of necessary institutions, materials, capital, or workforce to solve health issues. Lastly, health-related problems may be described as the existence of social, economic, environmental, or political factors that may alleviate elements that cause illnesses in a community.
- Perception of the Challenge
What is the social concern regarding the issue? How compliant is the community to tackle and act on the problem? If most people face the health challenge, more support can be garnered to overcome it. Likewise, if the disease is fatal or chronic, it can help indicate readiness amongst the people to address it.
- Scope of the Challenge
How far does the issue extend? This can be measured in terms of the proportion of the population affected by the problem. It provides an insight into whether a disease has the potential to turn into a pandemic.
The Takeaway
One of the markers of a thriving community is the assessment and evaluation of its health. Knowing the criteria to consider and prioritize common health challenges is vital to ensure a more sustainable lifestyle. It is essential in predicting the welfare of society.
