Health Campaign

Health Campaign - Part I

Alizia McMyers

HCS 535

October 14, 2013

Elizabeth Hale

Health Campaign - Part I

In 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services launched Healthy People 2020. Healthy People 2020 is a program focused on nationwide health-promotion and disease-prevention goals. This program comprises of 1200 specific objectives organized into 42 focus areas with two overachieving goals (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Those two goals focus on increasing the quality and years of health life while eliminating health disparities. These national goals trickle down to the state and local level, becoming active focused initiatives targeting specific populations within communities.

Influenza is a highly infectious viral illness that can cause severe disease or death within variant at risk populations such as older adults. Acute respiratory infections, including pneumonia, influenza, are the 8th leading cause of death in the United States, accounting for 56,000 deaths annually (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2013). On average, influenza leads to more than 200,000 hospitalizations each year. Community-wide, a major tool in preventative health care is for patients to get vaccinated with immunizations, to decrease the burden of Influenza disease in adults over the age of 65.

The infectious disease public health infrastructure, which carries out disease surveillance at the federal, state, and local levels, is an essential tool in the fight against newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Other important defenses against infectious diseases include: proper use of vaccines, antibiotics, screening, testing guidelines, and scientific improvements in the diagnosis of infectious disease-related health concerns. Access to quality health services and the quality of health services impact health. Healthy...