As 2023 comes to a close, a keyword foundational to public health that keeps emerging across the field is “partnerships”.
Perhaps you are at the point where program or initiative is being planned or revised to address identified issues, priorities have been determined to address those issues, and now the task at hand is to develop an action plan to address those priorities and issues. But first, to move forward, it is important to recognize that to make an impact on priority issues/problems, addressing health inequities and their root causes are key.
As March 2020 comes to a close, the world is experiencing unprecedented times due to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 does not discriminate and people of all color, races, gender, income, celebrity status, religion, geographic locations are being impacted worldwide. However, what does discriminate and is showing its true colors, is health inequity.
There are a wealth of activities happening across rural American working to address and improve health outcomes, including community gardens to increase access to healthy foods, economic development to invest in healthy community design, and utilization of local wellness coalitions to take action to address local health. However, increasing globalization and the growing impact of social, economic, and environmental factors on global health, calls for expansion of the scope and reach of population health approaches to improve health outcomes across rural America.
A story is “that one thing happens in consequence of another” (Davidson, 2017). A story consists of a beginning, middle, and ending or is crafted of three elements; plot, character, and moral (Davidson, 2017). Imagine you are immersed in reading an exciting book, where the story is building, and you eagerly read to see how it ends…but your dog gets a hold of your book and proceeds to chew up the last few pages…leaving you wondering how the story ends.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary (20118), equitable means “having or exhibiting equity or dealing fairly and equally with all concerned” (2018). In an equitable society everyone would have equal access to goods and services regardless of socio-economic status, gender, race, and the alike. When we look at equity from a health lens, that means that everyone has the opportunity to achieve their highest level of health (Benjamin, 2018). Now, in an ideal world, that would be great, however, since we do not live in one, there is ample opportunity and need to achieve health equity.
Right now, at least 17,000 South Dakotans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. It is the 5th leading cause of death in our state. South Dakota also has the 3rd highest Alzheimer’s death rate in America. The numbers are staggering, and yet South Dakota remains one of just a handful of states that does not have a State Plan on Alzheimer’s and related dementias.
Over the past few months, I have spent a lot of time traveling and focusing on rural health, including barriers to healthy living and strategies to bridge clinical-community partnerships. Through my travels, I am reminded of the vastness of a state such as South Dakota and how truly rural much America is. Recent findings from the 2012-2016 American Community Survey report that rural areas cover 97 percent of the United States (US), but only 19.11 percent of the US population lives in them. Population shifts since 2010 from rural to urban areas have shed light on the changing landscape. Urban and rural areas are both affected by disease associated with social, environmental, and economic specific those areas, however rural America is disproportionately affected by health disparities when compared to urban areas
There were 3.978 million births in the United States in 2015. When compared with all other developed countries, the United States has the worst maternal mortality rates. The worst. Why? Because on the most basic level, we just aren’t listening to mothers. And when we don’t trust women and the physiology of birth, we see unusually high inductions and cesareans and women experience excessive medical interventions like episiotomies, and ultimately, we see higher mortality rates.
Antibiotics provide life-saving treatment; however, approximately 30% of the antibiotic courses given in the US each year are considered inappropriate, commonly prescribed for viral infections such as the common cold. Consequences of antibiotic misuse include allergic reactions; C. difficile, a serious and potentially life-threatening diarrheal illness; and increased antibiotic resistance. There are limited treatment options for those infected with an antibiotic resistant organism, often leading to prolonged hospital stays, increased medical costs and sometimes death. In some parts of the world, infections with organisms that are resistant to almost all current antibiotics including last-line carbapenems are widespread. Given the ease of global travel and the absence of new antibiotics in the pipeline, antibiotic resistance has become a global public health threat.
