The Four Foundation Health Measures That Serve As An Indicator Of Progress Towards Achieving The Goals Of Hp

This article gave us information on Healthy People 2020, which was launched on December 2, 2010 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The article states that Healthy People 2020 is a strategic approach by the federal government, states, communities, and many other public and private partners to improve the health of the US population. This plans states that improvement will be completed over a ten-year time span. The Healthy People strategy was designed to define and promote a common sense of purpose and goals. These goals include: attaining a longer high quality live free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death, achieving health equity, eliminating disparities, and improving the health of all groups,

All people across the globe are entitled to the health attention they require. The World Health Organization has identified five elements to achieve this goal. These include reducing social disparities in health, providing services that meet clients’ expectations, altering public policies to address health, leadership reforms and increasing stakeholder participation (WHO, 2013).

Purpose: Link public health data at state/county levels to the Healthy People 2020 Target rates. Describe the indicator, target data and whether progress has been made towards the goal.

The Healthy People 2020 organization is generates objectives that are science-based up to ten years to improve the health of Americans (). The Healthy People 2020 monitors the American’s health so that they can encourage collaboration amongst communities, inspire individuals to take action in their health decisions, and determine the results of prevention actions (). The overall goal of the Healthy People 2020 organization is, “attain high-quality, longer lives free of preventable disease, disability, injury, and premature death” (para. 5). The Healthy People 2020 website has several topics and objectives to gain knowledge of. Two of the topics that will be discussed are diabetes, heart disease and stroke, as well as each topics risk factors in relation to its objectives.

Determinants of health, which includes, income and social status, social support networks, education, employment and working conditions, physical health practices and coping skills, healthy child development and health services determine the status of our health (Government of PEI, 1996, pp.15-17).

According to Healthy People 2020, a small set of objectives and goals have been set to improve the health of Americans over a time period of 10 years. Of the 12 topics, Healthy People use to organize their are 26 Leading Health Indicators (LHIs). The key issue of HIV/AIDS meets at least 6 LHI’s topics. That is half of the Healthy People 2020 LHI’s topics: Access to Health Services, Clinical Preventive Services, Mental Health, Social Determinants, Reproductive and Sexual Health, and Substance Abuse (Healthy People 2020, 2016). However, Healthy People 2020 list any other topics that are not part of the LHI’s, but definitely tie into and play a big part of their listed LHI’s. HIV, Blood safety, Lesbian, Gay, and Transgender Health, Educational

A variety of challenges including personal, social, economic, and environmental factors can determine the health of an individual as well as its community. Others determinants of health include genetics, access to medical care, and socioeconomic measures such as education and poverty. Any interference among these factors can often lead to health disparities, which are health gaps that exist between different communities and populations. Health disparities can affect communities based on gender, age, race, social status, economic status, or special care needs. Therefore to understand which factors affect the health of a community, it is necessary to examine the social and economic conditions in which people live in, as well as the rates of diseases

What are the four foundation health measures that will be evaluated to measure progress in meeting the goals of the program?

The health status of the population in the United States is a national priority. The Healthy People 2020 outlines priorities and to improve the health of individuals and communities across the country. Healthy People 2020 is defined as a comprehensive set of national objectives for “improving the health of all Americans” (Healthy People 2020, n.d, para. 1). The Healthy people 2020, is aimed at improving the health of individuals and communities and envisions “a society in which all people live long, healthy lives” (Healthy People 2020, n.d, para 4). A short priority list was developed and contains twenty-six objectives knowns as Leading Health Indicators (LHI). The list of objectives was created to prioritize health issues that must be addressed and to find appropriate actions to take in order to improve the health of the population.

The instrument measured physical and mental health dimensions through eleven questions and thirty-six items covering eight components that were represented by functional capacity, physical pain, general health, vitality, social functioning, emotional aspects, mental health, and a related question about the current general health a year before the interview (Girardi et al., 2015).

In 2010, Healthy People 2020 was started by the Department of Human Health Services. Health programs and research topics were instituted to help Americans live healthier and longer lives (CDC, 2014). The 42 topics presented are all very important in maintaining the goals set by Healthy People 2020. If these programs were to be cut or budget restraints imposed on them, the impact would be felt by all Americans. There would be more unhealthy people, preventable chronic diseases would be more prevalent, and education and health associated programs would be

Healthy People 2020’s goal is to improve the well-being of women, infants, children, and families. As a result, increasing the quality of years of healthy life. All of this can accomplish by providing a roadmap to all to help individuals and health care providers meet these outcomes. Improving the families well-being has a great impact on the rest of each person’s life.

Sexual and social stigmas largely affect the health of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) population. While many reports from the Institute of Medicine, Healthy People 2020 and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality recognize a need to improve the quality of health care, barriers still remain. LGBT patients face legal discrimination, especially with insurance, a lack of social programs, and limited access to providers competent in LGBT health care. Although the Affordable Care Act increased access to care for LGBT patients, unless these patients feel understood by providers and develop trust in the system, they are not likely to utilize care. Healthcare providers need to recognize how these vulnerabilities, as well as persistent racism and stigma linked to sexual orientation and gender identity, make the healthcare needs of LGBT patients more challenging than the general population. Healthcare providers also need to promote cultural competence within this population and broaden their clinical lens to include health promotion, in addition to addressing concerns mentioned above within the population. Additionally, medical and nursing schools need to ensure that future providers are adequately educated by including information about this population in the curriculum.

According to the worksheet, “How Healthy Are You?” the dimensions of health I scored the highest on were Physical and Spiritual Health. I scored an 18 out of 20 on both Physical and Spiritual Health making these two the ones that I am functioning well in. Based on answering these questions and determining my score, it helped me focus more on the other dimensions of health that I didn’t score very well on. I am functioning well in Physical Health because I am happy with my weight and size, I get 7-8 hours of sleep, I am always walking around at work (almost 3-5 miles), and my immune system is good when responding to viruses or any harmful things.

The Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as "A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being not merely the absence of disease". It follows that the measurement of health and the effects of health care must include not only an indication of changes in the frequency and severity of diseases but also an estimation of wellbeing and this can be assessed by measuring the improvement in the quality of life related to health care. Although there are generally satisfactory ways of measuring the frequency and severity of diseases this is not the case in so far as the measurement of wellbeing and quality of life are concerned.