Public health aspects of global population health and well-being in the 21st century regarding determinants of health

• Main Author: Izet Masic
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2018-01-01
• Series: International Journal of Preventive Medicine
• Subjects: Global health; public health; public health determinants
• Online Access: http://www.ijpvmjournal.net/article.asp?issn=2008-7802;year=2018;volume=9;issue=1;spage=4;epage=4;aulast=Masic

Why did I recall the details about public health aspects of global population and well-being in the 21st century regarding the determinants of health? Most of all because today, at the end of 2017, we are talking about the same principles from the “Declaration on Primary Health Care” from 1978, and the same goals as those in “Health for all” which are still current or perhaps even more current than when they were published for the first time in scientific and professional literature. This is a notorious fact, even though we are talking about “Global Health” and its determinants, in all countries of the world, regardless of their social wealth, and all existing resources, especially those, intended to organize health care. In the field of practice, public health has advanced in knowledge and methodology. Biomedical scientists have identified many causes of infectious diseases and developed methods to put them under control. Epidemiologists have identified risk factors that favor many chronic illnesses and information that can be used to reduce the risk of disease. Efforts to cleanse the environment have resulted in air and water that are far safer than half a century ago. Intensive educational efforts have convinced the health-care organizers to improve their health behavior that is to quit tobacco use, and a combination of drinking and driving. The ability to assess the populations' health behaviors and assess the share of health interventions has also significantly improved the availability of health-care databases and computer software capable of analyzing them. However, much of the targets from the World Health Organization declarations are not improved or in some countries provided by official institutions responsible for public health activities.