Access to Healthcare

604 words | 3 page(s)

In Cities and the Health of the Public, the authors discuss a number of different topics relating to public health access in the US. In particular, they begin their writing with an introduction that lays out the way in which the authors planned to attack the question. They defined what “urban” meant, both in terms of what kind of city constitutes urban and how they would deal with urban sprawl. They laid out a framework for how they would assess health challenges, as well. In this part of the book, the authors noted that the United States is an interesting place to conduct a case study because of how much its cities have changed since the end of World War II. Cities have changed in fundamental ways, and as they have, the health outcomes have been altered drastically.

The authors suggest that there are two primary determinants of health outcomes in the cities of the US. One, the social environment in cities is different than outside of cities. People are closer together, and they are working longer hours in more stressful jobs. In addition to that, the physical environment is different. People are utilizing public transit, they have less green space, and they can sometimes be more active because of the need to get around in cities. Beyond that, the authors write about the wide variety in cities when it comes to health services availability. Health outcomes can be determined by whether a city provides the kind of health services that people of all incomes can access, especially in terms of preventable illnesses and conditions.

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The next part includes a wide variety of writings on the differing health perspectives depending on where one looks for analysis. The global perspective on American health might note how Americans have culturally allowed and even celebrated those things that can be destructive to health, including stress, alcohol, smoking, and even long hours at the workplace. Likewise, this part of the work discusses the important factors surrounding urban sprawl and how people have had their health outcomes altered by the physical changes to the cityscape over the last two or three decades. By considering the impact of these changes to cities on health outcomes, the authors suggest strongly that there is a role to be played by city planners in helping to support more positive health outcomes for citizens.

Perhaps the most important section of the work discusses the actual health outcomes in cities. Cities produce the possibility for the quick spread of diseases because people live so close. Even diseases like the common cold can spread quickly. In some cases, epidemics happen and make life difficult on everyone, as was the case with Zika and Ebola. In addition, this section talks about how the urban lifestyle can bring on many stresses and stressors. It is simply designed to ensure that people live more hectic lives, and this can impact health outcomes over the long run. On top of that, there are special mental health challenges in cities. While mental health issues are not just limited to urban settings, the realities of city life can challenge people to maintain their mental health if they are not utilizing positive maintenance.

Lastly, the authors argue that it is possible to help influence urban health. They suggest that in the proper setting, it may be possible to utilize interventions to begin to turn around some of the negative trends. They suggest that there must be a concerted effort among health providers and those who study city planning to implement changes that will help people achieve better health outcomes and longer lives, too.

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