As the healthcare world rapidly evolves, healthcare professionals must stay abreast of current issues and policies shaping the future of public health. From advancing technology and changes in how people seek and receive care, these professionals must continuously identify ways to meet people where they are and promote societal health.
For public health professionals, this means regularly seeking out the latest trends and patterns among various demographics to ensure healthcare stays effective and meaningful. Graduates of the Master of Public Health (MPH) online program University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (UMHB) get a jumpstart on exploring these trends.
Through courses like Health Systems, Organization and Policy, students gain the knowledge and skills to address complex public health challenges, including navigating the policy-making process. An internship allows students to apply these skills in a public health practice setting in preparation for careers with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, academia and healthcare institutions.
What Is Public Health?
Public health is an intricate system with many moving parts. Still, the American Public Health Association offers a straightforward definition of its goal: “Public health promotes and protects the health of all people and their communities, “using evidence-based guidelines to give everyone a safe place to live, learn, work and play.”
Much of public health professionals’ work focuses on helping people live longer, healthier lives — often by utilizing comprehensive strategies such as surveillance, education, policy development and community engagement. However, Deloitte predicts that the future of public health will look slightly different, with a greater emphasis on the following areas:
- Achieving health equity
- Public and private sectors partnering to work toward a common goal
- Enhancing funding for prevention and health promotion efforts
- Improving real-time data-sharing across sectors
- Developing a multidisciplinary public health workforce
What Are the Top 5 Public Health Policy Issues?
As the world becomes more interconnected, public health policies become even more critical to safeguarding and enhancing individual and community health. The following are the top five public health policy issues that professionals in the space should know:
1. Health Equity
A central aim of modern public health policies is health equity, ensuring everyone has the same opportunity to live healthy lives, regardless of where they live or work. Achieving equity in health outcomes remains a top priority because of the “overwhelming evidence of how the pandemic has disproportionately impacted historically marginalized and low-income groups,” notes Holland & Knight.
2. Chronic Disease
Chronic diseases — like diabetes, cancer and heart disease — account for a substantial portion of healthcare spending. Although people are living longer with these diseases, they can contribute to premature death and disability and reduce the resiliency of communities. Public health professionals are integral in tracking chronic diseases and sharing prevention strategies to support long-term wellness.
3. Mental Health
Public health policies can address the prevention, treatment and management of mental health conditions. Increasingly, policy initiatives focus on reducing the stigma associated with seeking help and the impacts of social media on youth well-being. Professionals working in this sphere aim to improve access to services, early intervention efforts and community support for people in need.
4. Social Determinants of Health
Social determinants of health (SDOH) interventions target social and economic factors that affect people’s health. For example, housing assistance programs foster stable housing and reduce the risk of homelessness and exposure to harmful environmental conditions. Other SDOH factors public health programs target include income, education, employment and social support networks.
5. Affordable Care
Healthcare costs continue to be a heavy burden for many U.S. citizens. More than 100 million U.S. citizens — approximately 41% of adults — face challenges paying their medical bills, according to KFF. The rising costs of care and insurance premiums have created an affordability crisis that undermines decades of public health advancements. Professionals will likely need to continue developing policies to address this pressing issue.
How an Advanced Degree Can Help
Public health professionals must keep educating themselves on what is happening in the world to provide the best care and support to patients and communities. The policies they create can influence care delivery, insurance coverage and the environment, guiding programs that shape social norms and health behaviors. Graduates of UMHB’s online MPH program are equipped with the foundational knowledge to thrive in the public health space and anticipate future trends.
Learn more about the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor’s online MPH program.