Part 1- Identify and provide the name and contact information for your city/county health director and the name and contact info for your state health director.
County: Maricopa, State: Arizona
Name: Dr. Cara Christ
Contact information: http://twitter.com/azdhs, http://www.facebook.com/azdhs.
Part 2- Examine the “Ten Great Public Health Achievements” at https://www.cdc.gov/about/history/tengpha.htm. Select one achievement, and discuss how this achievement was achieved.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
At first, I thought that public health deals with vaccines and washing of hands. But as delved deeper into the discipline, I realized that it covers a wide range of issues that affect people in the society thus affecting the quality of life of a population. The ten great public health achievements include: immunizations, motor vehicle safety, work place safety, control of infectious diseases, and decline in deaths from heart diseases and stroke, safer and healthier foods, healthier mothers and babies, family planning, fluoridation of drinking water, and tobacco as a health hazard ( CDC, 2011) . This paper will discuss the control of infectious diseases.
One of the strategies to achieve this measure includes the improvement of sanitation and hygiene. During the 19 th century, overcrowding was a common phenomenon which resulted in poor housing coupled with nonexistent water supplies and water-disposal systems ( CDC, 1999) . With these conditions, there was an outbreak of cholera, dysentery, influenza, typhoid, malaria, and yellow fever (Borkowski, 2010) . Due to improvements in public health, diseases began to decline. The local, state reinforced the concept of public health action, and the federal government to provide clean water thus prevents infection. The establishment of local health departments enhanced disease prevention activities such as water treatment, sewage disposal, organized solid waste management, food safety, and public education about hygiene practices.
Furthermore, the reduction of diseases was aided by animal and pest control. Dog-to-dog transmission of rabies was controlled nationwide by the vaccination of animals sponsored by the state. Malaria which was once a deadly infection across the United States was reduced by the 1940’s (Borkowski, 2010) . It was aided by the mosquito control programs which were initiated. Other diseases like plague also reduced as a result of the ship inspection and quarantine programs adopted by the U.S marine Hospital Service. These activities lowered the rate of the outbreak of diseases.
Besides the improvement of hygiene and sanitation, vaccination is another strategy that has enhanced the reduction of deaths resulting from infectious diseases. The adoption of strategic vaccination programs has eliminated some of the most common illnesses that plagued the united states such as diphtheria, tetanus, smallpox, measles, and rubella. In 1949, the government rolled out vaccination programs aiming poor children following the licensing of combined diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and pertussis vaccine (Borkowski, 2010) . Disease eradication in the 20 th century was inspired by the successful vaccination programs in the United States and Europe since it brought the belief that all diseases can be eradicated from the human population ( CDC, 1999) .
Antimicrobial medicines and antibiotics played an essential role in the reduction of deaths from infectious diseases ( CDC, 2011) . The introduction of penicillin, which provided complete and quick treatment of the incurable bacterial diseases, was a huge addition. However much it was not developed for medicinal use, it was until 1940 were when the U.S soldiers used it to treat their wounded soldiers that its adoption as human medicine began (Borkowski, 2010) . Drugs have been useful in the treatment of bacterial and fungal infections over time. Similarly, drugs have been developed to treat viral infections like HIV and parasitic diseases like malaria. However, with resistance to drugs posing a significant threat to the success of medicines, the importance of disease prevention cannot be overlooked.
Public health has made some significant achievements in the economy of this country, and the prevention of infectious diseases is one of its outstanding outcomes. This has been made possible through the adoption of antibodies and other antimicrobial medicines, vaccination, animal and pest control, and improvement of sanitation and hygiene. All these measures have allowed the reduction of deaths.
References
Borkowski, L. (2010, September 3). Public Health 101: Ten Great Achievements. Retrieved from http://www.thepumphandle.org/2010/09/03/public-health-101-ten-great-ac/#.XICs8uczbIU
CDC. (1999, July 30). Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Control of Infectious Diseases. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm4829a1.htm
CDC. (2011, May 20). Ten Great Public Health Achievements --- United States, 2001--2010. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6019a5.htm
