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Action for Better Public Health

Author

David Taylor and Jenny Newbold

School of Pharmacy, University of London

July 2006

Summary

This analysis explores opportunities for public

health improvement in the United Kingdom through effective

partnerships among public and private service

providers in the health sector and the wider

economy, with a particular focus on the role of

pharmacies.

Through an analysis of graphed data, Taylor and Newbold

select these strategic points for emphasis:

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  • Improving overall population health should

    not be neglected in favour of reducing health

    inequalities because substantive public health

    gains come from interventions that change the

    behaviour of the entire public, rather than just

    individuals at very high risk of harm.

  • Recent research suggests that even limited

    changes in physical activity and diet can lead

    to significant health gains.

  • Greater public engagement in health is

    essential, especially promoting enhanced self care on a large scale. This includes greater self management of personal
    use of pharmaceuticals. In Scotland, for example, the provision of public health

    related interventions can occur via community

    pharmacies.

They then focus their findings in age categories with respect to

the promotion of self care.

  1. From infancy, healthy environments,

    providing on a daily basis good food,

    positive eating values and habits, and enjoyable

    exercise opportunities influence the formative

    years of young children.

  2. For young adults, unwanted 'nannying'

    messages are unpopular. Thus, conventional

    approaches to health promotion in schools or

    other settings can be counter-productive.

  3. Working adults' behaviour is often

    determined by convenience factors, and the

    practical viability of taking up health-related

    options such as programmes designed to

    facilitate weight loss or smoking

    cessation.

  4. The less advantaged people are, the more

    they are likely to benefit from 'structural'

    changes that impact on everyone, such as smoking

    bans, road safety and pollution laws.

  5. There is evidence for older adults that

    exercise patterns incorporated into home life

    are significantly more likely to be

    sustained.

  6. The more tailored to user populations health promotion

    interventions are, the more likely they are to

    have significant effects on larger portions of

    the population.

  7. Medicine use can effectively support

    behaviour change. This is well illustrated in

    the case of nicotine replacement therapy.

  8. Though doctors are more likely than other

    health professionals to change smoking and, by

    implication, other behaviours, there is also good

    evidence that pharmacists and nurses can support

    smoking cessation and other health behaviour

    interventions.

The authors conclude by pointing out that health

care is changing from emphasising disease treatment

to including preventative care. Pharmacies could

take part more actively in the challenge to

provide support for health behaviour changes.

Barriers include rigidity within the profession,

low public and political expectations, limited

professional relationships between physician and

pharmacy, and lack of sharing care records.

Taylor and Newbold support the position that pharmaceutical service providers are important

stakeholders in better public health and well

positioned for patient support as public health

policy moves toward promoting self care

solutions.


to download the full document in PDF format.

Contact

School of Pharmacy

29/39 Brunswick Square

London WC1N 1AX

United Kingdom

Tel: 44 0 20 7753 5800

Fax: 44 0 20 7753 5829

david.taylor@pharmacy.ac.uk

Source

Pan American Health Organization (PAHO)'s Equity, Health, and Human Development (EQUIDAD) listserv, September 5 2006, and the href="/redirect.cgi?m=d784d3576fcb44675abc95dd0cd9ed61" target="_blank">10 Downing Street website.


Placed on the Communication Initiative site February 20 2007
Last Updated February 20 2007


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