Policy Brief Essay Paper
Benchmark – Policy Brief
The benchmark assesses the following competencies:
1.4 Participate in health care policy development to influence nursing practice and health care.
Research public health issues on the \”Climate Change\” or \”Topics and Issues\” pages of the American Public Health Association (APHA) website. Investigate a public health issue related to an environmental issue within the U.S. health care delivery system and examine its effect on a specific population.
Write a 750-1,000-word policy brief that summarizes the issue, explains the effect on the population, and proposes a solution to the issue.
Follow this outline when writing the policy brief:
Describe the policy health issue. Include the following information: (a) what population is affected, (b) at what level does it occur (local, state, or national), and (c) evidence about the issues supported by resources.
Create a problem statement.
Provide suggestions for addressing the health issue caused by the current policy. Describe what steps are required to initiate policy change. Include necessary stakeholders (government officials, administrator) and budget or funding considerations, if applicable.
Discuss the impact on the health care delivery system.
Include three peer-reviewed sources and two other sources to support the policy brief.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required. Policy Brief Essay Paper
This assignment uses a rubric. Please review the rubric prior to beginning the assignment to become familiar with the expectations for successful completion.
You are required to submit this assignment to LopesWrite. Refer to the LopesWrite Technical Support articles for assistance.
Benchmark: Policy Brief
Policy Health Issue
The selected health issue is climate change. Climate change is a key determinant of health because it is associated with significant harmful effects on population health. Climate change interrelates with determinants of health, and with other systems and hence it impacts numerous environmental and social determinants of health that includes safe drinking water, food, clean air, and secure shelter (Fox et al., 2019). The health of human beings is a close component of the environment and thus climate change affects the health of human beings. Policy Brief Essay Paper
The risks associated with climate change include extreme weather events, and climate associated diseases such as heat stress, vector-borne diseases, malaria, and waterborne diseases such as diarrheal. Moreover, the flooding associated with climate change leads to sewage overflows, food-borne diseases, and disruption of transportation, agriculture, and sometimes it causes death (Ganesh & Smith, 2018). Likewise, severe drought due to climate change negatively affects food security leading to a lack of adequate food, lack of clean water, and malnutrition.
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Problem Statement
Climate change comes with significant harmful effects on human health. According to Ganesh & Smith (2018) the environmental impacts of climate change such as extreme heat waves, polluted air, hurricanes, drought, and increasing sea-levels normally have significant impacts on the physical, social and mental health of human beings. Climate change is associated with the transmission of diseases like Zika virus, malaria, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and dengue fever. WHO (2020) estimates that between 2030 and 2050 climate change is likely to cause about 250 000 mortalities annually due to malaria, water-borne diseases, heat stress, and malnutrition. Additionally, there are indirect health consequences of climate change such as oceanic warming that causes changes in ocean dynamics, acidification, and discharge of build-up toxins; this eventually affects the food chain and thus the health of humans. This is because the people may use the water and the accumulated toxins may adversely affect the health of people. The direct costs of climate change allied to health sums to billions of US dollars. Therefore, this indicates that climate change is a significant health issue that requires an immediate intervention through policy to improve the health outcomes of populations.
Suggestions to Address Climate Change
Based on the adverse health issues associated with climate change, it is necessary to implement a policy that holistically addresses the issue of climate. Policy-makers and researchers should appreciate that the health components of climate change need a multidisciplinary approach to address at local, national, and international levels (Fox et al., 2019). Policy-makers should partner with epidemiologists, and healthcare workers such as nurses to identify policy areas to integrate healthcare expertise and epidemiological knowledge to come up with strategies and health system interventions likely to increase population resilience, taking into consideration the vulnerabilities of the populations, and health conditions.
Outreach and education interventions need to be conducted in the communities to build awareness on the importance of preventing climate change through measures such as avoiding air pollution from fossil fuels and reducing vehicle emissions (Ganesh et al., 2018). It is also essential to inform communities about the risks associated with health island and set up a foundation for action.
It is also important for funding organizations to increase funding opportunities to support research regarding climate change and the resulting health impacts (Ebi et al., 2018). Public health scientists, epidemiologists, and other healthcare practitioners such as nurses need to collaborate to support research on climate change and its impact on health (Ganesh & Smith, 2018). This research should also include interventions aimed to mitigate climate change and prevent the resulting health effects. Policy Brief Essay Paper
Finally, capacity building opportunities and training should be promoted among healthcare workers and epidemiologists to facilitate the development of a clear understanding of the challenges associated with climate change and relevant to public health (Bouzid et al., 2014). Such training will equip healthcare providers with the skills and expertise necessary to design robust interventions in response to climate change.
The Impact on the Health Care Delivery System
The stakeholders relevant to the climate change in the healthcare system consisting of the government, experts on climate change, healthcare organizations, regulatory authorities, epidemiologists, healthcare practitioners such as community nurses, and the community at large (McGushin et al., 2018). Therefore, the role of healthcare organizations and healthcare practitioners will be important in addressing climate change and its effects. Healthcare organizations and providers need to create awareness about the adverse impacts of climate change and they are also professionals who address health outcomes of climate change.
Therefore, by effectively implementing policies that address climate change and the suggested recommendations; it is possible to prevent and mitigate climate change, and also reduce the health effects of climate change.
References
Bouzid, M., Hooper, L., & Hunter, P. R. (2013). The effectiveness of public health interventions to reduce the health impact of climate change: a systematic review of systematic reviews. PloS one, 8(4), e62041. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0062041.
Ebi, K. L., Berry, P., Hayes, K., Boyer, C., Sellers, S., Enright, P. M., & Hess, J. J. (2018). Stress Testing the Capacity of Health Systems to Manage Climate Change-Related Shocks and Stresses. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(11), 2370. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15112370.
Fox, M., Zuidema, C., Bauman, B., Burke, T., & Sheehan, M. (2019). Integrating Public Health into Climate Change Policy and Planning: State of Practice Update. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(18), 3232. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16183232.
Ganesh, C., & Smith, J. A. (2018). Climate Change, Public Health, and Policy: A California Case Study. American journal of public health, 108(S2), S114–S119. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2017.304047.
McGushin, A., Tcholakov, Y., & Hajat, S. (2018). Climate Change and Human Health: Health Impacts of Warming of 1.5 °C and 2 °C. International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(6), 1123. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph15061123
