142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

Annual Meeting Recordings are now available for purchase

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Individuals: Key players in promoting Global Health

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Monday, November 17, 2014 : 12:30 PM - 12:50 PM

Padmini Murthy, MD, MPH, MS, CHES , New York Medical College School of Public Health, Pleasant Valley, NY
The actions of individuals and their relationship to health promotion are more relevant today than ever in the status of global health across communities. The health scenario is positioned at unique crossroads as the world is facing a ‘triple burden of diseases’ constituted by the unfinished agenda of communicable diseases, newly emerging and re-emerging diseases as well as the unprecedented rise of noncommunicable chronic diseases. Unfortunately the burden of chronic diseases has been on the rise and, according to the latest WHO data released in 2012 non- communicable diseases (NCDs), is the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2008, 80 percent of NCD deaths were in developing countries, up from 40 percent in 1990. NCDs will steadily increase the number of healthy years (or disability-adjusted life years—DALYs) lost in middle-income countries, but the loss will increase very quickly in low-income countries. By 2030, low-income countries will have eight times more deaths attributed to NCDs than high-income countries. The role of individuals in adapting health lifestyles is crucial in reducing the socio- economic burden caused by NCDs. An example of an effective strategy that reduced smoking rates nationally as the result of a health promotion campaign launched in Thailand with donor assistance from overseas and this focused on individual behaviors which resulted in positive outcomes on a national level. The smoking rates dropped in 1991from 59 percent among males to 40 in 2009 and in females from 5 to 2 percent as well.

Learning Areas:

Chronic disease management and prevention
Public health or related education

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the role of individuals in improving global health Identify why individual actions and behavior can positively / negatively impact global health in communities. Describe examples of individual commitment in making a positive impact on Global Health

Keyword(s): Environmental Health, Evidence-Based Practice

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been working in the area of health care and public health as aphysician , practicing public health professional , professor for the past 25 years. I have presented at various conferences and am widely published
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.