Health Services in the U.S
Table of Contents
Levels of prevention
There are three levels of disease prevention namely primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary prevention deals with health promotion activities that help prevent the occurrence of diseases. Secondary prevention focuses on early detection and screening of diseases. It is also referred to as health maintenance. Tertiary prevention is directed towards recovery of a condition or disease.
Historic evolution
Public health started with early civilization. In the United States, public health providers used functions and programs that were traditional in nature. In 1953, the federal government established a department that would focus on health of the United States’ people. It incorporated education, health and welfare as the most important areas. Since then, there has been a great expansion of government initiatives focused on public’s health. A major boost to the public health was realized after the passage of the Federal Health Planning and Resources Development Act of 1974 (Williams and Torrens, 2008).
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Lessons from history
There has been sharp focus on outbreaks of illness and their severity. It has been realized that long-term acute infections are not the main problem in the United States, but chronic long-term conditions. The public health agencies have taken initiatives to curb the spread of acute illness at the expense of chronic disease prevention. Despite the shortcoming, the private sector was seen to liaise with the public health agencies to offer organized assistance to patients throughout the country.
Role of the private sector
The private sector used modern methods of health provision and disease prevention. This was later introduced in the public sector as the traditional nature of treatment was discarded. The private sector liaised with the public health agencies to offer acute disease prevention. In addition, they worked together in conducting health promotion throughout the United States. They managed to enhance education, health and welfare of the American people.
