Article Analysis Essay on Why We Don't Spend Enough on Public Health

Introduction

According to this article, public health is often being underfunded for various reasons (Hemenway, 2010). The reason is that people and the government always want immediate benefit but the benefit of public health can only be witnessed in future (Hemenway, 2010). Secondly, the people who benefit from these public health measures are usually unknown. This fact is because the government cannot identify the actual individuals who benefited unlike patients in hospitals (Hemenway, 2010). Third, the article has outlined that the benefactors of public health cannot be traced. The reason is that most American citizens cannot identify the roles of public health professionals (Hemenway, 2010). Lastly, public health always faces various oppositions from the public, religious groups, and also politicians. The fact is that people cannot easily change their mentalities concerning how they carry out themselves (Hemenway, 2010).

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The purpose of this article was to emphasize the reason as to why public health is usually being underfunded in America. This action can be seen by the various oppositions and public health policies that have stagnated in the country due to the funding of public health initiatives (Hemenway, 2010). The article has gone ahead to compare and contrast the type of funding and focus the government has put towards public health facilities compared to public health (Hemenway, 2010).

Some essential key points in this article are how the government has neglected the public health and the challenges public health faces in the country (Hemenway, 2010). The government through its politicians has neglected public health in that the benefit of public health can only be observed in future. This action has discouraged the then government to invest or fund public health in that the next government would be accredited for their efforts . Besides, people see public health as not important and they rather invest in hospitals and healthcare facilities than public health.

This article has played an essential role in forming various scholars on the importance of investing or funding public health. The reason is that funding in public health is investing in the future because its benefits can be seen in future and they would help the government to minimize the amount of money they invest on health care and also provide quality life among its citizens (Hemenway, 2010). This article has helped me understand the importance of public health and public health system that I failed to acknowledge before in that it has outlined measures that people can put in place to better their health. Besides, adhering to public health would improve quality of life among people. However, this article is controversial in some ways in that it has criticized the government and people's role in public health (Hemenway, 2010). Various nongovernmental organizations have funded public health through the provision of clean water and carrying out various public educations to improve public health. Besides, the government also has a public health department and this department receives enough funds to help it carry out its operations. Moreover, various legislations have been put across by Congress to focus on public health and it is untrue that the article has suggested that the government and politicians do not fund or care about public health. The credentials of the author are satisfactory in that his facts about the benefits of public health can be seen in future is true. Besides, as a PhD holder, the author seems to have enough knowledge about public health and it would be just to listen to his suggestions (Hemenway, 2010).

Reference

Hemenway, D. (2010). Why we don't spend enough on public health. New England Journal of Medicine, 362(18), 1657-1658.