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3 pages/β825 words
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Style:
MLA
Subject:
Social Sciences
Type:
Essay
Language:
English (U.S.)
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Topic:
What People Learned from the Past Health Crisis
Essay Instructions:
Read:
1. The Atlantic: https://www(dot)theatlantic(dot)com/ideas/archive/2020/03/when-outbreak-victims-are-children/608962/
2. BBC: https://www(dot)bbc(dot)com/future/article/20200325-covid-19-the-history-of-pandemics
Watch:
https://www(dot)pbs(dot)org/video/american-experience-influenza-1918/
Essay: (5 paragraphs)
Introduction
Body paragraphs
Conclusion
As a society, what lessons should we learm from our handling of past public health crises?
Essay Sample Content Preview:
Lessons from Past Public Health Crises
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Lessons from Past Public Health Crises
Infectious diseases have posed a threat to global public health over the centuries. More humans have died from infectious diseases than anything else. A look into the death figures of pandemics in history highlights the devastating impact it continues to have on human lives. For example, some of the deadliest infectious diseases in history, like the 6th-century plague of Justinian, claimed 50 million fatalities. Again, nearly 200 million lives were lost during the 14th century Black Death. While in the 20th century, Smallpox killed some 300 million people. These diseases are usually caused by bacteria, viruses, and parasites (BBC Future, 2020). Currently, the world continues to be ravaged by the COVID-19 outbreak, with the situation escalating. This paper looks at the lessons public health agencies can learn from past global pandemics.
The case of the polio outbreak in the 1950s in the USA offers some vital lessons. The disease claimed thousands of lives in the US. It mostly affected children and spread through oral-fecal contacts. Polio spread faster during the summer months and sometimes led to paralysis. During this era, institutes such as the National Institutes of Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received inadequate funding. There wasn’t enough support from the Federal Government. However, the disease was eliminated through the coordinated, determined, and unified approach of a single charity organization called March of Dimes.
Further, millions of people participated in voluntary services to end the outbreak. The scourge ended despite inadequate federal support. So, two lessons can be drawn from this outbreak. First, dealing with a pandemic such as the COVID-19 requires a sole coordinated effort by public health agencies across a country. A divided approach will likely escalate a crisis. Second, during a public health crisis, hospitals will probably be overwhelmed by a sudden influx of sick patients. The government must mobilize the public to provide volunteer health workers (The Atlantic, 2020). These actions will boost the efforts to contain a pandemic and will help a country ease its crisis.
Crucial lessons can also be learned from the 1918 Spanish flu. Influenza killed over 675,000 Americans, while about 50-100 million died globally. The flu virus spread and killed fast. The disease caused pneumonia, which was the primary cause of many flu deaths. It was particularly lethal among young adults considering that 28 years was the average age of the fatalities. Further, the rise in demand for health professionals by the military-led to a significant ...
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