Intricate Relationship between Public and Personal Health

Critical Reflection on Unit 1
Name
Institution
Critical Reflection on Unit 1
The topics and concepts covered so far have helped me understand and appreciate the complicated relationship between personal and public health. In line with the World Health Organization's definition of health, a given society or community can substantially influence its individual members' health. For this reason, factors such as income, the environment, and education become crucial when discussing health, be it on a personal or community level. Interestingly, most of the factors mentioned above remain beyond the scope of the current healthcare system, creating the need for a new approach to the age-old problem that optimizes public health. Therefore, since most of the current health issues have been successfully tied to the existing social inequalities, bridging the economic gap and reconceptualizing the political ideologies driving our society will effectively lay the desired foundation for a healthy public in the future.
The on-going global pandemic has highlighted the wealth gap between the elite few and the general public and its impact on community health. While the average member of society complains of the economic hardships arising from the pandemic, the already affluent billionaires and large corporations continue to accumulate wealth (Collins et al., 2020). As much as these individuals and businesses provide products and services that are believed to be essential to society's needs, the fact that they use their respective positions to enrich themselves at the expense of people who are struggling to get by does not sit well with me. Many members of society lost their sources of income due to the economic shut-down that resulted from the pandemic. Nonetheless, the same individuals are expected to meet their day-to-day expenses as usual. Even though the reason behind the economic shut-down is valid as it seeks to prevent the spread of Covid-19, with prevention being one of the primary goals of public health, the impact of the resulting economic hardship on health cannot be overstated. People are stressing over their lost jobs, in turn placing their mental and physical health at risk. Simultaneously, access to healthcare has drastically reduced, as most facilities are dedicated to the epidemic.
With this in mind, Universal Basic Income (UBI) appears as the perfect solution to social and economic inequalities and the health issues they present. As a concept, UBI refers to the permanent disbursement of money to every citizen without any predetermined conditions (Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell, 2017). Such a concept is beautiful, especially now when people working in some professions are forced to stay home. As established, the pandemic is further enriching the wealthy while impoverishing the poor. As a resu...