Reply To My Peers

Begin reviewing and replying to peer postings/responses early in the week to enhance peer discussion. See the rubric for participation points. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing viewpoints with a rationale, challenging aspects of the discussion, or indicating relationships between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Always use constructive language, even in criticism, to work toward the goal of positive progress.

Peer 1

Topic 1 Health Problems

• Which area, rural or urban, has the most health problems? Why? It is believed that the rural population tends to have more health problems than those in urban areas. Because people in rural areas view their personal health status less favorably than urban residents, studies show that rural adults are less likely to engage in preventive behavior, ultimately increasing risk exposure. (Lancaster, 2020) Rural residents may also have less access to quality healthcare, lack of education, uninsured or underinsured. Rural areas have a higher death rate in children, higher smoking in adolescents, and the highest levels of diabetes.
  • Identify four common health problems found in that selected area: Patients located in rural communities have various illnesses, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, COPD, and cancer. Almost 10% of rural residents are diagnosed with diabetes than just over 8% of urban residents. People from rural communities are more likely to be uninsured, smoke more, use alcohol more, and not participate in disease prevention or disease management.

References:

Lancaster, M.S. J. Public Health Nursing. [South University]. Retrieved from https://digitalbookshelf.southuniversity.edu/#/books/9780323582247/

Peer 2

Health is defined as being in a state where one if free of illnesses or injury. It therefore differs from healthcare and considering the two settings in the rural and urban areas, while there may be problems in access to health care services in the rural areas, there people in these places appear to face lesser health problems as compared to their urban counterparts (Hearne et al., 2015). A major source of health problems in the urban areas is the large disparities in socioeconomic status resulting in crime, violence and high risk behavior. High risk behavior is especially a major cause of health issues in urban areas because among others, it sees people involve themselves in activities such as drug abuse, sex work among other activities that contribute to poor health.

The socioeconomic issue creates a huge pool of poor people who struggle to put food in the table. For example in Philadelphia, a study showed that as much as 25% of the people are below poverty line (Black, 2018). They are likely to suffer from all health problems associated with poverty. The poor have higher chance of lacking food and will most to unbalanced diet and malnutrition as well as have limited access to health care services.

Another health problem face in urban centers is weight related problems. Many in the urban centers have lives that do not require any form of physical activity. They spend their entire days seated and will and there are limited free physical activity areas. They are also more likely to have food that is considered unhealthy. All these issues result in overweight and obesity as well as health problems related to them.

Finally, people in urban areas live in polluted areas compared to their rural counterparts. They are more likely to be exposed to carbon gases from the vehicles on the streets and due to congestion, there are more problems relating to garbage especially in poorly run cities. They are also at higher risk of having contaminated water. All these combine to create series of health problems that will be unique to city residents.

References

Black, R. (2018). The population health problems facing urban and rural America. Retrieved from https://www.idigitalhealth.com/news/the-population-health-problems-facing-urban-and-rural-america

Hearne, S., Castrucci, B. C., Leider, J. P., Rhoades, E. K., Russo, P., & Bass, V. (2015). The future of urban health. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 21, S4-S13. doi:10.1097/phh.0000000000000166