Measles Immunization: Advocacy Conflicts and Public Health Policy Enforcement
Overview
This paper examines measles immunization as a public health intervention, discussing the disease's transmission routes, complications, and risk factors. It argues for government-enforced immunization policies as a preventive measure while acknowledging the need for careful advocacy to address religious, cultural, and privacy concerns that create conflicts in implementation.
What this coursework covers
- Overview of measles transmission, complications, and risk factors
- Economic argument for preventive medicine and immunization
- Public health outcomes and government responsibility
- Challenges in enforcing immunization including legal, privacy, and cultural considerations
Preview
Unit 8 Discussion 1
Measles Immunization: Advocacy Conflicts
Measles is a contagious disease prevalent in children and spread through the air or surfaces infected a victim's cough droplets. Apart from picking the virus from air, victims can be affected by coming in contact with infected surfaces and through touching the face. Measles complications include bronchitis, ear infections, pneumonia, encephalitis, and pregnancy complications. Measles has three main risk factors; being unvaccinated, travelling internationally, and vitamin A deficiency. Immunization is crucial because it eliminates one of the risk factors and therefore, helps prevent future expenditures on a disease that can be prevented easily. CDC estimates that preventive medicine can lower health costs because 75% of annual health expenditures fund preventable chronic diseases (Medical_Practice, 2018).
In public health, expected outcomes include having a healthy and wholesome community. It is in the interest of both the public and the governing institutions to meet communities' needs. In situations where preventable measures, as is the case with measles, are the only available effective solutions, then such should be enforced under the law. Governments should be equipped to the extent that they can forcefully immunize people who might want to forego the process. However, this should be handled delicately because of the conflicts that will be encountered. People will be sceptical of the government's motives, given the rampant misinformation on both mainstream and social media in the 21st century. It will require amendment of laws, including the patience-doctor privacy privileges and freedom to personal privacy.