Epidemiology Report

            The Weekly Epidemiology Report published on January 11^th, 2013 contains information regarding the monitoring and evaluation of preventative chemotherapy. According to Crompton (2006) preventative chemotherapy is the use of anthelminthic drugs, either alone or in combination, as a public health tool against helminth infections. Promoted by the World Health Organization and fundamental for ascertain program progress toward achieving established goals, monitoring and evaluating preventative chemotherapy activities can lead to enhanced effectiveness of health care and better use of limited resources thereby allowing more at risk individuals to be reached. (World Health Organization, 2013) Core sets of standardized tools are utilized to ensure reports are conducted properly and thus allowing a more accurate specification of intended diseases and a higher quality of the interventions involved.  

            All drug coverage reports, disease-specific guidelines, and data pertaining to monitoring and evaluation of preventative chemotherapy is provided in the public domain of the World Health Organization website. Although significant efforts are required to strengthen monitoring and evaluation of preventative chemotherapy, more than 700 million individuals have been reported as having received preventative treatment at least once in a twelve month period. (World Health Organization, 2013) The study of a large number of individuals over an extended period of time matched with reliable monitoring and evaluation practices will generate conclusive evidence in determining the desired impact of preventative chemotherapy. Up-to-date epidemiology progress information is imperative in estimating the annual percentage of the population that has or potentially will need to receive treatment. However, while substantial progress has been made in recent years, a number of key challenges remain to be overcome in order to further accelerate roll out and scale-up of preventative chemotherapy interventions worldwide. (World Health Organization, 2013)   

            After reading the issue that epidemiologists are concerned about this week it is clear to say that the measurements and information provided by investigations through ways of monitoring and evaluating preventative chemotherapy treatment is important in the effort to control and eliminate specific diseases. Despite the need for a few minor improvements and availability of more resources, monitoring and evaluation practices are distinguished as an essential component of the global response to treatment coverage.  The continuation of these practices will allow for great success in achieving any milestones and goals set for the future.

For more information on this article please visit the references below:

Crompton, D. (2006). Preventive chemotherapy in human helminthiasis: Coordinated use of anthelminthic drugs in control interventions- a manual for health professionals and programme manager. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.

World Health Organization. (2013). Monitoring and evaluation of preventive chemotherapy. Weekly Epidemiological Record, 88(2), 17-28. Retrieved from http://www.who.int/wer/2013/wer8802.pdf

FDA NEWS RELEASE

          Contaminated food products such as eggs, beef, cantaloupe, lettuce and various other produce that may carry food borne illnesses like those of E. coli, Listeria or Salmonella have taken the spotlight in the media within the past couple of years. Although simple measures such as washing your hands before and after preparing foods, cooking all foods thoroughly, and refrigerating foods within an hour after cooking them are common knowledge among most American households the problem essentially starts behind the scenes way before that product is anywhere near your fork or mouth. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), an agency developed to promote public health by assuring safety, effectiveness and security of our nation’s food supply, has proposed two new rules that will help prevent future occurrences of these and potentially other foodborne illnesses through their extensive outreach to produce industries in various levels of local, state, government and international facilities. (Burgess, 2013)    

            Every individual is vulnerable to foodborne illnesses and sometimes the bacteria from the illness may already be on the food products when you purchase them from your local grocery store. According to the Food Safety and Inspection Service (2011), an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, each year in the United States an estimated 48 million individuals will fall victim to a foodborne illness and nearly 3,000 deaths will occur. The two proposals require evidence based science standards to be established and preventive controls to be part of the norm across all sectors of the food systems. (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2013) With the new preventive guidelines that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is proposing, the decrease in foodborne illness can reduce outbreaks and recalls of food products, lower medical costs, and improve the overall health status of the general public. The two food safety proposals are up for discussion and open for public comment for the next 120 days. Once the comment period is closed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration staff, with the compliance and implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), will review the public comments which will allow them to better enable how the rules can best work together to create an integrated, effective and efficient food safety system. (Burgess, 2013) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration did research, held meetings and visited multiple produce farms, industries and facilities before composing these new rules to avoid unnecessary controversy and to protect the food safety of all Americans.          

           

For more information on this article and proposed rules please visit:

Burgess, S. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2013). FDA proposes new food safety standards for foodborne illness prevention and produce safety. Retrieved from website: http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm334156.htm

Food Safety and Inspection Service. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service. (2011). Foodborne illness: What consumers need to know. Retrieved from website: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FACTSheets/Foodborne_Illness_What_Consumers_Need_to_Know/index.asp

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2013). Federal register notice for the proposed rule “current good manufacturing practice and hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls for human food” (FDA-2011-N-0920). Retrieved from website: http://www.ofr.gov/(X(1)S(v3yf3je4uhgifjgft2sscuim))/OFRUpload/OFRData/2013-00125_PI.pdf

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Integral Health Plan

Introduction:

The development of psychological, spiritual, and physical aspects to achieve health and wellness are not solely for patients but for all individuals, especially professionals, who seek to lead a life with sustained health, authentic happiness, and genuine wholeness. The transformation of an enlightened way of life through one’s consciousness and the path to human flourishing is vital to a health provider’s comprehension and effectiveness of integral health. Without experiencing the shift of gaze inward, a professional will not be able to address or relieve needless distress in his or her patients. Another words, "One cannot lead another where one has not gone himself". (Schlitz, Amorok, & Micozzi, 2005) When professionals experience the power of the integral health practices first hand they gain understanding, credibility and knowledge about its possibilities.  

Often I find myself observing other individuals and thinking to myself about the positive qualities I noticed of the individuals. I never truly tell myself that I have the ability to perform to the same degree as the individuals I just evaluated in my head. Due to this awareness, I believe the area of myself that needs to have fostered growth is that of psychological development which involves mental capacities and abilities. My goal in life is to touch the lives of others through the promotion of various health and wellness components. This may be through education about preventative care, lectures on nutrition, screening for diseases such as diabetes or reaching out to communities about the importance of exercise. All of these elements of my future require certain qualities in an individual and if I do not see them in myself, I feel that it will be hard for me to appear confident within someone else’s eyes. Decreasing the negative thoughts through a subtle mind, reaching levels of understanding about myself as an individual, and utilizing affirmation techniques will allow me to mentally build or acknowledge my strengths.      

Assessment:

Assessment is the tool we need to choose to transform our health and life from conventional to integral, from ordinary to precious.(Dacher, 2006) Throughout the course of this class there have been numerous occasions that I have assessed my health in each domain; spiritual, physical and psychological. Am I defined by my circumstances? Do I have a secondary lifestyle? What is my outlook on life? These questions, along with multiple others, are all ways in which I use self-reflection and am able to look at all of the aspects individually to truly find the specific changes I wish to address. Furthermore, this assessment allowed me to base my personal levels of wellness on a scale of 1-10 (one being poor well-being and ten being optimal well-being) and score my strengths and needs in each area.

Spiritual well-being would be rated as 8 out of 10. I believe that the quality of my life lies in my experiences. Although I do not feel that I have found my purpose in this world, I do feel as though I accept and grow from what life throws my way, thus building my character. I believe that spirituality is an individual’s empowerment and realization that even though they have concerns, stressors, and challenges, they are not defined by those circumstances and that there still is hope, faith, and love that will get them through any situation. However, I do have moments of doubt and uncertainty in my life that I know can be altered by experiencing further positive spiritual wellness.  

Physical well-being can be described as 8 out of 10. I determined this number by the actual amount of physical activity I due in any given week. I walk at least an hour everyday and 3 times out of the week complete yoga sessions. Two points were taken off because I do not participate in strenuous cardio or aerobic exercises. I am in shape, plan healthy meals, and am well within the body mass index requirements for my height. However, I know this is something that I need to employ and I am working toward incorporating it into my daily routine.

          Psychological well-being score is a 7.5 out of 10. This area is challenged everyday with homework assignments, daily activities, work environment and my mental attitude. Overall I would say that I am extremely happy and satisfied with my life. I experience positive emotions all throughout the day thanks to close family, loved ones and friends around me. I have a positive outlook on life and feel that every day my personal growth is developing to higher levels. However, I occasionally evaluate my situation, try to figure out who I am and make personal judgments which can require the use of a mental health day to relax and unwind. Majority of the time I enjoy my perception on life but some days the weaknesses like these and the one I mentioned previously seek up on me.

Goal Development:

Spiritual Goal: My goal in this area is to maintain a balance and control over my life along with finding my purpose in this world. I know this will demand time and patience but I believe I need to take time everyday for about ten minutes at first gradually moving toward thirty minutes a day to reflect inward resulting in achievement of stability. This solitary time will allow me to find my inner peace and potentially help me reveal the purpose of my life as well.  

Physical Goal: My goal in this area is to add cardio and aerobic exercises slowly to my regular routine starting with an hour once a week and then shifting my workouts to an hour three to five times a week.

Psychological Goal: My goal in this area is to never settle for what I already have because if I continue to strive for higher levels of psychological well-being I have the potential to receive a higher income, perform better at my job and increase my life satisfaction and happiness. Additionally, I would like to diminish my negative thoughts by recognizing and replacing them with my strengths and positive qualities.

Practices for Personal Health:

Spiritual strategies: With patience and time I will be able to reveal the elements of this domain that I wish to pursue. However, to aid in the process I think that incorporating spiritual guidance classes with a mentor and the use of relaxation exercises (such as the Subtle Mind technique performed in this class) at the very minimum two times a day, twice a week with each duration lasting for a half hour will assist me in moving in the direction of a higher level of inner spirituality. Once I feel comfortable with this routine, I will evaluate my growth and if necessary, implement an extended period of time for these exercises along with potentially changing the amount of days per week that I practice these methods.    

Physical strategies: A mixture of workouts such as Insanity, Hip Hop Abs, Biggest Loser fitness videos, Zumba classes, and running trails outside will all be part of the exercises that assist me in moving toward this goal. These activities are high impact and will be suffice for rigorous cardio and aerobic workouts. Obviously I will not do these classes all at once or even in one day. These practices will need to be spread out throughout the course of a week and alternated so they work various areas of my physique. I would like to keep the intensity level of these exercises between low to medium at the beginning to prevent unnecessary injuries, the duration of the sessions would normally depend on the intensity but since I would like them to average about the same I think I can safely say I will perform all techniques for an hour, and the frequency of the workouts would be 3-5 times per week with the alteration of days and alteration of the exercise I execute.

Psychological strategies: A few activities that I can implement into my life to help with never settling for less is to educate myself on various topics by reading books to expand my knowledge. I will complete brain training activities to strengthen my mind, grow and maintain intimate through loving and caring relationships with others close to me. I will embrace my independence by experiencing new things on my own and exploring my personal values. Lastly, I will develop a sense of mastery in my environment by setting future goals such as completing this class and receiving my bachelor's degree. To replace my negative thoughts with positive ones I will need to rely on affirmation and visualization. By simply stating to myself detailed positive messages, such as I will do well in this interview or I believe in myself that I can achieve my dreams, I will be able to activate specific neural pathways that when strengthened tend to promote self-esteem and well-being. The visualization exercise will employ important neural structures that further enhance optimism, confidence, and personal effectiveness. All of these techniques that I have described will be a continuous and never ending quest to fill. Every day will involve at least one of these exercises, even for a mere ten minutes, and every day I will be able to notice myself gaining strength in this area.      

Commitment:

            Assessing progress within the next six months will be important in achieving my goals of integral health. Acknowledging the difference between short term relief and long term solutions will be the first strategy I will implement in my practices for health and wellness. Once this understanding has been imbedded into my mind, the use of appropriate spiritual, physical, and psychological techniques will be applied at specific times to maintain my priority of long-term flourishing. Next, managing an accurate way to document my progress will be conducted. This will be done through the use of my class blog, utilizing it as a journal and way to track my commitment. With this visual way of seeing my potential growth I will be able to monitor my assessment and modify my progress when applicable.    

References:

Dacher, E. (2006). Integral Health: The Path to Human Flourishing. (p.134) Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, Inc.

Schlitz, M., Amorok, T., & Micozzi, M. (2005). Consciousness and healing: Integral approaches to mind body medicine. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Churchill Livingston, Inc.

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Beneficial Practices to Gain a Good Mental Workout

Two practices that I have determined to be the most beneficial to my personal growth are that of the relaxation technique The Subtle Mind and the use of meditation. I feel that these practices can be implemented into my personal life to foster mental fitness in a variety of ways. As we discussed mental workouts in Unit 4, I remember that these exercises have to be done on a daily basis to perform at its best. Learning to condition my thoughts and feelings through strengthening the fitness of my mind can be done with the practices of relaxation and meditation. I plan on employing these practices in the morning when I wake up and right before I lay down to sleep. These methods will allow me to start and end my day with a calm and clear mind. In the morning I will be able to start my day off in a positive mood with a sharper mind than previously and at night it will let me wipe out any negativity that may be left behind from the day. Consistent and regular exercise will additionally boost my memory. With both methods focusing on inhaling and exhaling, it allows me to pay close attention to my breathing. As I perform this my mind becomes clearer and less distracted from outside factors. This permits me to teach my mind to concentrate as I am performing these techniques. Every time I apply these types of training, my deeper consciousness becomes more developed and expanded. Utilizing these exercises at least twice a day will alleviate stress, anxiety and potentially ward of mental disease or illnesses.