Читать книгу Contemporary Health Studies - Louise Warwick-Booth - Страница 73

In order fully to understand health within contemporary society, it is essential to be able to identify what the key health issues and challenges are. As this chapter shows, the conceptualization of key threats to health is a complex process, and health threats also evolve over time. What are considered as key health threats are influenced by the context in which we live and our social position, which also determine our levels of risk. Indeed, key health threats can also be contested (e.g. climate change is still being debated, so for those who hold the view that it is not happening, then it will not be conceptualized as a health threat). As this chapter shows, there are many threats to public health and therefore it is essential that these are identified in order to prioritize strategies for action in relation to managing and dealing with them. Interventions intended to improve health can be designed, communicated and implemented in relation to many of these key health threats – for example, vaccination programmes can very effectively tackle infectious diseases.