Over recent years, community health programs have become part and parcel of the overall healthcare system as they encourage citizens’ awareness about hazardous health implications of their lifestyle. Moreover, such organizations promote ways of maintaining a healthy state and dealing with already existing diseases. As the variety of community health programs proliferates, each of these organizations tends to have particular goals and objectives they are planning to achieve (Issel & Wells, 2018). The evaluation of such criteria can be executed through the comparative analysis of the goal wording and some actual measures taken towards its fulfillment.
The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the goals and objectives of the chosen community health program as well as to introduce some personal ideas in terms of their formulation. The following evaluation shows that the major issue US healthcare is facing today is the low level of community involvement, which can potentially increase the overall promotion of healthcare among citizens. Financial support as one of the primary milestones on the way towards healthcare system enhancement should also be encouraged through community help.
Community health programs that exist in the current US healthcare system concern almost every kind of disease. However, regarding the current lifestyle patterns of the vast majority of Americans, the importance of health organizations dealing with chronic diseases is invaluable. The most influential health organization addressing the issue is the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) (“Our programs and impact,” 2019). The center, being a subdivision of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, consists of various community health programs concerning chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart diseases, and obesity. In further discussion, the National Diabetes Prevention Program will be examined in terms of its major goals and objectives.
Diabetes has become one of the most serious threats to the US population over the past decades due to the stressful Americans’ lifestyle and irrational diet. Speaking of the health problem causal theory, diabetes can be caused by various factors such as having excessive weight, environmental issues, or even genetic predisposition. The National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP), founded in 2010, is focused on the ways of proper communication with citizens on the topic of the implications of diabetes they might have (“About the National DPP,” 2018).
Hence, the main goals of the program are to prevent the rapid growth of the population affected by diabetes as well as to provide actual physical means of its prevention. In order to fulfill its goals, the program is constantly interacting with the government and other organizations, which can potentially provide it with financial support. For example, in 2017, the program was set to expand all across the US areas so that every citizen could enroll in the diabetes prevention program.
Speaking of the program’s targets, it should be pointed out that it mainly aims at reducing the actual number of people at risk of having diabetes by expanding its infrastructure in every country’s area. The physical program the National DPP wants to spread all over the state is likely to reduce the risk of obtaining type 2 diabetes by 58 percent (“Research behind the National DPP,” 2019). Thus, the recommendation towards the program improvement would be to encourage more volunteers and sponsors in order to guarantee even better results in the future. Furthermore, the program needs more recognition among the residents through social media platforms as not all people are now aware of the service that can potentially help them.
Considering the evaluation above, in the context of today’s healthcare system and the number of community health programs, it is normal to evaluate their goals and objectives on the subject of their actual productivity. In such a way, programs with more realistic and effective approaches can be given more support from the investors and society in general. The National DPP program, evaluated in the paper, proves to have achievable goals and respective targets towards their fulfillment.
References
About the National DPP. (2018). Web.
Issel, L. M., & Wells, R. (2018). Health program planning and evaluation: A practical, systematic approach for community health. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Our programs and impact. (2019). Web.
Research behind the National DPP. (2019). Web.