Health care has always existed in the context of various external socio-political factors that contribute to both the development and decay of community health in a specific area. For this reason, nurses as public health advocates are to pay attention to both geopolitical and phenomenological patterns within society in order to remain proactive. The most relevant example of the geopolitical influence on public health is the reality of today’s global pandemic. According to the researchers, the context of geopolitics has played a significant role in terms of COVID-19 dissemination and response due to the political leaders’ failure to recognize the immediate need for collaboration (Cole & Dodds, 2021). It is a natural phenomenon that states with less access to the humanitarian provision of PPE and medications struggle more with the pandemic dissemination. Moreover, the factor of population density also plays an important role in pandemic handling. Itn India’s example it may be seen that socio-political peculiarities of society have a detrimental effect on the population’s health. Such a pattern means that public health management is only efficient when employed in collaboration with governmental institutions.
Another important factor contributing to public health is the notion of geography. According to WHO, most healthcare specialists are aware that climate change and air pollution directly predetermine poor health quality in the area (Phonsuk et al., 2020). Still, the efforts presented by the governments are not sufficient to modify the issue. One of the ways to resolve this issue is to secure a synchronized geopolitical positioning, which stands for the interests of political leaders in terms of tackling the issues present within the state (Gómez, 2017). As far as public health is concerned, community health nurses play a crucial role in the collection of relevant empirical data and presenting it to the state administration. Moreover, when it comes to the patients’ assessment, nurses should also make sure they pay specific attention to the health risks that emerge due to geopolitical peculiarities and common experiences for the fellow community residents.
References
Cole, J., & Dodds, K. (2021). Unhealthy geopolitics: Can the response to COVID-19 reform climate change policy?. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 99(2), 148.
Gómez, E. J. (2017). Geopolitics in health: Confronting obesity, AIDS, and tuberculosis in the emerging BRICS economies. JHU Press.
Phonsuk, P., Suphanchaimat, R., Patcharanarumol, W., Campbell-Lendrum, D., & Tangcharoensathien, V. (2020). Health impacts of climate change and geopolitics: A call for papers. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 98(3), 152-152A.