Current Public Health Issues Globally and in Africa

Abstract

Introduction: Public health focuses on disease prevention and the overall improvement of human life. Research makes it clear that the importance of public health cannot be understated. The Centre of Disease Control (CDC) defines public health as “the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities "Those served by public health can be as small as a local neighborhood, or as big as an entire country or region of the world. Objectives: to determine the public health issues and their solutions globally and in Africa. Methodology: desk review was carried out to determine the current public health issues globally and in Africa. Results: the current public health issues include public health authority, public health workforce shortage, public health spending, health equity, E-cigarretes, climate change, the environment, HIV/AIDS, rural health, data privacy. The global public health conditions include cardiovascular disease, HIV, obesity, subsance abuse, cancer, mental health and suicide. Conclusion and Recommendations: areas of public health responsibilty include Assure an adequate local public health infrastructure, promote healthy communities and healthy behavior, prevent the spread of communicable diseases, protect against environmental health hazards, prepare and respond to emergencies and assure health services. Whether African nations will be able to sustain these efforts and build on them will depend on: Country ownership of policies and programmes; leadership engagement and support; collaboration with international and bilateral actors for experience sharing, technology and capacity building.