Community Health

1. THE NATION’S HEALTH
MATERNAL,
INFANT,
AND CHILD
HEALTH
ADOLESCENTS,
YOUNG
ADULTS, AND
ADULTS
ELDERS

3. pre-pregnancy
pregnancy
labor, and delivery
postpartum period
the health of the
child prior to birth
through
adolescence.
Maternal, infant, and child health

6. Maternal, infant, and child health are
important to a community for several
reasons.

7. First, maternal, infant , and child health statistics are
regarded as important indicators of the effectiveness
of the disease prevention and health promotion
services in a community.
Second, many of the risk factors specified can be
reduced or prevented with the early
intervention of educational programs and
preventive medical services for women, infants, and
children.

8. Opportunities to reduce maternal
and infant mortality
Prevention measures that reduce maternal
and infant mortality and promote the
health of all childbearing women and
their newborns should start before
conception and continue through the
postpartum period. Some of these
prevention measures include the
following:

9. Before conception
• Screen women for health risks and pre-existing chronic
conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and sexually
transmitted diseases.
• Counsel women about contraception and provide access
to effective family planning services.
• Counsel women about the benefits of good nutrition;
encourage women especially to consume adequate
amounts of folic acid supplements (to prevent neural
tube defects) and iron.
• Advise women to avoid alcohol, tobacco, and illicit
drugs.
• Advise women about the value of regular physical
exercise.

10. During pregnancy
• Provide women with early access to high-quality care
throughout the phases of pregnancy, labor, and delivery. Such
care includes risk-appropriate care, treatment for
complications.
• Monitor and, when appropriate, treat pre-existing chronic
conditions.
• Screen for and, when appropriate, treat reproductive tract
infections.
• Vaccinate women against influenza, if appropriate.
• Continue counseling against use of alcohol, tobacco, and illicit
drugs.
• Continue counseling about nutrition and physical exercise.
• Educate women about the early signs of pregnancy related
problems.

11. During postpartum period
• Vaccinate newborns at age-appropriate times.
• Provide information about well-baby care and the
benefits of breastfeeding.
• Warn parents about exposing infants to secondhand
smoke.
• Counsel parents about placing infants to sleep on their
backs.
• Educate parents about how to protect their infants
from exposure to infectious diseases and harmful
substances.

12. Adolescents, Young Adults, and Adults
Adolescents and young adults (15 to 24
years of age)
Adults (25 to 64 years of age)

14. Each of these groups has its own sets of health risks and
problems.
Viewing these age group profiles enables public health
workers to detect the sources of diseases, injury, and death
for specific target populations and to propose programs to
reduce those sources.
Effective programs aimed at specific population age
groups can reduce the risk factors that contribute to disease,
injury, and death for the entire population.

15. ADOLESCENTS AND YOUNG ADULTS
Adolescents and young adults are
considered to be those people who fall
into the 15- to 24year-old range. The
individuals in this age group are
considered very important by our
society because they represent the
future of our nation.

16. .“Adolescence is generally regarded as the period of life
from puberty to maturity.”
It is not an easy stage of life for most because it is a
period of transition from childhood to adulthood. It “is a
time when children psychologically move from areas of
relative comfort and emotional security to places and
situations that are far more complex and often much
more challenging.”
In addition to the psychological changes, this
population of teenagers is also experiencing “hormonal
changes, physical maturation, and frequently,
opportunities to engage in risk behaviors.”

17. Young adults also face many physical, emotional,
and educational changes.
For example, young adults complete their physical
growth and maturity, leave home, marry and start
families, attend post-secondary education, enlist in the
military, or begin careers. Couple the demands of
these personal changes with the demands of a fast-
paced, ever-changing society.

18. Demography
There are several demographic variables that
impact the health of this age group, but the
three variables that are most important to
community health are the number of young
people, their living arrangements, and their
employment status.

19. A Health Profile
With regard to the health profile of this age
group, three major areas stand out—
➢ mortality,
➢ morbidity from specific infectious diseases,
and
➢ health behavior and lifestyle choices.

20. Community Health Strategies for Improving the
Health of Adolescents and Young Adult:
There are no easy , simple, or immediate solutions to reducing or
eliminating the health problems of adolescents and young adults.
social and cultural factors and community organizing
need special attention when dealing with the health problems of
adolescents and young adults.
Efforts to turn these health problems around will need to be
community-wide in nature and sustained over a long period of
time.
By “community-wide,” we mean the involvement of all the
stakeholders in a community, not just those who are associated with
health-related professions—in other words, a community organizing
effort is needed.
By “sustained over a long period, ”we mean institutionalizing the
change in the culture

21. Adult
The adult age group (those 25 to 64 years old) represents
slightly more than half of the population.
A Health Profile :The health profile of this age of adults is
characterized primarily by;
mortality from chronic diseases stemming from poor
health behavior and poor lifestyle choices made during
the earlier years of life.

22. Community Health Strategies for Improving the
Health of Adults
primary prevention programs could include exercise and nutrition
programs that help reduce the risks of cancer and cardiovascular
disease.
Secondary prevention programs that emphasize self or clinical
screenings to identify and control disease processes in their early
stages, such as mammography and cholesterol screenings, would also
be appropriate for this age group.
In addition, tertiary prevention programs such as medication
compliance to prevent disability by restoring individuals to their
optimal level of functioning after the onset of disease or injury could
also be useful.

23. Elders
people are considered old once they reach the age
of 65. But because there are a number of people
who are very active and healthy at age 65 and will
live a number of productive years after
65,researchers have subdivided old into
➢ the young old (65–74),
➢ the old old (75 - 84),
➢ and the oldest old (85 and over).

25. A HEALTH PROFILE OF ELDERS
The health status among elders has improved over the
years, both in terms of living longer and remaining
functional. The percentage of chronically disabled
older persons—those with impairments for three months
or longer that impede daily activities—has been slowly
falling.

26. Elder Abuse and Neglect
•Female elders are abused at a higher rate than men.
• Elders 80 years and older are abused or neglected at
two to three times the rate of their proportion of the
elderly population.
• In almost 90% of all elder abuse and neglect incidents
where a perpetrator is identified, the perpetrator is a
family member, and two-thirds of the perpetrators are
adult children or spouses.
•Victims of self-neglect are usually depressed, confused,
or extremely frail.

27. Good Luck