This document discusses implementing a public health program to address prescription drug abuse. The proposed program would prohibit pharmacies from selling prescription drugs over the counter without a doctor's prescription. It would target youth ages 12-17, who research shows often abuse prescription pain relievers. Limiting access to prescription drugs in this way could help curb abuse among this vulnerable group. The program aims to restrict illegal and non-medical use of prescription drugs by enforcing requirements for valid prescriptions from doctors.

1. Running head: Public HEALTH PROGRAM
PUBLIC HEALTH 3
Effective Public Health Program Implementation
Name
Institution
Effective Public Health Program Implementation
Drug Abuse is a major problem in the United States. One of the
hypothetical programs that I can implement to address the issue
of prescription drug abuse is imposition of the measures on the
chemists and pharmaceutical shops that sell prescription drugs
to people over the counter. In this program, all these people will

2. be prohibited from selling these drugs to people over the
counter without the prescription of a recognized doctor. In this
program, an action will be taken against all the people who sell
such drugs such as the pain relievers to their clients without
producing a prescription. The target population in this program
will be the people who are between the ages of 12 to 17 years.
The reason for targeting this age group is because, research
reveals that in the US, about 2000 youths who are of this age
group have at one time abused a prescription pain reliever.
Some of them usually get addicted to these drugs without their
knowledge because addiction usually kicks in when they make
their initial decision of voluntarily taking the prescriptions
drugs. It is the repeated intake of these drugs which changes the
normal functioning of their brains which makes them to no
longer have the control of whether to take these drugs or not
(Erwin, Brownson, Keck, & Scutchfield, 2016).
The impact of this prevention program is that it will limit the
access of these drugs by the target population. Limiting the sale
of the prescription drugs to only the people who have the
doctors note to show that they are supposed to buy certain drugs
to treat their illnesses will greatly aid in ensuring that the
pharmaceuticals do not sell drugs to the people within this age
bracket who purchases the drug for other uses rather than the
medical ones. The intervention in this case will entail the
coming together of the people who sell the drugs to fight the
sale of the drugs to the people who do not have the doctors’
prescription and are as a result abusing the drugs. As a result of
this, this program will thus curtail the people who are under the
age of 18 years to purchase the drugs from the stores and leave
that to their parents. In addition to this, all the people who are
above the age of 18 years are supposed to only receive the drugs
if they have a doctor’s prescription. The public health
sector is only termed successful if the following six sectors are
addressed: Innovation based models, a technical package for
high priority cases, performance management through
monitoring and evaluation, partnerships on the private and

3. public sector, effective communication strategies and the
political commitment when establishing the action plan. The
backbone of the implementation is the innovation in the health
sector, and support from the technical package, communication,
partnerships, and management steers implementation
effectiveness whereas the political sector provides the indirect
support in a project (Frieden et al., 2014).
The innovation sector needs to not only focus on science and
medicine but also on the data systems, communication strategy
providing a new insight. For example, the success of smallpox
eradication, the change of tact in target vaccine population and
also ways of administering the vaccine went a long way to the
success of the program (Frieden et al., 2014). The innovations
should also not be developed anew, and the private sector
should also make its contributions. On the other hand, the
technical package which is a well-defined sustainable means to
combat the crisis. The tailor-made program suits a given
epidemic. For instance, in designing an effective package one
needs to focus on the target population and how it will be
accessed by them, the expertise available and ultimately time
and cash constraint. In practicality, the standardization of the
vaccination and treatments increases a wider base in the
program implementation and combatting health crisis.
The management of the public sector has no clear guidelines on
its monitoring and evaluations henceforth no much
accountability from the health workers. Advancement of
performance management would a long way in leading suitable
and sustainable health programs, the use of programs to access
feedback and loops like in the case of Tuberculosis management
would improve the sector as well as the enhancing welfare of
health workers (Frieden et al., 2014). In the partnerships sector,
the presence of private sector provides support to the
government programs especially on the critical cases although
getting the assistance can be quite slow and demoralizing it
ultimately pays the price. The partnerships in the immunization
platform have yielded great results involving so many sector

4. dynamics, and proper monitoring should be carried to ensure no
over-indulging.
Communication and political commitment sector go hand in
hand. The proper communication channels allow for better
information flow from one sector leading to an on binding
program cutting across its target population, and the political
commitment comes in to invoke awareness to the citizens by
rallying behind the immunization programs and ensuring the
public take up the resources available (Frieden et al., 2014).
The government also provides financial programs such as
PEPFAR ensuring existence and sustainability of the projects.
The effective implementation of a health program needs the
careful planning and strategizing to ensure coming up with a
suitable and sustainable program that covers the scope of all the
six sectors which are important for success. In the
implementation of a health program enhances the levels of
development as the citizens can shift focus from their health
challenges which are progressively addressed to productive
development.
References
Erwin, P., Brownson, R., Keck, C. & Scutchfield, F. (2016).
Principles of public health practice. Boston, MA: Cengage
Learning.
Frieden, Thomas R, M.D., M.P.H. (2014). Six components
necessary for effective public health program
implementation. American Journal of Public Health, 104(1), 17-
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