Introduction
Healthy People 2020 is a governmental organization that is aimed at improving the level of American citizens’ lives. It presents a certain plan that medical workers and regular people should follow to make their country’s population’s lives longer and happier. The following paper will discuss and cover particular reasons to agree or disagree with the Healthy People 2020 Agenda.
Reasons to Agree
Indeed, the Healthy People 2020 Agenda implies a useful policy that encourages the population of the USA to follow certain rules to improve the longevity rate in the country’s territory. It is almost impossible to disagree that younger generations’ health conditions are not as strong as our ancestor’s physical parameters (Egan, Li, Hutchison, & Ferdinand, 2014). Such an unfortunate situation emerged due to the increased pollution on Earth and other factors that it influences (nutritious food, pure water, fresh air, and so on.) Moreover, the agenda mentioned above has a mission to develop possible measures and methods to make the environment more auspicious for the planet’s inhabitants and their posterity.
My reasons to agree with the Healthy People 2020 Agenda are supported by my concerns about the future of our planet and its population. The longevity rate of a certain nation determines whether it is happy or not (Koh, Blakey, & Roper, 2014). People’s emotional and mental health is also influenced by their physical conditions. Moreover, I agree with the Healthy People 2020 Agenda’s goal to promote a high quality of life and healthy development (Barile et al., 2013). Humanity faces a tremendous problem of unhealthy products, environment, and lifestyle nowadays. Such activities as junk food consuming, video gaming, drinking alcohol, and other bad habits were broadly promoted in the previous century, which significantly reduced the number of healthy individuals in the United States of America. However, Healthy People 2020 Agenda changes American residents’ mentality as the new generation sticks to healthy products and remains more active. I agree that all the methods mentioned above are inevitable in the twenty-first century as our planet’s environment worsens every year.
Reasons to Disagree
It is almost impossible to deny that the Healthy People 2020 Agenda’s goals, objectives, and approaches are beneficial for the American nation’s health. However, some feasible reasons would make me disagree with the organization’s strategy. For instance, critical health researches, information evaluation, and data collection needs, which are identified by the organization’s mission, lack accuracy (Bolin et al., 2015). In particular, it is essential to conduct various questionnaires and interviews with regular citizens who face certain health issues in their everyday lives. Otherwise, the data collected with the help of other studies might be irrelevant after a certain period.
Another issue that I would disagree with is the Health People 2020 Agenda’s goal to make access to high-quality medical services affordable for two million American citizens. The first problem is that the organization aims only at two million people, whereas approximately sixty percent of the country’s population cannot afford any medical treatment in its territory (Barile et al., 2013). Moreover, the goal has to be more measurable (Hesse et al., 2014). People who work with the agenda should find a method to monitor the progress of their strategy (Greenberg et al., 2017). Otherwise, their resources might be wasted without any positive outcomes and conclusions.
Conclusion
Healthy People 2020 Agenda aims at encouraging the American population to improve its life quality and level by consuming only natural products and preventing the environment from being polluted. The organization managed to change American mentality by promoting a healthy lifestyle. However, some issues should be addressed by people who are involved in the agenda. For instance, its researches lack precise information, whereas their public goals need to become more measurable to control particular changes and make statistical records.
References
Bolin, J. N., Bellamy, G. R., Ferdinand, A. O., Vuong, A. M., Kash, B. A., Schulze, A., & Helduser, J. W. (2015). Rural Healthy People 2020: New decade, same challenges. The Journal of Rural Health, 31(3), 326-333. Web.
Barile, J. P., Reeve, B. B., Smith, A. W., Zack, M. M., Mitchell, S. A., Kobau, R.,… Thompson, W. W. (2013). Monitoring population health for Healthy People 2020: Evaluation of the NIH PROMIS® Global Health, CDC Healthy Days, and satisfaction with life instruments. Quality of Life Research, 22(6), 1201-1211. Web.
Egan, B. M., Li, J., Hutchison, F. N., & Ferdinand, K. C. (2014). Hypertension in the United States, 1999 to 2012: Progress toward Healthy People 2020 goals. Circulation, 130(19), 1692-1699. Web.
Greenberg, A. J., Serrano, K. J., Thai, C. L., Blake, K. D., Moser, R. P., Hesse, B. W., & Ahern, D. K. (2017). Public use of electronic personal health information: Measuring progress of the Healthy People 2020 objectives. Health Policy and Technology, 6(1), 33-39. Web.
Hesse, B. W., Gaysynsky, A., Ottenbacher, A., Moser, R. P., Blake, K. D., Chou, W. S.,… Beckjord, E. (2014). Meeting the Healthy People 2020 goals: Using the health information national trends survey to monitor progress on health communication objectives. Journal of Health Communication, 19(12), 1497-1509. Web.
Koh, H. K., Blakey, C. R., & Roper, A. Y. (2014). Healthy People 2020: A report card on the health of the nation. JAMA, 311(24), 2475-2476. Web.