Public health as a discipline in the face of violence, injuries and inequalities

Abstract

It is well known that health inequalities do occur in highlydeveloped countries, as well as in lesser-developed ones.Moreover, there is evidence that not only economic, but alsosocial, cultural and lifestyle factors are fundamental issues indetermining health outcomes in different parts of the popula-tion (Hurrelmann et al. 2011; Marinacci et al. 2009;Eberleetal.2010).Injuriesandviolencerepresentasignificantcauseofmortality and physical disability all over the world (Nasrullah2010), and as such are considered to be an overlooked prob-lem; thus, necessitating the implementation of effective poli-cies, especially in the prevention of unintentional injuries(Vlachantoni et al. 2013). A possible solution to these popu-lation problems lies within the scope of public health, consid-eredasthescienceofpromotinghealth(GatsevaandArgirova2011). This issue of the Journal of Public Health (Springer)coverers a broad range of both new and well-established con-cepts in public health, including violence, injuries, inequalities,tobacco smoking, as well as hea lth technology assessment.Concerning the impact of socioeconomic status on healthoutcomes, in this issue Auger et al. evaluated the differencesin ages and causes of death contributing to life expectancy.Theyperformedacomparisonoftheeconomicallyadvantagedand disadvantaged Francophones and Anglophones ofMontreal, a Canadian metropolitan centre. Life expectancywas lower for disadvantaged Francophones and Anglophonesby 5 years in men and 1.6 years in women compared toadvantaged people. Socioeconomic inequalities in mortalityincreased for Francophones and decreased for Anglophones,due to greater mortality from tobacco-related diseases; thus,the authors suggest a substantial investment to discouragetobacco use in this population.One of the most important public health problems amongpreventable causes of mortality in the general population isattempted suicides. Simsek et al. show that strengthening ofsurveillance and emergency healthcare systems, enhance-ment of mental health literacy, and inter-sector collaborationfor development of community empowerment programmesare essential for prevention of suicide in a southeasternprovince in Turkey. Another public health goal should alsobe to reduce intimate partner violence, considering that is acommon experience among Nigerian rural women, asshown by Balogun et al.Regarding some Muslim traditions, other avoidable le-sions are sacrification injuries that occurred during the Feastof Holy Sacrifice, especially in the first day, providingpreliminary arrangements with medical staff and equipmentsupport because these injuries such as tendon cuts and bonefractures, can be serious (Deniz et al.). Rawlins et al.showed that the majority (84.7 %) of the medical studentshad prepared themselves for their first visit to a health centreand hoped to be able to interact with patients and commu-nicate effectively with them.Olenik and Lehr, considering the teleconsultation a pos-sible solution for rural areas of northern Germany betweenGPs and specialists, found that the primary barriers to its usewere: high time consumption, physicians ’ personality and thefinancing possibilities of such solutions; while the successfactors were: easy usability of the system, good trainingopportunities,voluntaryparticipation,theexistenceofa mod-el region, and a reasonable financing plan.The assessment in public health has often been consideredas an important tool. Tuccori et al. designed and validated analgorithmforthemultidimensionalevaluationofthequalityofadverse drug reaction (ADR) case reports (QADRA), as areliable and complete tool for assessing the quality of ADRreports. In QADRA, the following quality criteria have beenused:causality,notoriety,clinicalrelevanceandcompleteness.