Rousing Fears of a Potential

¶ … rousing fears of a potential outbreak does have many disadvantages. During the swine flu scare several years go, despite the fact that the flu was not notably more dangerous than the regular flu, there was a level of obsessive concern generated by the media coverage in the minds of the public. However, on the other hand, because of their fears, more people sought out flu shots than had in previous years, and there was more mindfulness about hand-washing and other good, hygienic preventative steps that should be taken to prevent the spread of even relatively minor illnesses.

Communities can and should be prepared for a potential avian flu outbreak, and have contingency plans to enact if the flu should become an epidemic. Stockpiling vaccinations, creating flu vaccines that are more likely to be able to deal with the potential flu, and creating controls to improve hygiene and minimize risk are all preventative steps that can be taken, and could be improved with additional information and cooperation by the public.

However, the disadvantages are that people will become fearful about a relatively minimal risk, and ignore other, more pressing health concerns. There are even fears that excessive concern could result in panic amongst government officials -- for example, banning flights to Asia as a precaution, which could be economically devastating for the region. Some individuals might even use the flu as an excuse to direct angry and prejudicial comments against persons of Asian origin.

Unfortunately, with a public health crisis there is sometimes no way to know with certainty the form it will take or its severity. If the risk is overstated, there is always a danger that individual rights may be violated, or that people will simply grow numb to such warnings. If it is understated, however, lives may be lost due to lack of preparation.

DQ 2

One of the difficulties of changing childhood eating habits is the uncertain degree to which environment, genetics, and culture are contributing to the adult and childhood obesity epidemic. One primary intervention would be to study the degree to which influences such as junk food advertising, school lunches, and the proximity of fast food restaurants to schools affect students' BMI. By assessing the degree to which exposure to unhealthy food advertising, meals in schools, and availability of snacks outside of school affect a student's weight, this could provide guidance as to what strategies should be used to prevent childhood obesity. On a secondary level, treating children who are overweight or at risk for obesity with specific intervention programs that could be compared against the weight and health records of control groups would give further guidance as to how to ensure that students currently suffering from the condition can be helped. Finally, at a tertiary level, communities with high populations of obese and overweight children could become the target of specific intervention strategies, like prohibiting the introduction of new fast food restaurants into the area, interventions which then would be studied over time.