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| NAPHP |
| Public Health a Priority |
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By David F. Duncan, DrPH, FAAHB
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| 2005/01/03 |
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Survey Shows American’s Give Priority to Public Health |
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Eighty-seven percent of the 1,000 American adults who participated in a recent Harris poll conducted prior to the November elections for Research!America and the American Public Health Association said that if asked to choose from a list of priorities they could address if given a chance to talk with the President of the United States, “research to prevent disease, disability and injury” would have a “very high” or “somewhat high” priority.
Three out of four respondents said that they and their communities benefit from public health programs. Respondents particularly saw benefits from childhood vaccination programs -- 83% reporting that they believed they benefited from these programs. Other public health programs identified by the respondents as being beneficial to their communities were health inspections for restaurants, drinking water and daycare sites, and emergency family violence and sexual assault services.
Asked to rate the factors that play a role in varying levels of health care quality among populations in the United States, 65 percent of the survey respondents said that they thought access to health insurance was very important in determining if someone receives high-quality health care. Just 29% identified race/ethnicity as a factor, despite the strong evidence that there are major disparities along racial lines in the health status and quality of health care that Americans receive.
Respondents’ opinions were often at stark odds with the current direction of Bush administration policy. While federal funding supports expansion of faith-based sex education programs that teach abstinence-only to teens, more than half of the poll respondents are unconvinced that abstinence-only approaches prevent sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. While the administration proposes elimination of a number of environmental protection regulations, almost two-thirds of those polled indicated that they considered investing in environmental research to be very important. Furthermore while the administration questions the reality of global warming whopping, more than three out of four of those polled said that they would support federal regulations that require industries to decrease their greenhouse gas emissions. Commenting on these results, Mary Woolley, president of Research!America, said, "What Americans support and what their elected representatives actually act on are not always the same thing."
The poll results also revealed a nation that recognizes the importance of public health services and research but is uninformed about who conducts such research. When asked to name an agency or organization where research designed to prevent disease and promote health is conducted, the vast majority were unable to correctly identify any agency or organization. For example, only 13% identified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as an agency that conducts such research. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) fared even worse, with only five percent of participants naming the agency, despite its currently being featured in the TV show Medical Investigation.
The Research!America/APHA Poll on Americans’ Attitudes Toward Public Health, may be read in its entirety at: http://www.researchamerica.org |
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