Social Medicine as a science – foundation, development, object, tasks and methods

Question 1

How can you describe Social Medicine as science?

Answer 1

Social Medicine is an integrative discipline, concerned with health and disease as a function of how when and why a disease distributes itself in a population

Question 2

definition of social medicine?

Answer 2

Social medicine is the study of Public Health and its determinants

Question 3

what are the 3 public health determinants

Answer 3

1. Demographic indices
2. Physical development and activity
3. Diseases incidence

Question 4

What are the 6 objectives of social medicine?

SHHHHI objectives

Answer 4

1. Study health of population and its determinants
2. Health economics
3. Health education and promotion
4. Health policy, legislation and strategy development
5. Healthcare management and services
6. Integration with other medical sciences w/ collaboration at regional, national & international levels

Question 5

What are the main methods used by social medicine?

EEDSS

Answer 5

• Epidemiological: fundamental method of public health
  
  • studies the distribution and determinants of diseases in the populations and the application of this studies to control health problems.
• Economical
• Demographical
  
  • study of the characteristics of human populations such as size, growth and density, distribution and vital statistics.
  • studies the demographic processes that are closely related to the health of a population.
    
    • Demography in this has two main branches being 1st population statistics and 2nd population dynamics.
• Statistics (coaip)
  
  • science of collecting, organizing, analysing, interpreting and presenting data for the purpose of assisting in making a more effective decision
• Sociology,
  
  • study of the social causes and consequences of health and illness.

Question 6

tasks of social medicine

ssscid

Answer 6

• to study public health, creating for this purpose methods and indices for evaluation
• to study treatment needs of the population
• to study the reflection of health on the reproduction of labour power
• to create scientific base of National Healthcare Services
• to improve healthcare legislation
• to educate future healthcare personnel

Question 7

What is the definition of Health?

Answer 7

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and n_ot merely the absence of disease or infirmity_

Question 8

What are the historical developments in Social Medicine?

Answer 8

• Hippocrates 400BC ⇒ found environmental and host factors have influence on development of disease.
• Roman ⇒ Public Health Concerns and Policies
• Johan Peter Frank, 1745-1821 ⇒ “Die medizinische Polizei”; considered the “father of social medicine”
• France, 1848 ⇒Public health legislation
• John Snow, 1849⇒ waterborne transmission of cholera.
• Rudolf Virchow (1821-1902) ⇒ Awareness on the powerful relationship between people’s social position, their living conditions and their health outcomes
• Austin Bradford Hill, 1937 ⇒ Principles of Medical Statistics
• World Health Organization (WHO), 7 April 1948 ⇒
  
  • _​_objective: is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.
• The Alma Ata Declaration (Kazakhstan), September 1978 ⇒ Need for a comprehensive health strategy that not only provides health services but also addresses the underlying social, economic and political causes of poor health
• “Good health at low cost” (GHLC) conference⇒ Importance to foster sustainable health improvements in the developing world
• Ottawa, November 1986 ⇒ The First International Conference on Health Promotion;
  
  • Adopted the Ottawa Charter on Health Promotion, identifying 8 key determinants of health:
    
    • 1. peace,
    • 2. shelter,
    • 3. education,
    • 4. food,
    • 5. income,
    • 6. a stable eco-system,
    • 7. sustainable resources,
    • 8. social justice, and equity.
• 51st World Health Assembly, May 1998 ⇒Health For All in the 21st Century (World Health Declaration)