Public health policy is the set of laws, regulations, and approaches taken to make decisions and implement policies that affect the health of the wider community. Health policy issues include a wide range of topics such as healthcare reform, insurance reform, prevention and control of communicable diseases, nutrition and food security, stem cell research, regulation of alcohol, medical marijuana and tobacco, supervision of the pharmaceutical industry, and genetics. Smoking prevention education was developed for students, and increased prices and taxes were added to tobacco products. The introduction of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control marks a step towards a comprehensive public health policy.
Public policy is the approach, active or passive, taken by departments, groups and branches of government in response to a particular problem. Public health is a field of study that focuses on protecting the health of communities and populations. Therefore, public health policy is the set of laws, regulations and approaches taken to make decisions and implement policies that affect the health of the wider community.
Health policy issues include a wide range of topics, including health care reform, insurance reform with an eye to people who are not covered by an employer or group, and prevention and the control of communicable diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, influenza A subtype of H1N1 virus also known as swine flu, bird flu, tuberculosis or tuberculosis and other diseases. Other health policy issues include nutrition and food security; stem cell research; regulation of alcohol, medical marijuana and tobacco; supervision of the pharmaceutical industry; and genetics.
That public health policy is delivered through a variety of mediums and can be influenced by a variety of factors can be seen by examining a particular issue; for example, smoking. One of the factors that has shaped public health policy regarding tobacco is concern for the health of the tobacco industry and the continuation of taxes levied on the sale of tobacco products. Although it took until June 2009 for government regulation of tobacco products to come under the aegis of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States, rather than the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which had retained supervision up to then, research evidence in both the UK and the US had pointed to tobacco-related health problems since the early 1960s, when cigarette smoking was first linked to lung cancer and other illnesses.
Public health policy has sought to influence the labeling of cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and related products, as well as tobacco advertising. Smoking prevention education was developed for students. The fact that smoking was addictive and that the tobacco industry knew about the addictive and lethal nature of smoking did something to change attitudes towards them and led to litigation from individuals and governments. Increased prices and taxes added to tobacco products and increased oversight of production standards.
The discovery that secondhand smoke can cause respiratory diseases including asthma and even be lethal to non-smokers has led to ever greater restrictions on smokers’ behaviours. There used to be smoking and non-smoking sections, but these have given way to smoke-free zones, buildings, airports, restaurants, schools, hospitals, etc. In some places, smokers are required to move away from the shelter of buildings to ensure that smoke does not enter vents or affect those trying to get in and out.
The introduction by the World Health Organization of a tobacco control treaty in 2003 to provide an international framework for tobacco regulation marks a step towards a comprehensive public health policy. The document is the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). It had been adopted by 165 countries as of May 2009.
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