Casey Klein

            For my report on public health trends I got my information from Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez. She is the director of health promotion research and a professor of Epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at the University of Texas San Antonio.

            I grew up in southern Texas on the border of Mexico. My father owns a business in Mexico and it has given me quite the insight into health trends and circumstances in my area. The 5 trends that I would like to address in this paper are how wealth, ethnicity, nutrition, education, and habit have affected public health in my area.

            The first public health trend that I thought of after research and the doctor’s findings was that of wealth. Wealth is a serious factor leading to public health in the area where I live. According to the statistics nearly 33% of residents in southern Texas are uninsured leading to more risks in driving of cars as well as less trips to the hospital which puts their health in even greater risk. In a recent Texas survey it also concluded that residents of south Texas also have the lowest per capita income than any other part of the state which means they are living in worse neighborhoods and under worse conditions.

The next public health trend that I noticed in these surveys was that of ethnicity. In southern Texas nearly 66% of the current population is Hispanic. The Hispanic culture is completely different in regards to public health and doesn’t take the same steps to solve it as we are doing here in America. The culture has a lower mortality rate along with a greater chance of disease. In south Texas compared to the rest of the state of Texas our area has the highest rates of child leukemia, liver cancer, adult diabetes, breast cancer, and lung cancer.

The next trend I looked into was nutrition. The lifestyles of residents in south Texas are unreal. South Texas leads the rest of the state in obesity due to a lack of physical activity and poor eating habits. Because of our obesity it limits us in the number of jobs we can hold as well as the things we can do and how we will affect our future generations.

Another trend that leads represents us in south Texas is that of education. Education affects our lives on every level. The amount of education we get determines our salaries and our ability to support a family properly and provide them with the health and things they need in life. According to Dr. Ramirez’s study, 68% of people 25 or older received their high school diploma compare to a 76% graduation rate in the rest of the state of Texas. With most of these people staying and living where they grew up the lack of education leads to a decline in public health.

The final health trend I noticed was that of addiction such as smoking and drinking. The main reason for people being obese and for problems in the family occurs when people are selfish and are addicted to alcohol or smoking. Not only does this lead to a decline in your own personal health it also makes the health of people around you worse and leads to poverty.

Now that we have examined all of the trends and the weaknesses of my community I think the quickest way to solve them would be by first, maintaining good nutrition in our public schools. By doing this we not only have better nutrition but we also are better prepared for performing in our educational system. We can also have easier access to cancer screening that will allow us to better prevent this disease from taking important lives in our society. Finally we can put together a physical activity program in which we can focus on the awareness of diabetes and obesity and help people take care of themselves. By informing and helping we can better help the people of south Texas and increase the feeling of good public health.