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My favorite article of the assigned readings was "Reducing Asthma Disparities by Addressing Environmental Inequities". Although it is often obvious to us as MPH students that inequalities exist, I feel like that is not the case with students and adults outside of our program. What I liked most about this paper is that anyone in the general public could understand the rationale and results of this study. It's easy to overlook how socioeconomic status and health are related when it is not something we see daily, and this paper was a good reminder of how the socioecological model (SEM) can affect health and prevention of diseases. As a side note, the figure on page S55 was also very helpful for me in understanding the hierarchy of multi-factorial health components.

I also thought it was interesting that the levels of asthma are so much higher in California. I don't know if I am just unfamiliar with the area, but I guess I (probably naively) thought that there were areas of heavier industrialization that probably had higher levels of asthma. I would think heavily industrialized and urbanized places like Detroit would have more air pollution. Interestingly, when I looked on the WorldAtlas top 20 polluted states, California didn't even make the list (link below). If you think outside the scope of this article, what other areas can you think of that are predisposed to health disparities due to pollution?

http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/top-20-most-polluted-states-in-the-us.html

Post two (250-300 words responses only) for this assignment

This week I wanted to discuss the multiple levels of the socioecological model (SEM). This model is important in public health because it provides a comprehensive approach to aid in prevention and provide multiple stages of intervention. This article used a good example by discussing asthma and the many factors that contribute to obtaining asthma. Asthma management and control requires the comprehensive approach, which includes education, clinical management, community and social interventions that all together can help provide a healthier environment to help reduce asthma. Lamb et. al proposed that the movement toward the outer levels of the SEM challenges many things. Do you believe that individual knowledge, attitude and skills is crucial for the first stage of the SEM model?

References

Lamb, A., K., Ervice, J., Lorenzen, K., Prentice, B., & White, S. (2011). Reducing asthma disparities by addressing environmental inequities: A case study of Regional Asthma Management and Prevention's advocacy efforts.Family & Community Health, 34(1S), s54-s62.