Context:

Many public health issues are complex, and influenced by multiple interrelated factors including biological, social, environmental, economic, cultural, political, health service, and policy. Public health professionals need to understand a complex issue from systems thinking perspective (a complex problem with many interconnected factors, elements), and they must work across various sectors (e.g. food, education, transport, agriculture, housing, urban planning, media), and with key stakeholders such  as other professionals and community groups in order to improve population health outcomes.

Instructions:

To prepare for this assessment, choose one public health issue (e.g. diabetes, obesity, cancer, heart disease, mental health, substance misuse, air pollution, water and sanitation, road accidents, suicide, etc.) in any country and examine how systems thinking can help to identify the broader system issues, and recommend solutions for better management. This is a research- based assignment which requires to conduct literature review on the selected topic on the specific country context.

Then in approximately 1500 words (+/- 10%), please answer the following questions considering your selected public health issue and country context

• Describe the public health issue from systems thinking perspective (consider all direct and indirect factors and explain the complexity of the issues or interconnectedness of the issues)
• Explain the roles of stakeholders, both within the health system and in other sectors in addressing this issue (consider intersectoral action perspective)
• Drawing on research evidence, explain the obstacles (e.g. lack of cooperation among stakeholders or lack of shared vision and leadership, feedback delay, lack of healthy policy, fragile and fragmented health system, funding limitation, time constraints) that are preventing the application of systems thinking and intersectoral approach to the issue.
• Based on the identified obstacles and literature, offer suggestions (e.g. developing shared vision, cooperation and leadership, policy change or reform, creating supportive environment, strengthening, and reorienting health system, increased budget allocation, empowering community and individuals) for how systems thinking and an intersectoral approach could be applied to the issue.

Report Structure

Your report should follow the following structure. The word count includes the introduction, body and conclusion.

(Title of your assignment)

Assessment 1: PUBH6003: Student name, Student ID

Executive summary

Provide a short summary which gives the reader an overview of the report.

Introduction

Provide a short introduction which gives the reader an overview of the whole assignment. Briefly introduce the public health issue in your chosen population (country). Explain that your report will propose recommendations to address public health and healthcare system for this population (country).

(No more than a half page)

Public Health Issue in (chosen population/country) Influence factors

Describe the public health issue from systems thinking perspective (consider all direct and indirect factors and explain the complexity/interconnectedness of the issues.

Health system

Explain the roles of stakeholders, both within the health system and in other sectors in addressing this issue (consider intersectoral action perspective)

Challenges

Drawing on research evidence, explain the obstacles (e.g. lack of shared vision and leadership/cooperation, feedback delay, lack of healthy policy, fragile and fragmented health system, funding limitation, time constraints) that are preventing the application of systems thinking and intersectoral approach to the issue.

Recommendations

Based on the identified obstacles and literature, offer suggestions (e.g. developing shared vision and leadership, policy change or reform, creating supportive environment, strengthening, and reorienting health system, increased budget allocation, empowering community and individuals) for how systems thinking and an intersectoral approach could be applied to the issue.

Conclusion

In a short paragraph, provide a useful overall summary of your assignment for the reader. Do not introduce any new information/ideas.