Employment and Public Health Are On the Same Team
Social and Economic Needs Are Always Part of the Equation
When I hear people talking about public health issues, especially since the pandemic, they often pit public health needs against economic needs. For example, “I know COVID 19 is a public health threat but the economy matters, too”. Quick reads of titles from reputable research journals can give the impression that health and economic researchers also see health and economics as a dichotomy (although deeper reading reveals another story — more on that later). Take this title from Vox EU: “Valuating health vs wealth: The effect of information and how this matters for COVID-19 policymaking”. Or, consider this Science Daily article , titled, “COVID- 19: Trade-offs between economics and public health. It would seem that economic well-being and physical well-being are separate factors that are frequently at odds for policy makers. But is this the case?
Social and economic outcomes are inseparable from public health
My interests as a business trainer and as a writer are frequently at the intersection of environmental sustainability, economics, and health. I partially attribute my integrated view of these topics from my academic background. I have an engineering technology degree with a major in environmental studies, which included coursework in public health. As students we were taught that environmental and public health policy creation always involve an examination of social and economic factors. So, I found the recent economics versus public health debate sometimes fails to show how employment and economics are integral to understanding and promoting public health. To gain more insight, I decided to contact one of my former instructors from my studies at Cape Breton University to see what she had to say about this. Nita Maclean is a Public Health instructor for the Bachelor of Health Sciences program. Along with her 10 years of experience working as a Certified Public Health Inspector (Canada), Nita’s work as an educator requires her to be especially aware of of current trends and best practices in Public Health so that students will be fully prepared to enter the profession. While Nita is coming from a Canadian perspective, I believe this interview will be…
