Public Health Assignment: Policy Cycle, Obesity Prevention and Smoking

This assignment delves into several key aspects of public health. It begins by explaining the policy cycle, emphasizing its importance in developing new policies and the strengths it offers in terms of information flow and stage-specific attention. The assignment then contrasts the 'new public health' approach with the 'old public health,' highlighting the evidence-based practices and technological advancements of the former. It further analyzes the sociological factors influencing health, particularly socioeconomic conditions and education levels, and their impact on health outcomes. The assignment also addresses national obesity prevention, outlining policy considerations such as taxes on sweetened beverages and limitations on unhealthy food advertising, alongside the establishment of clear national goals and health guidelines. Finally, it explores the development of a smoke-free environment policy within a university setting, detailing factors like prohibition of smoking, tobacco-related advertising, and penalties for violations, with a focus on a transition period for implementation.

Running head: PUBLIC HEALTH
Public Health
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Answer to question 1
The concept of policy cycle refers to the process of developing a new policy from initial
ideas along with the operation phases to completion, assessment and the outlining of new
programs. Therefore, it can be stated that in order to make a new policy, the use of policy cycle
is very crucial and while developing a new policy it is very crucial to consider this policy cycle.
According to the study of Fischer, F., & Miller (2017), it is reported that a policy develops
through a chain of tasks that can be outlined as activities. There are a few strengths of policy
cycle that make it unavoidable during development of a new policy. As a part of the strength of
this policy cycle, it can be stated that use of policy cycle during the development of new policy
can convey the flowing of new thoughts and resources, the recapitulation of policy construction,
and along with this a routine that is unable to provide a decision however it carries through to
application and assessment of the new policy. In another study by Pülzl and Treib (2017), it is
reported that the use of a policy cycle permits some combination of current information
regarding the public policy. Along with this, it also helps to incorporate suitable information at
the relevant step in the cycle. Moreover, the policy cycle disaggregates difficult phenomena into
controllable stages, giving consent the policymakers to give attention on the diverse matters and
requirements of every stage in the cycle. In this regard, it can be stated that, the agenda setting
stage of the policy cycle helps the policy makers to set the agenda by assessing the problems that
are associated with the problems which are faced by the public and the society. In most of the
cases it is reported that most of the problems require governmental interventions to solve such
conditions. Along with this, the use of policy cycle in the development of a new policy also helps
in analyzing social and political situation and also helps to check whether existing policy is

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effective or not. However, this policy cycle does not restrict the development of the new policy
and it helps in continued evaluation of the ongoing policy (Peters et al., 2018).
Answer to question 3
The concept of New Public Health refers to the contemporary application of a broad
variety of evidence-based technological, scientific, and management schemes applying the
measures to upsurge the health of persons and populations in a particular society. The main
feature of this new public health approach is associated with the evidence based practices that is
the new concept is based on the previous political and practical experiences (past successes and
failures) in case of controlling specific disease. Along with this, various experiences of previous
disease prevention strategy can also be used as part of the new public health concept (Tulchinsky
& Varavikova, 2014). On the other hand, in case of old public health concept, such kinds of
evidence based practices are not used. Moreover, in case of old public health concept, in order to
prevent diseases generally evidence based practice was not used and instead of that access to the
clean water, safe housing, nutritious foods are provided to the people. Along with this safe and
clean food products such as fresh meats are provided to the people of the society. Another
important feature of the new public health concept is the use of technology in the overall
improvement of health of the people of the society. In this regard, it can be stated that, no such
use of technology in the health improvement of the people is used in case of old public health
concept (Rootman & O’Neill, 2014).
Answer to question
While analyzing the sociological factors of the health wellbeing of the people of the
society it can be stated that mainly the socio economic conditions are associated w3ith the health
related wellbeing of the people. In this regard it can be stated that poor economic condition is

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one the major influencing factors wellbeing of the people. According to the study of Simou and
Koutsogeorgou (2014) it is reported that, the poor economic condition of the people restrict
themselves to access all the health care services and as a result the health of the people are
greatly affected. In order to assess the condition of the health of the people overall health check-
up campaign can be launched for the people and those data must be kept for future references.
Another crucial social determinant of the health condition is the level of education of the people
as it is directly correlated with the concept of health related wellbeing of the people. In the study
of Bircher and Kuruvilla (2014), it is reported that level of education related to the health of the
individuals as a significant level of health education among the people of the society can help in
the prevention of the various disease conditions. Therefore, in order to improve the health
conditions of the people level of education related to the health must be improved so that the
overall wellbeing of the society can be improved. However, the level of education and poor
economic condition of the people are correlated to each other as poor economic condition of the
people restrict them to access the proper educations related to the health. Therefore, it can be
stated that such conditions can affect the health of the individuals in the society.
Answer to question 6
While developing the national obesity health prevention campaign a few policies should
be maintained throughout the development of the obesity prevention policy. While discussing
about the policy considerations it can be stated that in order to prevent the overeating behavior
and unhealthy eating behavior of the children, heavy levy should be implemented on the
sweetened beverages so that a restriction can be implemented on the buying and consumption of
sweetened beverages in the country (Habib-Mourad et al. 2014). According to the study of
Allman-Farinelli (2015), it is reported that consumption of sweetened beverages can promote the

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onset of obesity among the people of the country. Along with this, limitations on the
advertisement of unhealthy food and beverage in broadcast media (television and radio) should
be imposed so that young and youth population of the country cannot have any influences from
those advertisements. As a part of this, the government should strictly monitor all the
advertisements published in the entertainment media and along with this, any type of breaching
in the policy should be treated as crime. Thereby adequate actions should be taken against those
companies who are engaged in those advertisements. Another important policy consideration is
the establishment of a clear national goal of reducing obesity in the country (Moodie, Tolhurst &
Martin, et al., 2016). Along with the implementation of the high taxes on the unhealthy and
sweetened beverages, huge amount of taxes should also be imposed on the advertisement process
of unhealthy food and beverages. Moreover, the government must concentrate on the
development of health related guidelines related to the obesity and those guidelines should be
strictly followed by the schools as it is reported that the trend of consuming such type of foods
are quite high among the children who are under the school going age group. As a part of the
policy development, the government should organize the health awareness program among the
school going children so that they can understand the importance of the healthy behaviors as a
part of strategies for fighting against the problem of obesity in the country (Smith, Crawford, &
Signal, 2016).
Answer to question 7
According to the study of Jafari et al. (2014), it is reported that among the university students
the case of smoking behavior are very high. Therefore, while developing a policy to create a
smoke free environment in the university the following considerations may be considered. The
factors are as follows-

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The primary factor that is very popular in recent time for creating a smoke free
environment in the university is associated with the prohibition of smoking and along
with this any type of tobacco use in the university region must be prohibited in the
campus area. Use of tobacco products and smoking is strictly prohibited in all the outdoor
and indoor region of the university campus. Therefore, it can be stated that the policy is
equal for all the students, teachers and other staffs of the university as well.
Any kind of tobacco-related advertising or sponsorship shall not be allowed in the
university premises and along with this such endorsements should not be entertained in
the college programs as well.
While implementing the new tobacco prevention policy in the university premises, a
transition period should be kept. As a part of this the college management should
announce about the policy before the implementation of the newly developed policy.
Another crucial aspect of new policy development, the arrangement of university
security forces and adequate penalties must be imposed on those who are engaged in the
violations of the policies.

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References
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Bircher, J., & Kuruvilla, S. (2014). Defining health by addressing individual, social, and
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