1. Directly respond to at least one classmate in a way that extends meaningful discussions, adds new information, and/or offers alternative perspectives. (see below)

There are many physical environmental factors that can be harmful to immigrant populations, such as air pollution, proximity of toxic worksites, access to healthy or unhealthy foods, medical care, and transportation systems.

Some sources I plan on utilizing to gain insight on these environmental factors are Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and Health and Human Recourses (HHS). I feel this will help me to access if other countries communities are the same as the U.S. This will be an interesting fact to access in order to see how the U.S. environment system compares to other countries.

I feel like out health care system should be something similar to Canada, who provide a national health insurance program for all residents to ensure they have access to “medically necessary hospital and physician services (Watts, 2014). Canada also ensures certain criteria is set for public health insurance to follow in order to receive funds from their federal government (Watt, 2014). More attention should be placed towards our low-income/poverty communities because health matters.

I feel some potential barriers and challenges of ensuring vaccination compliance is not only health literacy, but also access to affordable health insurance to cover the cost of vaccination and access to a medical facility.

An initiative that’s been set out to minimize vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks in impoverished countries is the Health Alliance International (HAI). The HAI partners with other organizations to improve responsiveness and resiliency of the public health system (HAI, n.d.). For instance, the HAI played a major role developing, testing and implementation of malaria prevention and treatment strategies in Mozambique (HAI, n.d.).

When it come to the U.S. involvement with promoting and improving the health of individuals residing in vulnerable regions of the world, it has many sectors, including government and nongovernmental, that protect from potential health threats. The U.S. also establishes foreign policy that “reduces poverty, build stronger economies, promote peace, an increase national security” (Institute of Medicine, 2009). The U.S. also collaborate with other partners to increase existing interventions, share knowledge, build relations, and increase financial commitments (Institute of Medicine, 2009).

References

Health Alliance International. (n.d.). Our expertise. Retrieved from https://www.healthallianceinternational.org/our-expertise/#topic|2

Institute of Medicine (2009). The US commitment to global health: recommendations for the public and private sectors. National Academies Press. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK23788/

Watts, M. (2014). Health law in Canada. Retrieved from https://www.osler.com/en/resources/cross-border/2014/health-law-in-canada