Public Health for New Zealand Defense Force - myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about thePublic Health for New Zealand Defense Force. Answer: The New Zealand Defense Force (NZDF) announced the bid to become smoke free by 2020. The aimed to do this by reducing rate of defense personnel from 12% to 5%. The ban on sale of cigarette and making houses smoke free will improve the quality of life of the wider defense community[1]. This change can be regarded as a standalone health promoting intervention because its focuses mainly on reducing the rate of smoking and the objective is not dependent on combination of other interventions. It had standalone objective of banning the sale of cigarette and no other health promotion activities like mass advertising campaigns, peer education program, health warning or marketing restrictions on tobacco products. The change can be framed as a systems approach to health promotion if it had included other complex system too to achieve the smoke free objective. This means focusing on taxation of tobacco products, controlling the sale of such products, educating the public about risk of smoking, adequately displaying health warning on cigarettes and conducting motivational interviewing. This might have ensured that all the complex system involved in promoting smoking is covered as part of health promotion activities[2]. Overall, the systems approach to health promotion would be more effective in bringing the change. The change that NZDF has proposed is not relevant to the systems approach of health promotion because it did not focused on transforming the complex system that is involved in selling and buying tobacco product. The focus was just on banning the sale of product and no other activities such as influencing people to discourage smoking was done. Other influences in the system such as factors leading to smoking among people and the motivation behind smoking are not addressed. A report also mentions that improving the population health is dependent on changing the societal structure and functions[3]. Hence, campaigns regarding raising the awareness of people regarding ill effects of smoking would be an effective primary tool for smoking prevention and cessation. Unintended consequence of change: There might be unintended consequence of change as proposed during health promotion activities. For example, immediate banning of cigarettes might lead to mass resistance of people and people might take this as infringement of their rights. Hence, preparing for such resistance during health promotion planning is important to counteract different effects of the change process. The article covered the New Zealand defense plan of becoming smoke free by 2020. However, this plan was a standalone health promoting activities where the complex system involved in promoting smoking was not included. Secondly, there was no action or framing regarding the unintended consequence of change. Hence, the appropriate step in this condition would have been to be prepared for unintended effects too. On this basis, unanticipated actions can be readily identified and the NZDF might be prepared for dealing with these effects too[4]. This approach would help to respond to different policy environment and Reference 'About good health' - Defence Force to stamp out smoking on bases by 2020. (2017). 1 NEWS NOW. Retrieved 28 August 2017, from https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/good-health-defence-force-stamp-smoking-bases-2020. Golechha, Mahaveer. "Health promotion methods for smoking prevention and cessation: A comprehensive review of effectiveness and the way forward."International journal of preventive medicine7 (2016). Healton, Cheryl G., Donna Vallone, and Julie Cartwright. "Unintended consequences of tobacco policies."American journal of preventive medicine37.2 (2009): S181-S182. Leischow, Scott J., et al. "Systems thinking to improve the public's health."American journal of preventive medicine35.2 (2008): S196-S203.