The Importance of Incorporating Public Health Topics into Classroom Teaching

Educators teach beautiful math and influential science amongst a plethora of other subjects to sculpt, mould, and encourage the next generation in their strive for growth and success. Today, Inspiring STEM Supplies & Eduettu are going to look at the importance of teaching public health in the classroom. Public health, in essence, is the science of preventing disease and prolonging life, therefore we’ll be breaking our thoughts on this subject into two parts!

Why we need to Incorporate Public Health in the Classroom

Preventing Diseases

Preventing diseases is probably where many of an educational facility’s resources go in the classroom and this has not slowed down since the emergence of COVID-19. Studying microorganisms and how to prevent them from causing diseases has been a key part of education for nearly a century now and this is for good reason! Before traffic accidents and poor diets started becoming leading causes of deaths in many developed countries, communicable diseases could wipe out whole communities or leave behind generations of society severely impacted by their effects. Think of the Black Death, smallpox outbreaks, the polio epidemic in the 50’s & 60’s, or the HIV pandemic of the 80’s, these diseases have killed hundreds of millions of people, probably more; smallpox is thought to have killed 300-500 million people in the 20th century alone! It is right that we have focused on communicable diseases for these reasons. 

However, today, and for much of the last decade, our diet has been at the forefront of our fight against diseases. The threat of microorganisms has been largely curtailed thanks to extensive vaccination efforts and good hygiene, all possible due to education and research. Today, our diet is one of the leading causes of deaths, causing heart disease and cancers, many of the leading causes of death today. Therefore, it is again right that we have pivoted our teaching to include healthy lifestyle choices in the classroom. Eating a balanced diet and consuming alcohol in smaller quantities have seen the obesity epidemic in America spike and start to decline. This leads us to talk about our second point today, prolonging life!

Prolonging Life

For many years, it may have been our culture to presume that prevention was taught through education and prolonging life was the job of our health systems. But, is that starting to change? As leading causes of deaths change, our education may also rightly change with it. Today, the leading cause of death in the USA is heart disease, causing nearly 700,000 deaths per year. Many of these cases can be attributed to diets and lifestyle choices, so we may see these start to fall off in the next 30 years or so, as the younger generation lead healthier lifestyles. But, in between now and then, how can we help in prolonging life? ‘Heart disease’ covers all manner of differing health problems, from heart attacks to strokes, each of these diseases kills 100,000’s each year. However, the leading cause of death from heart disease today is cardiac arrest. Accounting for half of all deaths from heart attacks and strokes, as well as occurring by its own insidious ways, cardiac arrest kills between 300,000 - 450,000 Americans each year, many even unaware they were at risk. 

But, there is hope! Training in the use of CPR and access to AEDs (Automatic external defibrillators) can reduce the death rate from heart disease, helping to stabilise a person until they can receive adequate medical treatment! Lessons aimed at prolonging life are starting to be developed as part of the national curriculum and a myriad of supporting educational resources from the American Heart Association or St John Ambulance can help you to structure your own lessons on the subjects! If you’re pressed for time, Inspiring Supplies have developed our own courses covering, first aid, allergic reactions, abdominal thrusts, and CPR!

As we move away from the traditional causes of diseases and death, it’s important to not take our eye off of the ball. We must keep educating ourselves and others on the importance of vaccines, hygiene, and healthy diets / lifestyle choices. But, we must also be the change that we want to see!

How do you engage in public health in your classroom? Let us know in the comments below.