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Syndemics Overview - Furthering Scientific and Social Change
A person born in the United States in 1900 could expect to live about
45 years but boys and girls born in 2001 will probably live to almost 80
(Figure 10). Within living memory, the average American life span nearly
doubled. This remarkable change was primarily due not to medical
breakthroughs but to decisive public health actions (e.g., water
fluoridation, vaccination, family planning, enactment of workplace safety
laws, improving motor vehicle safety, making foods safer and healthier,
promoting healthier mothers and babies, control of infectious diseases,
efforts to reduce heart disease and stroke, and recognition of tobacco as
a health hazard) (CDC,
1999; 2000). "Public
health achievements of the 20th century dwarf those accumulated in the
previous 19" (Koplan J, 1999). In the 20th
century, we didn't just find ways to help people live longer in the world,
we made a better world for living. That is the kind of social change that
public health professionals strive to achieve.
Although the science of epidemiology has yielded remarkable
achievements, even further advances can be made by incorporating into
epidemiology a syndemic orientation. Public health leaders today must
maintain past achievements while also confronting entrenched problems,
such as health disparities, which have been notoriously resistant to
change. In addition, community residents are contending with a growing
number of health threats in a world that is undergoing profound social and
demographic change (e.g., intensifying conflict, aging of the population,
globalization, spread of information technology, environmental degradation
increasing gaps between rich and poor). New ways of thinking and working
will be needed to find solutions for today's and tomorrow's challenges.
Figure
10: Proof of Living a Longer Healthier Life
LaRue is a healthy, active woman who is 84. She outlived her
mother, who died at 65, and her grandmother, who died at 45. |
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A healthy, active
woman at 84
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Her mother, who
died at 65
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Her grandmother,
who died at 45
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| *Source:
CDC, 2000 |
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A syndemic orientation offers a scientific framework that is both
comprehensive and context sensitive; it transcends conventional models
that focus only on single epidemics, providing a foundation for
identifying and intervening simultaneously in multiple health-related
problems. When compared with the alternatives, a syndemic orientation
better matches the scope and complexity of the problems that public health
advocates must confront. Still, we are only beginning to comprehend what
it means to operate from this perspective. The Syndemics Prevention
Network was organized to help spark interest in the idea of preventing
syndemics and to advance our collective understanding of what this
perspective entails.
Next: All cited
references >>
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References
CDC.
Ten great public health achievements — United States, 1900–1999.
MMWR 1999:48(12);241–243.
HTML
or
PDF (265k)
CDC.
Ten great public health achievements. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention: Atlanta, GA. 2000. Accessed on September 16, 2001.
HTML
Koplan JP. CDC sets millennium
priorities. US Medicine 1999;4-7.
Page last reviewed: January 30, 2008
Page last modified: January 30, 2008
Content source: Division of Adult
and Community Health,
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
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