WHEN PUBLIC HEALTH POLICY IS BAD FOR THE PUBLIC'S HEALTH
Pharmaceutical companies, public relations firms, health professionals and patient advocates work together to aggressively spread the word about new health problems and the treatments that have been created to combat them. Government and health establishment proclamations about looming, potentially catastrophic "epidemics" create a public atmoshphere of fear and confusion. All too often the new illnesses are created by medicalizing ordinary aspects of life, portraying mild problems as serious illnesses, and framing risk factors as diseases in themselves. People are assured that they can acheive good health and happiness by taking the right pills, doing the right behaviors or thinking the right thoughts. The incessant focus on personal responsibility for health results in victim blaming for those who get sick. The result is a public stressed, anxious and uncertain about what it means to "be healthy." This presentation will examine the precarious state of Public Health today and make recommendations for improving its impact on the publics’ health.



Jonathan Robison, Ph.D., MS
Assistant Professor, Michigan State University
Phone: (517) 507-0287
Fax: (517) 507-0265
e-mail: robisonj@msu.edu
www.jonrobison.net