Writing a Health Essay
Health Essay: Essay Plan and Sample Excerpts
A health essay can have several dimensions — scientific, social, managerial, sociological, ethical, diet-related and so on. Some sample essay topics are:
- The Public Health System in Britain
- Protein Shakes: Are They Harmful?
- The Challenges in the Eradication of Polio
- Fighting the Spread of AIDS among Sex Workers
- The Prevention of Osteoporosis
- From Malnutrition to Obesity: The Health Cycle of Developing Countries
- Early Detection of Congenital Defects and Their Treatment
- Increasing Life Expectancy: Issues Raised By the United Nations Human Development Report
- The Role of Hereditary Factors in the Incidence of Diabetes
- The Impact of Support Groups in Helping Patients Cope With Cancer
- Taking Care of a Mentally Challenged Person
- Stem Cell Research: An Ethical Debate
- Raising Children with ADHD
In the introduction, give a concise and cogent background of the topic. Mention its importance and outline your approach towards the health essay’s issue. For instance, “The United Nations Human Development Report has stated that curable but lethal diseased like malaria and kala azar as well as poor public health systems pose the greatest challenges to raising life expectancy in less developed countries. Despite ** billion dollars in aid being channelled to XYZ for health there has been little progress in curbing the spread of the above mentioned diseases, as highlighted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in its January report. This essay therefore aims to study the causes of little or no progress in these areas and offer solutions for the same.”
Then write at least three paragraphs such that each para covers one point. For instance, after the above sample intro you could write about the development of low-cost effective drugs to treat these diseases and factors affecting their availability, better ways to structure foreign aid in a way that disbursement is linked to achieving results and creating a framework wherein the local health experts, patients etc can contribute their experiences in away that helps improve the system and raise awareness.
Use a lot of data and research findings to support your views; the health essay needs to have a solid foundation, to give it credibility. Good sources of information are the WHO, the official statistics of the country concerned such as those of the Department of Health for the UK.
In the conclusion, bring together all the points made in the essay. For instance, “Foreign aid would be better spent if it funded R&D efforts to prevent the deaths due to diseases that were once treatable and are now resistant to existing drugs. Public Health programmes need to be targeted – the people in need of health care the most such as pregnant women need to get it first and cost-effective channels of reaching them need to be identified such as by appointing a village woman as the coordinator. The system of healthcare should be built at the grassroots so that it is flexible to the environment that it needs to deliver treatment in” is a sample health essay conclusion.
