Health care professional, patients, families, and policy makers all struggle to understand how health is affected by behavior, economic and social structure and provided the knowledge to improve the health status of individuals and populations. Our health is affected by behaviors, economics, and social structure. Many behaviors and lifestyle patterns affect our health, such as: exposure to violence, vehicular accidents, alcohol, drugs, and infectious agents (Williams/Torrens). According to our textbook (Williams/Torrens), alcohol, tobacco and illicit drug use creates several of problems that affect our health and society.

Alcohol consumption and illicit drug use are examples of personal decision making and patterns of behavior that have tremendous adverse effects on health and on the economy. Alcohol abuse can lead to diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver, various cancers, intestinal disorders, and brain function deterioration (Williams/Torrens). Cigarette consumption is another behavior that is associated with numerous illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, and oral cancer. Government involvement has reduced consumption and reduced illnesses associated with the use of tobacco and piper smoking (Williams/Torrens). Our social structure as a whole must realize the factors that we can utilize to protect our own health and disease in the population.

Other behaviors that adversely affect health are tremendous. There have been various complications of dietary behavior such as elevated use of fat, sodium and sugar, and other problems leading to obesity. Sexual behaviors associated with the spread of communicable diseases such as AIDS, gonorrhea, syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases leading to increased levels of infertility, cancer and other complication (Williams/Torrens). Economic status also plays a large role in one’s health because several discrepancies continue to exist due to ethnicity and socio-economic status.

Those who live in poorer communities often suffer from greater ill health while those living in underprivileged areas are often without access to the best health care. This lack of prevention stems from poor education often received in those areas and the culture that often permeates within them (Williams/Torrens). Widely accepted is the concept that people with higher incomes generally enjoy better health and live longer than people with lower incomes.

Moreover, people tend to be healthiest when they have faith in their safety, supported and connected to and can trust others in their families, neighborhoods, workplaces, and communities. The three stages of medical technology are review by regulatory agencies, technology assessments by insurance carriers, reviewed by purchasers, clinicians, and consumers. Review by regulatory agencies is the most recognized of the three stages and is administered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health by regulating pharmaceutical products and medical devices.

Each product must go through a progression of approval, clinical trials, and post market observation protocols in order to ensure its safety and effectiveness. Stages in the development of medical technologies are scientific background and development of idea for a product, product development, approval, and distribution, diffusion, adoption and utilization of the product. Health care professional, patients, families, and policy makers all struggle to understand how health is affected by behavior, economic and social structure and provided the knowledge to improve the health status of individuals and populations. The dynamics of population are the most primary need, demand and use of health care service.

The trend in population dynamics, including population size and demographic characteristics as well as births and death, are a basic starting point for assessing the need for health services in a population (Williams/Torrens). Trends in mortality indictors over time also reflect a large amount of social, economic, health services, and other primary trend in a society. Mortality data are collected at the time of death through the procedure of the death certificate. Comparison over time, in particular, requires consideration of any significant changes in the age structure of a population (Williams/Torrens).