Essentials public health functions and public health genomics in Ecuador
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v10i5.14731Keywords:
Esential Public Health Functions; Ecuador; Medical Genetics; Public policies; Healthcare.Abstract
Aim: This paper aims to analyze the EPHF in MG in Ecuador as a framework for integrating it into clinical practice. It also aims to contribute to the scientific and social debate on the MG role, considering it the most advanced science field today. Context: the Essentials Public Health Functions (EPHF) are actions for specific purposes necessary to achieve the central objective of Public Health (PH), which is to improve, promote, protect, and restore the population's health through collective action. Medical Genetics (MG) and Genomics are still in construction between public policies, especially in developing countries, and deserve an in-depth approach in this context. Discussion: We understand collective health as an inter-institutional and interdisciplinary social practice, which involves both the State and civil society, aims at protecting and improving people's health. It implies population or community interventions; it includes the responsibility to ensure access and health care quality. Within this practice are the EPHF, defined as actions carried out for specific purposes necessary to achieve the PH Practice's central objective. Each function's operation depends on a sufficient definition of contents, objectives, and activities and on the specific assignment of who is responsible for their execution. Conclusion: The EPHF guides public health policies in Latin America and Ecuador. From this perspective, medical genetics and genomics must be included as a priority in the country's public policy. In this review, we propose the activities to be implemented in this context. This challenge requires political and scientific leadership.
References
Aswini, Y. B., & Varun, S. (2010). Genetics in public health: Rarely explored. Indian journal of human genetics, 16(2), 47–54. https://doi.org/10.4103/0971-6866.69326
Battista, R. N., Blancquaert, I., Laberge, A. M., van Schendel, N., & Leduc, N. (2012). Genetics in health care: an overview of current and emerging models. Public health genomics, 15(1), 34–45. https://doi.org/10.1159/000328846
Brand, A., Brand, H., & Schulte in den Bäumen, T. (2008). The impact of genetics and genomics on public health. European journal of human genetics: EJHG, 16(1), 5–13. https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201942
Burton, P. R., Tobin, M. D., & Hopper, J. L. (2005). Key concepts in genetic epidemiology. Lancet, 366(9489), 941–951. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)67322-9
Christianson, A., & Modell, B. (2004). Medical genetics in developing countries. Annual review of genomics and human genetics, 5, 219–265. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.genom.5.061903.175935
Conejero, J. S., Godue, C., Gutiérrez, J. F., Valladares, L. M., Rabionet, S., Concha, J., Valdés, M. V., Gómez, R. D., Mujica, O. J., Cabezas, C., Lucano, L. L., & Castellanos, J. (2013). Competencias esenciales en salud pública: un marco regional para las Américas [Core competencies in public health: a regional framework for the Americas]. Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health, 34(1), 47–53.
Etchegary, H., Green, J., Parfrey, P., Street, C., & Pullman, D. (2015). Community engagement with genetics: public perceptions and expectations about genetics research. Health expectations: an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy, 18(5), 1413–1425. https://doi.org/10.1111/hex.12122
González-Andrade, F., & López-Pulles, R. (2010). Ecuador: public health genomics. Public health genomics, 13(3), 171–180. https://doi.org/10.1159/000249817
González-Andrade, F., & López-Pulles, R. (2012). Congenital malformations in Ecuadorian children: urgent need to create a National Registry of Birth Defects. The application of clinical genetics, 3, 29–39. https://doi.org/10.2147/tacg.s8794
González-Andrade, F., Aguinaga-Romero, A., Vallejo, F. (2012) Implementation of the National Policy of Genetics in Human Health: axis of a new paradigm in Ecuador. [Implementación de la Política Nacional de Genética en Salud Humana: eje de un nuevo paradigma en Ecuador]. En: Memorias de la Cuba Salud 2012, Convención Internacional de Salud Pública, Reunión Internacional de Genética Comunitaria, Diciembre 2012: 7718-28. ISBN: 978-959-212-811-8 (versión digital). http://www.convencionsalud2012.sld.cu/index.php/convencionsalud/2012/paper/view/2239/799
Halliday, J. L., Collins, V. R., Aitken, M. A., Richards, M. P., & Olsson, C. A. (2004). Genetics and public health--evolution, or revolution? Journal of epidemiology and community health, 58(11), 894–899. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2003.018515
Kaye C. I. (2012). Genetic service delivery: infrastructure, assessment, and information. Public health genomics, 15(3-4), 164–171. https://doi.org/10.1159/000335552
Knottnerus J. A. (2003). Community genetics and community medicine. Family practice, 20(5), 601–606. https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmg519
Monje-Vargas JA (2013). Mission "Manuela Espejo", paradigm of solidarity turned into State policy in Ecuador. [Misión "Manuela Espejo", paradigma de la solidaridad convertida en política de Estado en Ecuador]. Rev Cubana Salud Pública, 39(3): 598-608. http://scielo.sld.cu/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0864-34662013000300014&lng=es.
Rogowski, W. H., Grosse, S. D., & Khoury, M. J. (2009). Challenges of translating genetic tests into clinical and public health practice. Nature reviews. Genetics, 10(7), 489–495. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg2606
Smerecnik, C. M., Mesters, I., de Vries, N. K., & de Vries, H. (2009). Alerting the general population to genetic risks: the value of health messages communicating the existence of genetic risk factors for public health promotion. Health psychology: official journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association, 28(6), 734–745. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016386
Ten Kate L. P. (2005). Community genetics: a bridge between clinical genetics and public health. Community genetics, 8(1), 7–11. https://doi.org/10.1159/000083330
Ten Kate, L. P., Al-Gazali, L., Anand, S., Bittles, A., Cassiman, J. J., Christianson, A., Cornel, M. C., Hamamy, H., Kääriäinen, H., Kristoffersson, U., Marais, D., Penchaszadeh, V. B., Rahman, P., & Schmidtke, J. (2010). Community genetics. Its definition 2010. Journal of community genetics, 1(1), 19–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12687-010-0007-z
Woodhouse, C., Lopez Camelo, J., & Wehby, G. L. (2014). A comparative analysis of prenatal care and fetal growth in eight South American countries. PloS one, 9(3), e91292. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0091292 Castilla, E. E., & Orioli, I. M. (1986). Prevalence rates of microtia in South America. International journal of epidemiology, 15(3), 364–368. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/15.3.364
Zwanikken, P. A., Alexander, L., Huong, N. T., Qian, X., Valladares, L. M., Mohamed, N. A., Ying, X. H., Gonzalez-Robledo, M. C., Linh, l., Wadidi, M. S., Tahir, H., Neupane, S., & Scherpbier, A. (2014). Validation of public health competencies and impact variables for low- and middle-income countries. BMC public health, 14, 55. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-14-55
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Fabricio González-Andrade; Gabriela Aguinaga-Romero
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
1) Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
2) Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
3) Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.
