Who are the possible key stakeholders for the public health issue identified in your
problem statement in DQ 1? What interest would each of these stakeholders have in the
public health issue identified? Why is it important to identify key stakeholders in a policy
analysis?
Stakeholders in public policies describe individuals, groups of people, and organizations
involved in or who are directly affected by the course of action taken in the alleviation of a
societal problem. In policy analysis, the main stakeholders include the diverse population of
patients, the general public, the providers of different services, and the policymakers, as well as
advocacy groups, among others. The engagement of these diverse populations in the
development and evaluation of different policies involves processes through which an
organization brings on board the people who may be affected by the decisions made or who can
influence the implementation of various strategies (Hutahaean, 2017). In this case, the relevant
stakeholders for the public health issue identified include the volunteers who travel to different
nations affected by outbreaks of Ebola. These volunteers are coupled with the various caregivers
who are in charge or treatment at the emergency departments or health facilities, the multiple
patients who visit the institutions, and the public in general. Additionally, the government,
specifically the health care system, is a significant stakeholder as it regulates the decisions made
regarding whether quarantine measures should be applied or not (Hutahaean, 2017).
The interests of these stakeholders significantly vary even though they are all
interconnected by one goal, the attainment of overall well-being for all people. On the one hand,
the interests of the volunteers include the spread of humanitarian services to the regions affected
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by the Ebola epidemic through the treatment of infected individuals (Hutahaean, 2017). The
interests of the caregivers within the health facilities within the United States include the
adherence to the code of ethics governing their operations in terms of providing necessary care
services to the people in need regardless of their physical, financial, and social state. On the other
hand, the general public’s interests entail the attainment of their general welfare and the
improvement, as well as safeguarding their livelihoods. Lastly, the interests of the government
through the health care system would involve protecting the well-being of the people under all
costs necessary (Hutahaean, 2017). As such, the identification of the key stakeholders in policy
analysis is crucial as it facilitates the recognition of the areas of potential agreements and
disagreements through the provision of opportunities for understanding the driving forces for
their main differences.
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References
Hutahaean, M. (2017). The Importance of Stakeholders Approach in Public Policy
Making. Proceedings of the International Conference on Ethics in Governance
(ICONEG 2016).