What are the benefits of a policy analysis? What purpose does the problem statement have
in a policy analysis? Write a succinct, clear problem statement (one or two sentences) for a
public health issue of your choice. Briefly describe your target audience, why your chosen
issue is important, why it needs to be addressed now, and why policy action is warranted.
According to Chriqui & Young (2016), policy analysis describes the process through which
solutions to a public health issue or problems in society are identified, evaluated, and presented
to the relevant policymakers and stakeholders for consideration. As such, policy analysis is
associated with various benefits based on its areas of application and the problems it seeks to
identify and evaluate. Some of these benefits include facilitating the definition and outlining of
goals related to a proposed policy as well as the identification of the congruencies and disparities
in the desired objectives or approximate costs incurred in different strategies (Chriqui & Young,
2016). Additionally, policy analysis addresses the societal interests that lack adequate
articulation or representation in the areas of collective choice.
The first fundamental step in conducting a policy analysis entails the definition of the
problem that needs to be addressed. The attainment of this objective necessitates the use of a
problem statement that describes a short paragraph that provides a summary of the public health
or societal issue under consideration. In the form of a question, the problem statement in a
policy analysis facilitates the selection of information that should be included in the evaluation
process through the provision of some context that contributes to the identification of the
conditions that have created the societal problem or public health issue (Chriqui & Young,
2016). For instance, in a problem statement such as, ‘The outbreak of the Ebola epidemic in
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various in West Africa significantly threatens the welfare of the health care professionals who
volunteer to treat the infected individuals within the prone regions. What measures has the health
care system and different medical facilities in the United States put in place to mitigate and
prevent the transfer of the virus to the EDs upon the return of the volunteering practitioners?’
In the above problem statement, the target audience entails different population groups
that are affected directly by the public health issue. On the one hand, a key population group, in
this case, involves the physicians and practitioners who volunteer travel to the affected regions.
On the other hand, another population group entails the caregivers working in EDs in the United
States, the patients, and the general public (Chriqui & Young, 2016). The reason behind the
selection of this issue is that, during an Ebola outbreak, volunteers who travel to the prone
regions are often undiagnosed upon return, which culminates in the transfer of the virus to the
people around them. The issue needs to be addressed as the transfer of the virus highlights
inadequacies in the American health care system in terms of preparedness for such incidents
(Chriqui & Young, 2016). Therefore, policy action related to the quarantine measures is
warranted as it would prevent the spread of the disease and safeguard the well-being of the
people.
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References
Chriqui, J. F., & Young, S. K. (2016). Public Health Policy Analysis and
Evaluation. Prevention, Policy, and Public Health, 67-92.