My First Post

Hi Steemians,

My name is Ashleigh Chanel. I am a brand new blogger from Australia and this is my debut blog post! This is the only social media platform where you will find me... for now.

First, a few questions for you: Do you think it should be a human right to breathe clean air and drink clean water? Do you think immunizing children should be compulsory? How do you feel about breathing in smoke during hazard burning to reduce the risk of bushfires? Do you or one of your loved ones suffer from a chronic illness? Do you have access to the medications and equipment to manage and reduce it's effects? If more than half of a country's population are children, but about half of the adults are incapacitated by chronic illnesses, and the country could only afford one or the other, do you think the priority of the government's budget should be education or healthcare services?

I'm incredibly passionate about public health, which is why I'm studying a Master of Public Health and absolutely loving what I'm learning. I'm realising the bigger picture at global, national and community levels and also how public health decisions are made economically and ethically.

My main focus is on non-communicable (chronic) diseases such as cancer, diabetes, degenerative brain diseases, cardiovascular diseases and analysing the various different cause and effect relationships that lead to the increase of their prevalence. Determinants of these chronic diseases range broadly, such as geographic locations, income levels of countries or regions, cultural norms, population characteristics, governments, education levels, and I'm sure you can appreciate there are many more.

I'm also fascinated by environmental health; that is, how the environment impacts human and wildlife/ecology health. For example, air pollution, water contaminants, foodborne disease, exposure pathways, exposure level guidelines and effects of climate change. A representation of what public health does in this space is how Australia has prohibited smoking cigarettes in public spaces such as playgrounds, inside pubs, restaurants and outdoor cafe eating areas to reduce the general population's exposure levels of inhaling the second-hand smoke.

I have so much to share with you as I go through my uni course and beyond! I will be blogging about public health information that I find interesting and will share my analysis and thoughts. I'm looking forward to some valuable comments and discussions.

I also have a lot of love for food and all sorts of tea! I follow a plant-based diet and although I get creative and make things up as I go in the kitchen most of the time, I will share my recipes and tips with you too. If you go ahead and follow any of my recipes, I would love to hear how it went and see a photo!

If you follow me, please comment to let me know what country you're in and/or from and what you think are the public health issues there. Or give me some recommendations for tea to try. Thank you!

Happy to be here! Let's begin.