Health Sciences Report (1989)

Health Sciences Report UNIVERSITY OF UTAH SOCIAL DISEASES social disease n. 1: a disease which is directly related to social and economic factors 2: venereal disease. See also substance dependency, feminization of poverty, environmental health hazards. Spring 1989 THE NEW SOCIAL DISEASES These " diseases" are not really new. What is new is how we look at them. Like syphilis and gonorrhea, substance abuse has long been con-sidered a health problem. Only in recent years, however, has society recognized the economic and social consequences of substance dependen-cy: we all breathe air contaminated bv secondhand smoke. We all pay higher medical insurance rates as a consequence of the effects of others' substance abuse. We all depend upon the sober, safe conduct of workers, whether we're using public transporta-tion or relying upon nuclear energy to provide electricity. Society's view of the impact of these diseases has re-sulted in many substance abusers feeling socially ostracized - much like those who suffered from syphilis and gonorrhea years ago. The list of the new social diseases Joesn't end with substance depen-dency. Environmental health hazards; world hunger and the lack of medical care in Third World countries; the feminization of poverty; AIDS; lack of health care for the poor and the homeless - all are medical problems that also pose social and economic dilemmas. They offer greater resis-tance to research than many other diseases, but they still are the responsi-bility of the health- care community, especially when so much emphasis today is placed upon preventive health care. In this issue of Health Sciences Report, we examine how health- care professionals at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center are applying their expertise to help pre-vent and control some of these new-social diseases. Health Sciences Report University of Utah Vol. 13, No. 1, Spring 1989