The rationale for the assignment: The impact of COVID-19 has been particularly profound for those with chronic disease; heart disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic kidney disease, and obesity are all conditions that increase the risk for severe illness from COVID-19 (7). Other factors, including smoking, also increase the risk. Newly emerging evidence indicates. The syndemic nature of COVID-19, unraveling the complex dynamics between emerging health challenges with co-existent endemic. The syndemics highlight the social systems’ fragilities, the level of health literacy, and ideological divisions deeply rooted in the modern society of the United States. The COVID-19 presents opportunities to enact holistic efforts to address all the major chronic diseases we have studied so far. Therefore, I design this assignment to further enhance your understanding of the syndemic nature of chronic diseases. .
Learning objectives:
Apply what we have learnt so far from this course to approach a newly emerging public health issues.
Learn how to highlight a chronic disease related research paper.
Demonstrate basic critique skill on research reports.
Appreciate the contributions/impact of research performed by someone you may know very well.
Specific tasks to be completed:
What is your definition of “syndemic?”
What is “social co-morbidity?”
How to describe the relationship between cigarette tax and disease burden of COVID-19 using the evidence presented in the study.
Walk away message from this study? (<30 words).
Identify 5 issues from the manuscript, any issues are accounted, spelling errors, grammar inappropriateness, unclear sentences, poor citation, or incorrect statements. Please list the issues in your answer sheet rather make notes on the manuscript.