Culture and Global Public Health

The biggest surprise to me while being in Germany is how often people smoke cigarettes. In the United States, the younger generation is heading in the direction of despising cigarettes and deeming them as disgusting. As a result, being in an environment where you cannot walk down the street without someone smoking has made me realize how much culture affects public health. Culture guides what society deems as acceptable, and because German culture does not shun cigarettes, cigarettes are acceptable. According to the Robert Koch Institute, lung cancer is one of the most common type of cancer in Germany, and I speculated that this is a direct result from the smoking culture here in Germany. Although I might be completely wrong, I think the culture of Germany is closely related to public health, especially when relating it to smoking.

Before arriving, I knew Germany had a prominent drinking culture, but I never knew to what extent. Everywhere we go, at least one person has an alcoholic beverage in their hand, and this is an aspect of society I am not accustomed to. Seeing this brought to my attention the connection between culture and public health and made me question whether the drinking culture of Germany has any adverse effects on the overall health of society. Some claim drinking at a young age leads to a greater chance of alcoholism, but due to Germany’s culture of light drinking and it’s legal drinking age of 18, it does not seem to pose a threat. In addition, it also made me wonder if Germany has a larger rate of drinking related diseases than countries that do not have a large drinking culture. If so, this must be related to how the culture of Germany affects public health.

From what I learned during the health seminars, culture plays a humongous factor on Global Health and the problems certain areas have because of their culture. In conclusion, smoking and drinking are the main  health concerns caused by German culture I have noticed during my time in Germany.