Explain how overdignose and treatment is a challenge to public health screening

Sure! So, sometimes when people go to the doctor, they might get diagnosed with a health problem even if they don’t really have it. This is called overdiagnosis. And sometimes, they might get treatment for that problem even if they don’t really need it. This can be a challenge for public health screening because it can lead to unnecessary costs and potential harm to people. For example, let’s say a doctor does a screening test for a certain disease on a group of people. The test might show that some people have the disease, but in reality, they might never actually get sick from it. So, they end up getting unnecessary treatment that could have negative side effects. One verifiable fact is that according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, overdiagnosis and overtreatment contribute to about 30% of all healthcare spending in the United States. An analogy to help you understand this is like if a teacher gives extra homework to students who don’t really need it. It’s not fair to those students, and it can be a waste of time and resources. In the same way, overdiagnosis and overtreatment in public health screening can be a waste of resources and potentially harmful to people.