2025-08-20

IELTS Writing Task 2 Discussion — Public Health: 15 Common Mistakes and Fixes

Master IELTS Writing Task 2 discussion essays on public health topics by avoiding critical mistakes. Complete guide with fixes, examples, and advanced strategies for Band 8-9 writing.

Quick Summary

Master IELTS Writing Task 2 public health discussion essays by avoiding the 15 most common mistakes that prevent high band scores. This comprehensive guide provides detailed fixes, expert strategies, and proven techniques used by 500,000+ successful IELTS candidates.

Key takeaways: Critical error identification and correction, advanced health policy vocabulary, sophisticated argumentation techniques, and systematic approaches to complex healthcare discussions.

Time to read: 14 minutes | Difficulty: Intermediate to Advanced

Amira, a medical student from Morocco, struggled with IELTS Writing Task 2 public health essays for months before identifying and fixing the critical mistakes covered in this guide. "My score jumped from Band 6 to Band 8.5 after learning to avoid these specific errors," she explains. This comprehensive guide reveals the 15 most common mistakes that prevent high band scores in public health discussions and provides detailed fixes for each.

Public health essays require sophisticated analysis of healthcare systems, disease prevention strategies, and health policy evaluation. These topics frequently appear in IELTS Writing Task 2, testing your ability to discuss complex medical and social issues with appropriate vocabulary and balanced reasoning. Understanding and avoiding these common mistakes is essential for achieving Band 7+ performance.

Understanding Public Health Discussion Essays

Public health-related questions consistently appear in IELTS Writing Task 2, challenging candidates to discuss healthcare systems, disease prevention, health policy, and medical ethics. These essays require careful balance between medical accuracy, policy understanding, and sophisticated academic writing.

Common question types include:

  • Healthcare funding: "Should healthcare be publicly funded or privately managed? Discuss both views."
  • Prevention vs treatment: "Is preventing disease more important than treating illness? Discuss both perspectives."
  • Health education: "How effective are public health campaigns in changing behavior?"
  • Medical technology: "Are advances in medical technology always beneficial for public health?"

Essential Structure for Public Health Essays

Introduction (50-60 words)

  • Paraphrase using sophisticated health terminology
  • Present balanced thesis acknowledging complexity
  • Outline analytical framework

Body Paragraphs (120-140 words each)

  • Evidence-based arguments with healthcare examples
  • Policy analysis and case studies
  • Advanced medical and policy vocabulary

Conclusion (40-50 words)

  • Synthesize perspectives with nuanced position
  • Suggest integrated healthcare approaches

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The 15 Most Common Mistakes and Their Fixes

Mistake 1: Oversimplifying Healthcare Systems

Common Error: "Public healthcare is better because it's free for everyone."

Why This Fails:

  • Ignores funding mechanisms and economic realities
  • Lacks understanding of healthcare system complexity
  • Missing analysis of quality, access, and efficiency trade-offs
  • Demonstrates superficial understanding of health policy

Expert Fix: "Publicly funded healthcare systems provide universal access through tax-based financing mechanisms, potentially reducing financial barriers to essential medical services, though implementation requires careful consideration of resource allocation, service quality maintenance, and long-term fiscal sustainability."

Advanced Alternative: "Universal healthcare systems demonstrate varying effectiveness depending on implementation models, with countries like Canada achieving broad coverage through single-payer systems while nations such as Germany utilize social insurance approaches that balance public funding with private delivery mechanisms."

Mistake 2: Confusing Healthcare Types and Terminology

Common Error: "Private hospitals give better treatment than government hospitals because they have more money."

Why This Fails:

  • Conflates funding source with care quality
  • Lacks precision in healthcare terminology
  • Missing evidence-based comparison
  • Oversimplified quality assessment

Expert Fix: "Private healthcare facilities often provide shorter waiting times and enhanced amenities through direct payment models, while public hospitals may offer comprehensive specialized services and research capabilities through government funding, requiring evaluation of outcomes, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness rather than simple quality comparisons."

Sophisticated Approach: "Healthcare quality depends on multiple factors including physician training, medical equipment availability, evidence-based protocols, and patient outcomes measurement, rather than ownership structure alone, with studies showing comparable clinical outcomes between well-funded public and private systems."

Mistake 3: Ignoring Prevention-Treatment Integration

Common Error: "Prevention is more important than treatment because it stops disease before it happens."

Why This Fails:

  • Creates false dichotomy between prevention and treatment
  • Ignores complementary nature of healthcare approaches
  • Missing understanding of healthcare system integration
  • Lacks evidence-based policy analysis

Expert Fix: "Effective healthcare systems integrate preventive measures such as vaccination programs and health education with robust treatment capabilities, recognizing that population health requires both disease prevention strategies and accessible, high-quality medical intervention when illness occurs."

Advanced Analysis: "Modern public health approaches demonstrate that prevention and treatment function synergistically, with preventive care reducing treatment demand while treatment outcomes inform prevention strategies, as evidenced by cancer screening programs that both detect early disease and provide treatment guidance."

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Mistake 4: Weak Evidence and Example Usage

Common Error: "Many people die from preventable diseases, so prevention should be the priority."

Why This Fails:

  • Vague statistics without specific sources
  • Missing concrete examples or case studies
  • Lacks comparative analysis
  • No policy context or implementation details

Expert Fix: "The World Health Organization reports that non-communicable diseases account for 71% of global deaths, with many cases preventable through lifestyle interventions, yet this statistic must be balanced against the need for treatment infrastructure to address existing disease burden and acute care requirements."

Evidence-Based Approach: "Finland's North Karelia Project reduced cardiovascular mortality by 65% through community-based prevention programs, while simultaneously maintaining robust cardiac treatment services, demonstrating how integrated prevention-treatment approaches achieve optimal population health outcomes."

Mistake 5: Missing Stakeholder Perspectives

Common Error: "Governments should provide free healthcare because people need medical care."

Why This Fails:

  • Ignores multiple stakeholder viewpoints
  • Missing economic and policy constraints
  • Lacks consideration of healthcare providers, taxpayers, and policy makers
  • Oversimplified solution without implementation analysis

Expert Fix: "Universal healthcare provision involves complex stakeholder considerations including government fiscal capacity, healthcare worker availability, taxpayer burden distribution, and service quality maintenance, requiring policy designs that balance accessibility with sustainability and effectiveness."

Comprehensive Stakeholder Analysis: "Healthcare policy decisions must consider patient access needs, medical professional capacity and training requirements, insurance industry impacts, pharmaceutical regulation, and long-term demographic changes affecting service demand and funding mechanisms."

Mistake 6: Inadequate Policy Analysis

Common Error: "Some countries have good healthcare and some have bad healthcare systems."

Why This Fails:

  • Lacks specific policy comparison
  • Missing evaluation criteria
  • No evidence-based assessment
  • Oversimplified quality categorization

Expert Fix: "Healthcare system effectiveness varies significantly based on factors including per-capita health expenditure, provider-to-population ratios, health outcome indicators, and equity in access, with successful systems like those in Nordic countries combining universal coverage with strong primary care foundations."

Sophisticated Policy Comparison: "Comparative health system analysis reveals that countries achieving high health outcomes typically integrate universal access, robust primary care systems, prevention-focused policies, and evidence-based treatment protocols, as demonstrated by systems in Canada, Australia, and the Netherlands."

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Mistake 7: Poor Disease Prevention Analysis

Common Error: "Education campaigns don't work because people still smoke and eat unhealthy food."

Why This Fails:

  • Oversimplified behavior change understanding
  • Missing evidence-based evaluation
  • Ignores successful prevention programs
  • Lacks understanding of multi-factor health interventions

Expert Fix: "Public health education effectiveness varies considerably depending on implementation approach, target population characteristics, and supporting policy frameworks, with successful campaigns like tobacco control initiatives requiring comprehensive strategies including education, taxation, regulation, and treatment support."

Evidence-Based Prevention Assessment: "Australia's Plain Packaging tobacco legislation, combined with health education campaigns and cessation support programs, reduced smoking rates from 24% to 13% between 2001-2016, demonstrating how integrated prevention strategies achieve measurable population health improvements."

Mistake 8: Missing Health Equity Considerations

Common Error: "Private healthcare is better because rich people get faster treatment."

Why This Fails:

  • Ignores equity and social justice principles
  • Lacks understanding of health disparities
  • Missing population health perspective
  • Demonstrates poor understanding of healthcare goals

Expert Fix: "Healthcare system evaluation must consider equity principles alongside efficiency, as disparities in access and outcomes affect overall population health, with effective systems ensuring essential care availability regardless of socioeconomic status while maintaining service quality and innovation."

Health Equity Analysis: "Universal healthcare systems in countries like the UK and Canada demonstrate approaches to reducing health inequities through geographic coverage and income-independent access, though implementation challenges include wait times, resource allocation, and maintaining service quality across diverse populations."

Mistake 9: Weak Technology and Innovation Discussion

Common Error: "New medical technology is always good because it helps treat diseases better."

Why This Fails:

  • Lacks cost-benefit analysis
  • Missing consideration of access and equity
  • Ignores technology assessment principles
  • Oversimplified innovation evaluation

Expert Fix: "Medical technology adoption requires systematic evaluation of clinical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, ethical implications, and equitable access, with successful integration depending on evidence-based assessment, healthcare worker training, and sustainable financing mechanisms."

Sophisticated Technology Assessment: "Precision medicine technologies demonstrate both promise and challenges for public health, offering personalized treatment approaches while raising concerns about cost, access equity, data privacy, and healthcare system capacity to implement complex diagnostic and therapeutic innovations effectively."

Mistake 10: Inadequate Mental Health Integration

Common Error: "Physical health is more important than mental health because mental problems aren't real diseases."

Why This Fails:

  • Demonstrates stigmatizing attitudes
  • Lacks understanding of integrated health approaches
  • Missing evidence about mental health impact
  • Ignores modern healthcare paradigms

Expert Fix: "Contemporary public health approaches recognize mental health as integral to overall well-being, with mental health conditions significantly affecting physical health outcomes, productivity, and healthcare utilization, requiring integrated care models that address both psychological and physical health needs."

Integrated Health Approach: "The WHO's definition of health as 'complete physical, mental and social well-being' reflects evidence showing mental health conditions contribute substantially to global disease burden, with effective healthcare systems providing mental health services alongside physical care through community-based and clinical interventions."

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Mistake 11: Poor Global Health Perspective

Common Error: "Developing countries just need to copy what rich countries do for healthcare."

Why This Fails:

  • Ignores local context and resource constraints
  • Missing cultural and economic considerations
  • Oversimplified policy transfer assumptions
  • Lacks understanding of health system adaptation

Expert Fix: "Healthcare system development requires adaptation to local contexts including epidemiological profiles, economic constraints, cultural factors, and infrastructure capacity, with successful approaches often involving progressive universal health coverage tailored to national circumstances rather than direct policy replication."

Global Health Analysis: "Rwanda's post-genocide healthcare reconstruction demonstrates context-specific approaches to health system strengthening, combining community health worker programs, performance-based financing, and international partnerships to achieve remarkable improvements in maternal mortality and life expectancy through locally adapted strategies."

Mistake 12: Missing Health Economics Understanding

Common Error: "Healthcare should be free because health is more important than money."

Why This Fails:

  • Ignores economic realities and opportunity costs
  • Missing understanding of healthcare financing
  • Lacks analysis of resource allocation principles
  • Oversimplified value assessment

Expert Fix: "Healthcare resource allocation involves complex economic considerations including opportunity costs, efficiency optimization, and sustainability requirements, with effective systems balancing universal access goals with fiscal responsibility through diverse financing mechanisms and evidence-based priority setting."

Health Economics Integration: "Health technology assessment programs in countries like the UK and Australia demonstrate systematic approaches to evaluating medical interventions based on clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness, ensuring healthcare resources achieve maximum population health benefit within budgetary constraints."

Mistake 13: Weak Aging Population Analysis

Common Error: "Old people use too much healthcare and cost too much money."

Why This Fails:

  • Demonstrates ageist attitudes
  • Missing demographic transition understanding
  • Lacks policy solution analysis
  • Ignores successful aging policies

Expert Fix: "Population aging presents healthcare system challenges requiring proactive policy responses including preventive care emphasis, age-friendly service design, chronic disease management, and sustainable financing mechanisms that recognize older adults' contributions while addressing changing healthcare needs."

Demographic Health Planning: "Japan's approach to aging society healthcare challenges through long-term care insurance, community-based services, and preventive health programs demonstrates policy frameworks for managing demographic transitions while maintaining healthcare quality and fiscal sustainability."

Mistake 14: Poor Health Behavior Change Analysis

Common Error: "People should just eat healthy and exercise more to prevent diseases."

Why This Fails:

  • Oversimplifies behavior change complexity
  • Ignores social determinants of health
  • Missing policy intervention understanding
  • Lacks evidence-based behavior change knowledge

Expert Fix: "Health behavior change requires comprehensive approaches addressing individual knowledge, social environment, economic factors, and policy frameworks, with effective interventions combining education, environmental modifications, incentive structures, and community support systems."

Behavior Change Science: "The UK's sugar tax on soft drinks, implemented alongside education campaigns and reformulation initiatives, reduced sugar consumption by 21% within two years, demonstrating how policy interventions can support individual behavior change through environmental modifications."

Mistake 15: Inadequate Health System Integration

Common Error: "Hospitals and doctors should work separately from public health programs."

Why This Fails:

  • Missing integrated care understanding
  • Lacks health system coordination principles
  • Ignores continuity of care importance
  • Demonstrates fragmented health perspective

Expert Fix: "Effective healthcare systems integrate clinical services with public health programs, primary care with specialist services, and prevention with treatment through coordinated delivery models that ensure continuity of care and optimize population health outcomes."

Health System Integration: "Integrated care models in systems like Kaiser Permanente and the Veterans Health Administration demonstrate how coordination between prevention, primary care, specialty services, and population health programs can improve outcomes while controlling costs through comprehensive care management."

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Strategic Application of Fixes

Sample Question Analysis

Question: "Some believe that preventing diseases through public health measures is more effective than treating illnesses after they occur. Others argue that advanced medical treatment saves more lives than prevention programs. Discuss both views and give your opinion."

Common Student Response with Mistakes: "Prevention is definitely better than treatment because it stops diseases before they happen. Many people die from preventable diseases, so governments should focus on prevention. Treatment is expensive and sometimes doesn't work. However, some people think treatment is important because it saves lives when people get sick. Doctors can cure cancer and heart disease with new technology. In my opinion, prevention is more important because it's cheaper and helps more people."

Mistake Analysis:

  • Mistake 3: False prevention-treatment dichotomy
  • Mistake 4: Weak evidence usage
  • Mistake 1: Oversimplified healthcare approach
  • Mistake 6: Inadequate policy analysis

Expert Response with Fixes Applied:

Introduction: Public health strategy development involves complex decisions regarding resource allocation between disease prevention initiatives and medical treatment capabilities. While prevention advocates emphasize population-level interventions and cost-effectiveness of avoiding disease occurrence, treatment proponents highlight the critical importance of advanced medical care for addressing existing illness and acute health crises. This essay examines both perspectives before arguing that integrated healthcare approaches combining robust prevention programs with accessible, high-quality treatment services achieve optimal population health outcomes.

Body Paragraph 1 (Prevention Focus): Prevention-oriented healthcare approaches demonstrate significant population health benefits through evidence-based interventions that address disease risk factors before illness occurrence. Finland's North Karelia Project exemplifies comprehensive prevention effectiveness, reducing cardiovascular mortality by 65% through community-based lifestyle interventions, tobacco control policies, and health education campaigns that required substantially lower per-capita investment than cardiac treatment services. Furthermore, vaccination programs provide compelling prevention evidence, with WHO data indicating that immunization prevents 2-3 million deaths annually at costs significantly lower than treating vaccine-preventable diseases. Prevention strategies also address social determinants of health including environmental factors, behavior modification, and health education that create lasting population health improvements.

Body Paragraph 2 (Treatment Focus): However, advanced medical treatment capabilities remain essential for addressing existing disease burden, acute medical emergencies, and conditions not amenable to prevention strategies. Cancer treatment innovations demonstrate treatment importance, with five-year survival rates for many cancers improving dramatically through early detection, surgical advances, chemotherapy development, and precision medicine approaches that have saved millions of lives globally. Additionally, emergency medical services, trauma care, and intensive care capabilities provide critical societal safety nets that ensure treatable conditions do not result in preventable deaths. Treatment infrastructure also enables medical research and innovation that ultimately improves both treatment effectiveness and prevention strategies through better disease understanding.

Conclusion: While both prevention and treatment offer essential contributions to population health, I believe that integrated healthcare systems combining robust prevention programs with accessible, high-quality treatment services provide optimal outcomes. Countries like Australia successfully implement this balanced approach, achieving high health outcomes through comprehensive prevention strategies supported by excellent treatment capabilities when medical intervention becomes necessary.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How can I avoid oversimplifying complex health policy issues?

A: Use evidence-based analysis with specific examples rather than general statements. Learn key policy concepts like "health system strengthening," "universal health coverage," and "health equity." Reference successful programs with measurable outcomes: "Rwanda's community health worker program reduced child mortality by 50% through systematic health system strengthening." Always acknowledge multiple stakeholders and implementation challenges.

Q: What's the best way to discuss healthcare without medical expertise?

A: Focus on well-established public health principles and widely reported policy outcomes. Use authoritative sources like WHO, national health agencies, and peer-reviewed research. Emphasize policy and social aspects rather than clinical details. Learn basic terminology with clear definitions and avoid technical medical language unless necessary for the argument.

Q: How do I balance prevention and treatment arguments effectively?

A: Present evidence for both approaches while acknowledging their complementary nature. Use specific examples: "Vaccination programs prevent disease occurrence while cancer treatment saves lives when prevention fails." Discuss integrated healthcare models that combine both approaches. Avoid false dichotomies by showing how successful health systems use both strategies simultaneously.

Q: What are the most effective examples for public health essays?

A: Use well-documented programs with measurable outcomes: Finland's North Karelia Project (cardiovascular prevention), Australia's plain packaging (tobacco control), Rwanda's health system reconstruction, UK's NHS model, Canada's universal healthcare. Always explain the significance and outcomes rather than just mentioning the program names.

Q: How should I address controversial health topics?

A: Present evidence-based arguments from multiple perspectives using authoritative sources. Acknowledge different viewpoints: "While some argue that private healthcare improves efficiency, others emphasize equity concerns in access and outcomes." Focus on policy evidence and outcomes rather than ideological positions. Use comparative analysis of different health system approaches.

Master your IELTS Writing skills with these complementary guides:

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Author: Dr. Fatima Al-Rashid, IELTS Public Health Expert
Ph.D. Public Health Policy, 14 years IELTS instruction experience
Certified by British Council and Cambridge Assessment
Successfully coached 4,200+ students to Band 7+ scores in health and social policy topics