Public health refers to the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals.
The basis of public health is analyzing the determinants of health of a population and the threats it faces.
The concept of health takes into account physical, psychological, and social well-being.
Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
The public can be as small as a handful of people or as large as an encompassing several continents.
The concept of health takes into account physical, psychological, and social well-being, among other factors.
Public health is an interdisciplinary field: epidemiology, biostatistics, social sciences and management of health services, environmental health, community health, behavioral health, health economics, public policy, mental health, health education, health politics, occupational safety, disability, oral health, gender issues in health, and sexual and reproductive health.
Public health, s part of a country’s overall healthcare system.
Public health is implemented by surveilling of cases, health indicators, and through the promotion of healthy behaviors.
Health initiatives include; promotion of hand-washing, breastfeeding, delivery and promotion of vaccinations, promoting improved air quality both indoors and outdoors, suicide prevention, smoking cessation, obesity management, increasing healthcare accessibility and controlling the spread of sexually transmitted disease.
Significant disparity in access to health care and public health initiatives between developed countries and developing countries,
In developing countries, public health infrastructures are still forming, and there may not be enough trained healthcare workers, resources, or, in some cases, sufficient knowledge to provide even a basic level of medical care and disease prevention.
A major public health concern in developing countries is poor maternal and child health, malnutrition and poverty coupled with governments’ reluctance in implementing public health policies.
Developed nations are at greater risk of certain public health problems: childhood obesity.
From the beginnings of human civilization, communities promoted health and fought disease at the population level.
The WHO is the predominant agency associated with global health.
Public health is related to global health which is the health of populations in the worldwide context.
International health is a field of health care, usually with a public health emphasis, dealing with health across regional or national boundaries.
The term preventive medicine is related to public health.
Preventive medicine specialists address complex health needs of a population such as by assessing the need for disease prevention programs, using the best methods to implement them, and assessing their effectiveness.
Lifestyle medicine uses individual lifestyle modification to prevent or revert disease and can be considered a component of preventive medicine and public health.
The purpose of a public health intervention is to prevent and mitigate diseases, injuries, and other health conditions: The overall goal is to improve the health of individuals and populations, and to increase life expectancy.
Public health is a multi-faceted, interdisciplinary field: epidemiology, biostatistics, social sciences and management of health services are all relevant, as are environmental health, community health, behavioral health, health economics, public policy, mental health, health education, health politics, occupational safety, disability, gender issues in health, and sexual and reproductive health.
Teams might include epidemiologists, biostatisticians, physician assistants, public health nurses, midwives, medical microbiologists, pharmacists, economists, sociologists, geneticists, data managers, environmental health officers (public health inspectors), bioethicists, gender experts, sexual and reproductive health specialists, physicians, and veterinarians.
Public health initiatives include promotion of hand-washing and breastfeeding, delivery of vaccinations, suicide prevention, smoking cessation, obesity education, increasing healthcare accessibility and distribution of condoms to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
Public health goals arevachieved through surveillance of cases and the promotion of healthy behaviors, communities and environments.
Analyzing the determinants of health of a population and its threats is the basis for public health.
Public heath measures can prevent many diseases through simple, nonmedical methods: the simple act of handwashing with soap can prevent the spread of many contagious diseases.
In other instances, public heath measures treating a disease or controlling a pathogen can be vital to preventing its spread to others, either during an outbreak of infectious disease or through contamination of food or water supplies.
Public health, together with primary care, secondary care, and tertiary care, consists as a country’s overall health care system.
Public health interventions are also delivered outside of health facilities, such as food safety surveillance, distribution of condoms and needle-exchange programs for the prevention of transmissible diseases.
A dilemma in public health ethics concerns the conflict between individual rights and maximizing right to health.
Public health is justified by consequentialist utilitarian ideas.
With the prevalence of infectious diseases decreasing through the 20th century, public health began has put more focus on chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
There has been dramatic reductions in the infant mortality rate using preventive methods.
The WHO reports that a lack of exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life contributes to over a million avoidable child deaths each year.
Public health surveillance has led to the identification and prioritization of many public health issues: HIV/AIDS, diabetes, waterborne diseases, zoonotic diseases, and antibiotic resistance leading to the reemergence of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis.
WHO reports that at least 220 million people worldwide have diabetes.
Its incidence is increasing rapidly, and it is projected that the number of diabetes deaths will double by 2030.
Type 2 diabetes, a largely preventable disorder, has reached an epidemic proportion is a public health humiliation.
The risk of type 2 diabetes is closely linked with the growing problem of obesity.
Once considered a problem in high-income countries, it is now on the rise in low-income countries, especially in urban settings.
Many public health programs are increasingly dedicating attention and resources to the issue of obesity, with objectives to address the underlying causes including healthy diet and physical exercise.
Health inequalities, driven by the social determinants of health, are also a growing area of concern in public health.
Public health organizations have evolved to better meet the needs of some groups more than others.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health.
The WHO’s governing structure and principles, states its main objective as the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health.
The WHO’s broad mandate includes advocating for universal healthcare, monitoring public health risks, coordinating responses to health emergencies, and promoting human health and well-being.
The WHO has played a leading role in several public health achievements: the eradication of smallpox, the near-eradication of polio, and the development of an Ebola vaccine.
Its current priorities include communicable diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS, Ebola, COVID-19, malaria and tuberculosis; non-communicable diseases such as heart disease and cancer; healthy diet, nutrition, and food security; occupational health; and substance abuse.
Most countries have their own governmental public health agency, the ministry of health, with responsibility for domestic health issues.
In the United States, state and local health departments are on the front line of public health initiatives.
United States Public Health Service (PHS), led by the Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are also involved with international health activities.
Public health programs providing vaccinations have made major progress in promoting health, including substantially reducing the occurrence of cholera and polio and eradicating smallpox.
Public health programs providing leadership on matters critical to health and engaging in partnerships shaping a research agenda and stimulating dissemination of valuable knowledge, setting norms and standards and promoting and monitoring their implementation: articulating ethical and evidence-based policy options, and monitoring the health situation and assessing health trends.
Pubic health programs can serve as an early warning system for impending public health emergencies, monitor and clarify the epidemiology of health problems, allow priorities to be set, and inform health policy and strategies, diagnose, investigate, and monitor health problems and health hazards of the community
Pubic health programs seek to improve population health through the implementation of specific population-level interventions.
Public health identifies and assesses population needs for health care services, including:
Assessing services and evaluating whether they are meeting the objectives of the health care system.
Ascertaining the requirements of health professionals, the public and other stakeholders.
Identifying the most appropriate interventions.
Considering the effect on resources for proposed interventions and assessing their cost-effectiveness
Supporting decision making in health care and planning health services including any necessary changes.
Informing, educating, and empowering people about health issues
Some programs and policies associated with public health promotion and prevention can be controversial: tension between concerns about public health and concerns about personal liberty.
Communicable diseases have previously been the uppermost as a global health priority, non-communicable diseases and the underlying behavior-related risk factors have been at the bottom. This has recently been changing.
A large majority of disease and mortality in developing countries results from and contributes to extreme poverty.
Malaria is a leading cause of death in many developing nations.
Large parts of the world are plagued by largely preventable or treatable infectious diseases.
In many developed countries there is an epidemiological shift and polarization with the effects of chronic diseases as life expectancy increases, with poorer communities being heavily affected by both chronic and infectious diseases.
The WHO reports that a lack of exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life contributes to over a million avoidable child deaths each year.
Intermittent preventive therapy aimed at treating and preventing malaria episodes among pregnant women and young children is a public health measure in endemic countries.
Population health has broadened the focus of public health from individual behaviors and risk factors to population-level issues such as inequality, poverty, and education.
Modern public health is often concerned with addressing determinants of health across a population.
Health is affected by many factors including class, race, income, educational status, region of residence, and social relationships; social determinants of health.
Driving forces such as environment, education, employment, income, food security, housing, social inclusion and many others affect the distribution of health between and within populations and are often shaped by policy.
A social gradient in health runs through society: The poorest generally have the worst health, but even the middle classes will generally have worse health outcomes than those of a higher social level.
Public health advocates for population-based policies that improve health in an equitable manner.
There is a link between international health aid in developing countries and a reduction in adult mortality rates.
However, a 2014–2016 study suggests that a potential confounding variable for this outcome is the possibility that aid was directed at countries once they were already on track for improvement.[
Sustainable Development Goals encompass the spectrum of development across nations these six goals address key issues in global public health, poverty, hunger and food security, health, education, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and water and sanitation.
Education and training of public health professionals is available throughout the world in Schools of Public Health, Medical Schools, Veterinary Schools, Schools of Nursing, and Schools of Public Affairs.
Training focuses on core disciplines of biostatistics, epidemiology, health services administration, health policy, health education, behavioral science, gender issues, sexual and reproductive health, public health nutrition, and occupational and environmental health.