The science dealing with the protection and improvement of community health, by organized community effort. Public health activities are generally those which are less amenable to being undertaken or less effective when undertaken on an individual basis, and do not typically include direct personal health services. Immunizations, sanitation, preventive medicine, quarantine and other disease control activities, occupational health and safety programs, assurance of the healthfulness of air, water and food, health education, and epidemiology are recognized public health activities.
The study of illness, health and disease in the community.
The organized efforts on the part of society to reduce disease and premature death, and the disability and discomfort produced by disease and other factors, such as injury or environmental hazards. Public health is also a branch of preventive medicine, a medical specialty. Specialization in public health also occurs in engineering, nursing, nutrition, law, and other disciplines.
The area of medicine concerned with assessing, safeguarding, and improving the health of an entire population or community. The public health discipline seeks to prevent the spread of disease; protect against environmental hazards such as air and water pollution and toxic waste; and prevent injuries through such measures as automobile seat belt laws and workplace safety regulations. The discipline also promotes healthy behaviors and mental health; responds to disasters; and ensures that health services are available to the people who need them.
Individuals with health problems go to their doctor, are diagnosed and prescribed treatment. Public-health doctors, however, use epidemiological studies to diagnose the causes of health problems in populations and to plan services to treat the health and disease problems identified. Public health practitioners are concerned not just with individuals, but also with whole populations, especially those who are disadvantaged in some way. They have to take into account that the health of populations is also dependent on factors such as the social, economic and physical environment in which people live and the nutrition and health care available to them.
The discipline concerned with measures that affect the health of communities. It includes the study and practice of techniques that protect communities from epidemics or toxic exposures, predict environmental disasters, and enforce the laws that provide a safe supply of water and food. In the U.S. various government agencies (e.g., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, and National Institutes of Health) are active in maintaining public health. Each of the 50 states has a health department in which at least one physician is the public health official.
The study and practice of protecting and improving the health of people in a community.
The study and practice of protecting and improving the health of people in a group or community.
The field of medicine focused on disease prevention through strategies like health education, ensuring clean water sources, proper sewage management, safer work environments, infection control methods, vaccinations, and the well-being of expectant mothers and young children. Public health responsibilities are undertaken by various individuals and organizations, including Environmental Health Officers, Medical Officers of Environmental Health, and the Public Health Laboratory Service.