Many people forget about public health until there’s an outbreak, like the rise of H1N1 virus (or Swine Flu). Public health is a field of medicine that operates in areas other than infectious disease, and long before an epidemic takes hold. Public Health, in fact, includes the “protection and improvement” of overall health of the masses. Historically, public health has concentrated on communicable diseases, hygiene, and prevention of epidemics. The discipline has expanded over the years to encompass chronic disease prevention, community-based health studies and programs, and effective health promotion.
Many people forget about public health until there’s an outbreak, like the rise of H1N1 virus (or Swine Flu). Public health is a field of medicine that operates in areas other than infectious disease, and long before an epidemic takes hold. Public Health, in fact, includes the “protection and improvement” of overall health of the masses. Historically, public health has concentrated on communicable diseases, hygiene, and prevention of epidemics. The discipline has expanded over the years to encompass chronic disease prevention, community-based health studies and programs, and effective health promotion.
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Many people forget about public health until there’s an outbreak, like the rise of H1N1 virus (or Swine Flu). Public health is a field of medicine that operates in areas other than infectious disease, and long before an epidemic takes hold. Public Health, in fact, includes the “protection and improvement” of overall health of the masses. Historically, public health has concentrated on communicable diseases, hygiene, and prevention of epidemics. The discipline has expanded over the years to encompass chronic disease prevention, community-based health studies and programs, and effective health promotion.
Copyright:
Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
Summary Many people forget about public health until there s an outbreak, like the rise of H1N1 virus (or Swine Flu). Public health is a field of medicine that operates i n areas other than infectious disease, and long before an epidemic takes hold. P ublic Health, in fact, includes the protection and improvement of overall health o f the masses. Historically, public health has concentrated on communicable disea ses, hygiene, and prevention of epidemics. The discipline has expanded over the years to encompass chronic disease prevention, community-based health studies an d programs, and effective health promotion. Keywords public health public health officials infectious diseases Text: Public Health - Infectious Diseases New York Co-Editor-in-Chief, Tracy E. Austin, MD Monday, March 01, 2010 - 07:01 PM
Medicine for the Masses
Many people forget about public health until there s and outbreak, like the rise o f H1N1 virus (or Swine Flu). Public health is a field of medicine that operates in areas other than infectious disease, and long before an epidemic takes hold. Public Health, in fact, includes the protection and improvement of overall health of the masses. Historically, public health has concentrated on communicable dise ases, hygiene, and prevention of epidemics. The discipline has expanded over the years to encompass chronic disease prevention, community-based health studies a nd programs, and effective health promotion. Disease Public health officials must stay on top of all new and recurring outbreaks. Thi s includes not only communicable diseases, but also hereditary and lifestyle dis eases, like many cancers and heart disease. Much of their time is spent in overs eeing the search for cures, treatments and improving diagnostic processes and eq uipment. Prevention and eradication are the ultimate goals, but the road to eith er is long and winding. The tools that public health officials use to track outbreaks and the evolution of new disease are also very important. Tools like the World Health Organization s Geographic Information Systems help accomplish this. Communal Health On a community level, the local health department serves the same purpose. They track disease, but also provide things like testing kits, prophylactics, and edu cation on nutrition, reproduction and development. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) sees to the health of all Americans, regardless of inc ome status. They continue to redefine public health through their programs. Pooling talents HHS does not work alone. It coops resources and manpower from other government a gencies in order to oversee the health of the American public. For example, alth ough the local HHS houses the WIC program, or the Special Supplemental Nutrition al Program for Women, Infant and Children, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ru ns it. The program ensures that pregnant or breastfeeding women and their children unde r the age of five receive the proper nutrition needed for development. The progr am wouldn t be possible without the HHS organization and administration. It also m ust have the Department of Agriculture s access to the American food supply. Public and Private Partnerships The pooling of government resources isn t the only way that public health operates . Public and private entities have been cooperating for a long time on public he alth issues. This statement seems contrary to recent news over the battle of pub lic and private health insurance and a national health care plan. However, in th e realm of public health research, the partnership between the public and privat e entities has flourished. Both sectors have realized the need to provide affordable medicines for the publ ic, for example. As a result, private companies like Eli Lilly are contributing to government research and vice versa. One such collaboration with the Center fo r Disease Control and Prevention resulted in a Training Program in the field of infectious disease. Educating the Masses That brings us to another realm of public health education and training. Many publ ic health experts have recognized the need to educate that public in order to be tter the wellbeing of the entire population. This goes beyond training up the ne xt CDC president. It involves Updates on next outbreak, Informational campaigns for new drugs and vaccines, Sex education to prevent teen pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted d isease, Screenings and checklists for diseases like diabetes, depression and heart disea se, Awareness programs for prenatal care, family fitness and more. Public health education is especially important to those in developing countries and even the rural areas of the United States. In these areas, access to inform ation, adequate health care, and the means to pay for that care is limited. By e ducating the public in these areas, the governments can prevent infectious disea se outbreaks and an increase in deaths from lifestyle diseases that are usually spotted and treated by programs more readily available in urban, developed and m iddle to high income areas. Low-income families are especially targeted by public health education programs. The group s inability to afford much more than shelter and food puts them at risk for many health issues. Their living conditions also increase the risk of sprea d of infectious disease. By educating this group, public health officials can ch ange many of the habits that lead to lifestyle diseases. They can empower this p opulation by arming them with the tools to not only prevent, but to detect, heal th issues before they become deadly. Awareness Awareness is the key to making public health work. When patients become aware of their illness, possible treatment/cures and prevention, staying healthy becomes a possibility. It is this awareness that allows people in areas where health ca re is limited to seek out the correct means of handling their symptoms or illnes s. Awareness allows the people to take charge of their individual health, transl ating into an overall improvement in public health. For referenced resourced inf ormation, go to http://www.smilemd.com/public-health/infectious-diseases-and-pub lic-health.aspx Resources: SmileMD Inc global publishing headquarters - Midtown Manhattan, New York. Nevill e Coward, Chairman & CEO. http://www.smilemd.com instantly schedules nationwide online medical and dental appointments for <a href="http://www.smilemd.com/blog/ article.aspx">Infectious Diseases New York doctors</a>. Patient versions of medi cal & dental articles are library referenced for online publication by co-editor s-in-chief Judy J. Johnson DDS and Tracy E. Austin, MD. Dr. Johnson is a member of The New York Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. Dr. Austin is a member of the A.M .A., American Medical Writers Association and the Association of Health Care Jou rnalists.