What is Public Health?

PUBLIC HEALTH Q & A

You are only as healthy as the world you live in.

Q. What is public health?

A. Public health improves the conditions and behaviors that affect the health of each and every one of us. Public health professionals combat and reduce incidences of preventable diseases, push for healthier lifestyles, and minimize the consequences of catastrophic events. They also provide the basics of sanitation to safe food and water.

Q. Why should I care about Public Health?

A. Your health is determined by your own genetics and personal choices, but also by the environment around you. We all strive to live long, healthy lives, and where we live, work and play affects our health. If you care about your health, the length and quality of your life, and the health and lives of your friends and family, then you should care about public health.

Q. How does public health save lives?

A. Public health combats threats to health by implementing educational programs, developing policies, administering services, and conducting research. Over the last century, public health has increased life expectancies, reduced world-wide infant and child mortality, and eliminated or reduced many communicable diseases.

Q. What are the top public health issues today?

A. Public health impacts us in countless ways every day, but some top public health concerns include: tobacco control and cessation; cancer prevention, survivorship and treatment; prevention and reduction of infectious diseases; the impact of global climate change on health; health disparities; obesity; access to care; and health care policy.

Q. How does the world around us affect our health?

A. The spread of disease or the quality of air and water are some of the more obvious ways in which the world around us affects our health. While your own genetics and personal choices are a primary determinant of your health, the environment in which you live is another determinant.

Q. How does globalization affect our health?

A. The frenetic movement of food and people across borders permits illnesses to move rapidly from a remote village to faraway cities. Poor sanitation and a lack of health resources engender new diseases in far away places that can ultimately threaten the health of Americans. The globalization of health links us all more closely than ever before.

Q. Why should government support public health?

A. Investing in public health helps everyone and the failure to invest puts us all at risk. The current budget shortfall and lack of well-trained public health professionals exposes America to increased risk from threats like mutating infectious diseases, potential bioterrorist attacks, natural disasters and preventable diseases. We need to support our public health infrastructure if we want to keep America healthy and, more practically, it is an effective way to control soaring health care costs.