Public health is the field concerned with protecting and improving the health of populations through prevention, health promotion, policy, surveillance, research, and organized community action.
Unlike clinical medicine, which primarily focuses on diagnosing and treating individual patients, public health focuses on the health of groups and communities. Its activities include vaccination programs, disease surveillance, sanitation, food safety, environmental health, health education, injury prevention, and emergency preparedness.
Public health can operate at local, national, and international levels. It involves many disciplines, including medicine, epidemiology, environmental health, health education, statistics, economics, and policy.
QUICK FACT
Public health is not only about preventing infectious diseases. It also addresses chronic diseases, injuries, environmental hazards, maternal and child health, mental well-being, and many other population-level health concerns.
COMMONLY CONFUSED WITH
- Clinical medicine: Clinical medicine primarily treats individuals; public health primarily seeks to prevent illness and improve health across populations, although the two overlap considerably.
- Environmental health: a branch of public health focused specifically on environmental factors affecting health.
- Preventive medicine: a medical specialty and approach focused on preventing disease and promoting health, including at both individual and population levels.
SEE ALSO
- Epidemiology
- Environmental Health
- Food Safety
- Noise Pollution
- WHO
- EFSA
