Homework
CHAPTER 1
Public Health: Science, Politics, and Prevention
Copyright © 2021 by Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC an Ascend Learning Company. www.jblearning.com.
Copyright © 2021 by Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC an Ascend Learning Company. www.jblearning.com
What Is Public Health?
C.E.A. Winslow provided the definition of public health in 1920 that is still valid today.
IOM’s The Future of Public Health refocused attention on public health and revitalized the field.
Mission is “fulfillment of society’s interest in assuring the conditions in which people can be healthy.”
Substance is “organized community efforts aimed at the prevention of disease and the promotion of health.”
Copyright © 2021 by Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC an Ascend Learning Company. www.jblearning.com
Core Functions of Public Health
Core functions of public health:
Assessment
Policy development
Assurance
Copyright © 2021 by Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC an Ascend Learning Company. www.jblearning.com
Public Health Versus Medical Care
In medicine, the patient is the individual; in public health, the patient is the community.
Public health diagnoses the health of the community using public health sciences.
Treatment of a community involves new policies and interventions.
Goal of medicine is to cure; goal of public health is to prevent disease and disability.
Less than 3% of the nation’s total health spending is devoted to public health.
Life expectancy of Americans has increased by 30 years over the 20th century, and only 5 of the 30 years are attributed to modern medicine.
Copyright © 2021 by Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC an Ascend Learning Company. www.jblearning.com
Public Health: Science and Politics
Science is how we understand threats to health, determine what interventions might work, and evaluate whether the interventions worked.
Politics is how we as a society make decisions about what policies to implement.
Politics is part of both the policy development and assurance functions of public health.
Community pays for public health initiatives through taxes.
Copyright © 2021 by Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC an Ascend Learning Company. www.jblearning.com
Public Health Disciplines
Epidemiology
Statistics
Biomedical Sciences
Environmental Health Science
Social and Behavioral Sciences
Health Policy and Management
Copyright © 2021 by Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC an Ascend Learning Company. www.jblearning.com
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the basic science of public health.
The study of epidemics:
Focuses on human populations, usually starting with an outbreak of disease in a community
Looks for common exposures, seeking the causative factor
Deciphers causes of new disease and prevents spread of old, well-understood diseases
Epidemiologists are mainstays of local public health departments.
“Shoe-leather epidemiology”
Copyright © 2021 by Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC an Ascend Learning Company. www.jblearning.com
Statistics
Governments collect health data on the population.
These numbers are diagnostic tools for the health of the community.
The science of statistics is used to calculate risks and benefits.
Statistical analysis is an integral part of any epidemiological study seeking the cause of a disease.
Statistical analysis is an integral part of any clinical study testing the effectiveness of a new drug.
Copyright © 2021 by Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC an Ascend Learning Company. www.jblearning.com
Biomedical Sciences
A major portion of human disease is caused by microorganisms.
Control of infectious diseases was a major public health focus in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
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