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When most people think of public health, they think of pandemics and the people who fix them. I mean, COVID-19 was probably the biggest introduction to public health that most of the world has ever seen. Anyone remember Dr. Fauci? And while public health does include pandemics, it is also so much more. Let's explore!
The CDC defines public health as "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private communities, and individuals." This definition is long and confusing without breaking it down, so let's do that.
"The science and art..."
Let's start with this piece of the definition. Public health really is a science and an art. In public health, decisions are made based on facts and figures; however, human ingenuity plays a large role. You may see the art of public health in the execution of organized plans implemented during emergency situations. The human aspect is what makes public health flexible, adaptable, and creative.
"...preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health..."
This next part is the one that most people are familiar with; however, it's more complex than most people think. Public health covers things like epidemics and disease, like most people think, but it also includes the mitigation of and response to disasters, educating the public on issues, and even working on ending issues that are detrimental to health and instead instituting policies that promoted health.
You may see examples of this portion of the definition of public health in many places. Maybe you see a commercial promoting the end of e-cigarette use. Maybe you hear about a hurricane that hit Florida and the FEMA response. Maybe you hear about the near eradication of polio. Or maybe you hear about something about the combatting of food deserts in low-income neighborhoods. All of these are instances of public health and public health professionals working to help prevent disease, prolong life, and promote health. You may not notice the effects of public health, but they are all around you.
"...through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private communities, and individuals"
This is a long section, I know, but it's pretty simple. Basically, this part is describing who needs to be involved in order for public health to work. And yeah, it includes these big ideas of large groups needing to contribute. However, that's not what I'm interested in and that's not what this blog is about. I'm focused on the last word: "individuals." That means you are necessary to this process, too. This isn't some remote idea that doesn't affect you. It's part of your everyday life. Without public health, there would be no sanitation, there would be no clean water, your future would be measured in years rather than decades, and you'd likely die from an illness we barely think about today, like the flu.
This idea of the individual not only being impacted by public health, but also impacting public health, is the main reason that I made this blog. I want to make public health and the issues we face today easy to access and available to learn.
With that, I'm going to leave you with one of my favorite public health quotes:
"Health care is vital to all of us some of the time, but public health is vital to all of us all of the time."
-C. Everett Koop
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