What is Public Health?
Public health is concerned with the promotion and protection of the health of individuals and communities in which they live, learn and work.
Public health professionals work to prevent illness and injury. A doctor can only treat people who are seriously ill. By encouraging healthy behavior, we promote wellness.
Public Health Department
Public health professionals work to ensure that people are healthy by conducting scientific research and educating others about it. This could include vaccinating adults and children to prevent disease spread. Education about tobacco and alcohol. Public health establishes safety standards for workers and creates school nutrition programs to ensure that children have healthy food.
Public health is responsible for preventing disease outbreaks and injuries, as well as shedding light on why certain people are more susceptible to poor health. Public health encompasses many aspects, including advocating for legislation that encourages smoke-free indoor air, seatbelts and other safety measures.
Public health is a way to save money, improve our quality of living, help children thrive, and decrease human suffering.
Examples of the many areas of public health:
- First responders
- Restaurant inspectors
- Health educators
- Researchers and scientists
- Nutritionists
- Planners for communities
- Social workers
- Epidemiologists
- Public health physicians
- Public health nurses
- Safety and occupational health professionals
- Public policy makers
- Sanitarians
Additional Resource:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health
https://health.ec.europa.eu/index_en
https://www.sph.pitt.edu/careers/careers-public-health
