What is public health?
Public health is ultimately and essentially an ethical enterprise committed to the notion that all persons are entitled to protecion againt the hazards of this world and to the minimization of death and disability in society.
--Dan Beauchamp, 1976.
Unique features of public health
--Turnock, 1997
The 10 Essential Public Health Services
1 Monitor health status to identify common problems.
2. Diagnose and investigate health problems and hazards in the community.
3. Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues.
4. Mobilize community partnerships and action to identify and solve health problems.
5. Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts.
6. Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety.
7. Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise available
8. Assure a competent public health and personal health care workforce.
9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services.
Common misperceptions
about Public Health
According to a 1998 Harris poll:
as "very important."
Greatest Public Health Achievements
Of The 20th Century
2. Motor vehicle safety
3. Safer workplaces
4. Infectious disease control
5. Decline in Coronary Heart Disease and stroke deaths
6. Safer and healthier foods
7. Healthier mothers and babies
8. Family planning
9. Fluoridation of drinking water
10. Recognition of tobacco as health hazard