Public Health - RAHPC
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Public Health

Public Health
 

Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of families and communities through promotion of healthy lifestyles, research for disease and injury prevention and detection and control of infectious diseases. Overall, public health is concerned with protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be as small as a local neighborhood, or as big as an entire country or region of the world.

Public health professionals try to prevent problems from happening or recurring through implementing educational programs (health promotion), recommending policies, administering services and conducting research – in contrast to clinical professionals like doctors and nurses, who focus primarily on treating individuals after they become sick or injured. Public health also works to limit health disparities. A large part of public health is promoting healthcare equity, quality and accessibility.

The three main public health functions include:

  • The Monitoring and Evaluation of the health programs and interventions implemented to improve the health status of communities and populations to identify health problems and priorities.
  • The formulation of public policies designed to address identified local and national health issues and define priorities.
  • To ensure equity for all populations so that they have equal access to appropriate and cost-effective health care and health services, including health promotion and disease prevention services.
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