Public health as a discipline is really both the science and art of preventing disease, improving health, and prolonging the quality of life within a given society by use of public and private organizations. Overall, it is concerned with threats that are the type that may hurt society as a whole -- epidemics, dangers, social and mental well-being, etc. Modern public health is a multi-disciplinary field that includes medical professionals, statisticians, biologists, ecological and environmental professionals, dental professionals, nutritional experts, veterinarians, engineers, lawyers, sociologists, anthropologists, academics, and the political process itself (Rosen, 1993).
Historically, disease vectors, polluted water and pathogens, and lack of sewage without any scientific basis for control or actual understanding of pathogens created public health problems. In the modern world, public health focuses on several levels of health: local/regional, state, national and global -- typically based upon population statistics, demographics and the analysis of disease. Even in modern times, the most predominant issue is communicable diseases that may result epidemic or pandemic proportions, particularly within areas that are unprepared for such outbreaks. In this, the two basic paradigms of public health are: 1) dealing with the preventative side of human health as opposed to focusing on the curative side (prevention and control rather than reaction), and; 2) looking at health from a population level rather than an individual level basis to understand how communities react to health issues overall and what the best means of control might be given the technological and environmental issues at hand (Schneider, 2006).
Overall, public health has historical ties to cultural and religious law, which often attempted to regulate certain behaviors that kept individuals from getting sick (dietary restrictions,...
Public health emergency preparedness and response. Public health: Emergency preparedness and responses While all areas of the nation should periodically engage in risk assessment, not all locations are equally vulnerable to different types of attacks. Public health emergencies can originate in natural causes, such as hurricanes or pandemics. Emergencies also include disasters caused by human error and emergencies due to conscious, malicious intent, such as terrorism. New York City is vulnerable to
As the president works to pass what is most assuredly his most important legislative package to date, he is struggling against a great wall of opposition which appears to be driven by a philosophical aversion to public funding of a deeply privatized industry. The result is a tremendous amount of pressure on the president and a reigning fear in the public that he will be forced to capitulate. There are
Public Health Preparedness The concept of 'public health preparedness' (PHP) has been garnering recognition worldwide, given the global-scale threats which are constantly encountered by professional healthcare organizations, including bioterrorism, Ebola, the West Nile Virus, and influenza. Preparedness approaches have brought about improvements in the overall healthcare system, by enabling swifter responses to diverse kinds of hazards across the globe. A majority of PHP measures adopted in America are government-judged; this gives
Public Health Incident Command Structure Action Plan Command staff and General staff Positions Three Major Problems Resources Needed Public Health Confusion and chaos are something that is something commonly experienced by the hospital whenever there is medical disaster going on in the city such as the case in this scenario. Nevertheless, these negative effects can be diminished if management steps up and responds quickly with a focused direction of activities and structure. The Hospital Emergency Incident
Public Health Program Challenges in Municipalities For public health challenges to be amicably solved, the entire community, political, legal, and government processes have to be synergized. This collaborative effort is quintessential in improving public health. A one man show would be detrimental because we have to appreciate that policies that help in running public health system require the input of the local community, the political class, and public health administrators (Gostin,
Health Care Reform Effecting Public Health United States Healthcare reform is an integral part of the United States healthcare system. Below is an evaluation of the effects healthcare reform has had on healthcare in the U.S. Internet sources as well as peer-reviewed journals will be looked at so as to see the effects. The cost of healthcare has been on the rise. Issues of healthcare quality ought to be paid attention to
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