This paper provides an overview of public health as both a science and an art, examining its three core functions — assessment, policy development, and assurance — alongside key scientific disciplines such as epidemiology, biostatistics, and health education. The paper also highlights major public health achievements, including vaccine development, improved maternal and infant health, and increased motor vehicle safety. Two disciplines closely linked to public health are explored in depth: environmental studies, which informs understanding of how the built and natural environments affect community health, and biostatistics, which applies statistical methods to identify health trends and causes of disease and injury.
Public health is both a science and an art that involves the protection and improvement of the health of communities through education, the promotion of healthy lifestyles, research on diseases, and the prevention of injuries. The scientific disciplines within public health include behavioral science and health education, biostatistics, epidemiology, nutrition, maternal and child health, public health policy, and health emergency management, among others.
The three core functions of public health are assessment, policy development, and assurance. Assessment involves monitoring the health status of communities and their environments, identifying environmental health problems, and investigating health hazards. It encompasses the diagnosis of community health issues and the conditions that give rise to them.
Policy development involves informing, educating, and empowering communities on environmental health issues. It also entails developing policies and plans aimed at supporting both individuals and entire communities in their environmental health efforts.
Assurance involves enforcing laws and regulations that protect environmental health and safety. It also means ensuring that a competent environmental health workforce is in place to serve communities effectively (CDC, 2013).
Public health has produced numerous significant achievements. Vaccine development has greatly reduced deaths from diseases that are preventable through immunization. Public health efforts have also led to the prevention and control of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. Improvements in maternal and infant health have been realized through increased newborn screening, which enables early intervention and treatment for infants born with defects.
Motor vehicle safety has improved substantially as a result of policies such as car-seat requirements and seatbelt laws, contributing to a notable decline in traffic-related death rates. Occupational safety has also improved in many workplaces. Additional achievements include declines in deaths due to coronary heart disease and stroke, advances in family planning, and greater access to safe and nutritious food (South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, 2012).
Environmental studies is a field that incorporates mathematics, social sciences, geology, chemistry, and biology to establish how human beings and the natural world interact. As such, it is closely connected to public health. The air we breathe, the water we drink, and the complex interactions between humans and their surroundings all have direct implications for community health.
Environmental studies helps us understand how both the built and the natural environment can influence the health of people in a community. It also helps identify ways to reduce risk factors that cause certain diseases. Environmental health risk factors can contribute to the development of conditions such as cancer, asthma, and food poisoning. Through the incorporation of chemistry, engineering, and toxicology, environmental studies brings together combined expertise that can answer public health questions.
Environmental health — a discipline that bridges public health and environmental studies — can be divided into various areas, including water quality, noise control, air quality, food protection, and solid waste management. All of these areas make important contributions to overall public health (Association of Schools of Public Health, 2013).
"Statistical methods applied to health trends and disease"
Always verify citation format against your institution’s current style guide requirements.