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Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) |
Agenda | Abstracts |
Speakers | What is Public
Health? | Research |
Conclusions
What
is Public Health?
Public health is a field
charged with a mission to organize interdisciplinary efforts to address the
physical, mental, and environmental health concerns of communities and
populations at risk for disease and injury. While public health is comprised
of many professional disciplines such as medicine, dentistry, nursing,
optometry, nutrition, social work, environmental sciences, health education,
health services administration, and the behavioral sciences, its activities
focus on entire populations rather than on individual patients. The
implementation of health promotion and disease prevention programs designed
to improve and enhance quality of life at the population level distinguishes
public health from clinical health professions. Public health professionals
monitor and diagnose the health concerns of entire communities and promote
healthy practices and behaviors at the population level.
Examples of essential
public health services include the following:
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Monitoring health
status to identify community health problems.
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Informing and educate
people about health issues.
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Identifying and solve
health problems in communities.
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Evaluating
effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and
population-based health services.
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Conducting research to
find new insights and innovative solutions to health problems.
This population-based
approach to health shapes the core of public health activities. Examples of
such activities are:
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Working with
communities to improve mental health and to reduce substance abuse and
social violence.
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Reducing death and
disability due to unintentional injuries through the formulation of
policies designed to protect the safety of the public.
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Increasing the safety
of drinking water, food, and the ambient environment.
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Promoting healthy
lifestyles to prevent chronic diseases such as cancer, hearth disease,
and obesity.
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Educating populations
at risk to reduce the occurrence of sexually transmitted diseases, teen
pregnancy, and infant mortality.
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Evaluating the
effectiveness of clinical and community-based interventions.
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Eradicating life
threatening diseases such as smallpox and polio.
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Controlling and
preventing infectious diseases and outbreaks.
[Return
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Date: September 20, 2005
Content source: National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental
Disabilities
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