Public Health and its Contribution

Public health is defined as “the science and the art of preventing disease, prolong life, and promoting physical health and efficiency through organized community effort and the development of the social machinery to ensure to every individual in the community a standard living adequate for the maintenance of health.”

So based on the definition, public health is important to maintain community health and plays part in health system. I would like to share an interesting fact about public health. J Do you know that as early as 310 BC, public health philosophy was already established by the Romans?

At that time, they believe that cleanliness would lead to good health and made links between causes of disease and methods of prevention. For example, the Romans Empire made association between the increased death rate of persons living near swamps and sewage. As a result, they began working on two major public health projects in sanitation control: the building of aqueducts to supply clean water to the city and a sewage system to eliminate waste from streets.

Today, the benefits of public health infrastructure continue to strengthen the well-being of the society. In the past century (1900-1999), the 10 greatest public health achievements have been documented as the following:

1. 1. 1.Vaccination programs: eradication of smallpox; elimination of poliomyelitis in USA; control of measles, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria etc.

2. 2 2.. Motor-vehicle safety.

3. 3. 3. Safer workplaces

4. 4. 4.Control of infectious diseases.

5. 5. 5.Decline in the deaths from coronary heart disease and stroke.

6. 6. 6. Safer and healthier foods.

7. 7. 7. Healthy mothers and babies.

8. 8 8.. Family planning.

9. 9. 9. Fluoridation of drinking water.

10. 10. Recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard.

In conclusion, promoting and managing the health of a society have shown to increase the welfare of the community historically. The discipline, called public health, is a broad one, encompassing multiple sectors of the community and professional fields; government and non government agencies; and local, regional, federal, and sometimes international institutions. Collectively, these groups have to work in a team to fulfill society’s desire to create condition so that people can be healthy.

References:

1. Ten Great Public Health Achievement-United States, 1900-1999

2. Public Health Law, ethics, and human rights: Mapping the issues

Introduction

Being a 4th year medical students, I spent my past 3 years learning about the pathophysiology, treatment and management of the diseases. So, I wonder why we need to learn about health system and disaster management. Why does the faculty combine the health system and disaster management in a block? Will it help us in treating the patient? Will it benefits us as future health care providers? How can it improve the current health care management? Is it significant for us to have this block?

Well, my questions are answered during the overview of the block. A health system can be defined as a set collection of components organized to accomplish a specific function in health. We, as future medical practitioners, who are included in the health system play important roles to care about the health problems of individuals, families and communities.

So, it is important to understand the health system globally, nationally and locally. We can analyze the health system in a normal situation, but it can be disturbed or even destroyed in a disaster situation. For example, the tsunami in West Sumatra and eruption of Mount Merapi have continued to present a challenge to the disaster management of the health system. Therefore, we need to understand the impact of disaster towards health care, and the principle of disaster management.

In this block, we will learn about the public health policy in various aspects and its management, quality of care, social and political aspect of health, leadership, communication, and disaster management. Of course, we must revise the topics that we learn previously, such as epidemiology, basic management principle, emergency medicine and public health science. I am very excited to learn more about Block4.2. By writing this blog, I believe it is a great opportunity for me to summarize and share my knowledge, and improve my writing skills. In conclusion, let’s have fun and enjoy the new block!!

P/s: I totally agree with Prof. dr. Laksono who made an ‘Be Punctual, No Talking and No handphone’ agreement with us during the Overview of Block 4.2. By doing this, it provides a tranquil study environment and promotes better quality and professionalism in medical student. Perhaps, that will be the first of many simple steps to improve the quality of health, by improving the quality of future doctors. J