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