What Is Public Health And Why Public Health is Important For Society?

Public health refers to the general health of people. According to a definition proposed by Acheson, it can be technically defined as; ‘the art and science of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts of society. Government plays a substantial role in improving the overall health of its citizens by creating awareness among the public regarding healthy lifestyles and the prevention of diseases. Therefore, the importance of public health is evident for a healthy society. In this article, we shall study the subject of ‘public health’ in detail by focusing on its objectives, as well as its functions.

What is public health?

Public health deals with the overall health of the public. It is the area of science that aims to protect and improve the health of a community. The term ‘public health’ can be further simplified by elaborating it with the help of a daily life example i.e. while the field of medicine deals with people having health issues, the field of public health make efforts to promote healthy lifestyles and conducting research studies to make sure the ‘prevention of disease and injury.

It can also be referred to as ‘the art and science of preventing disease, promoting mental and physical health, increasing the life span of individuals, promoting sanitation and personal hygiene, etc. Public health concentrates on the overall health and well-being of a community. Unlike doctors, the public health practitioners make efforts to ensure the health of a community by providing child wellness, education (Importance of Health Education), relief in case of disaster, disease prevention, clean drinking water and access to healthcare facilities, etc.

Objectives of public health

Public health, a single discipline, is an umbrella that covers a number of fields within it. It is not only a system but also a profession, a method, a government service as well as the health of the public. The main objectives of public health include;

• Improving access to healthcare facilities
• Reducing inequality
• Increasing focus on health promotion and prevention
• Screening and early prevention
• Improving quality and safety
• Improving performance and accountability
  

Importance of public health

            Although ‘public health’ has always been a noteworthy phenomenon yet, its importance has increased significantly since the year 2020 due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus. It has been observed that on one hand, the medical practitioners were providing medical assistance to the patients fighting with the virus, and on the other hand, the practitioners of public health were educating people and creating awareness among them regarding the various methods by which contact with the virus could be ignored.

The characteristics of a discipline as beneficial as public health can be summed up into 10 important points. It includes;

1. Monitor health status to identify and solve community health problems:

The public health practitioners keep a time-to-time check on the overall health of the community. In case of a pandemic or viral infection, they empower people with the necessary information that can be helpful for them to prevent the spread of the virus.

2. Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the community:

Public health practitioners identify the various threats that give rise to certain diseases. For this purpose, they make use of modern laboratories, active surveillance programs to address infectious diseases as well as maintain technical capacities to commence investigations of outbreaks and examine patterns of chronic diseases and injuries.

3. Inform, educate, and empower people about health issues:

It educates people regarding various health issues and creates awareness among them. For this purpose, public health practitioners may seek the help from media including print media, electronic media as well as digital media. They can also collaborate with personal healthcare providers to reinforce the promotional messages and other content. Along with this, they can also approach various institutions like schools or religious places to promote joint health ventures.

4. Mobilize community partnerships and action to identify and solve health problems:

They work closely with people/partners at the community level to identify and address healthcare problems. While working at the community level, the focus is on constituency development, identifying partners and stakeholders, forming a coalition, and formal and informal partnerships to promote healthcare and health improvement.

5. Develop policies and plans that support individual and community health efforts:

They also contribute in policy development to protect health and ensure public health practice. Apart from this, they also work towards community and state improvement planning, emergency response planning, and alignment of resources.

6. Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety:

It makes sure that the applicable laws are impartially applied to protect the health of people. It also issues licenses and monitors the quality of healthcare service providers including laboratories and nursing homes etc. as well as keeps a check on the credibility of the healthcare workforce.

7. Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision of health care when otherwise unavailable:

Public health practitioners play a key role in the identification of people who have no or limited access to healthcare facilities. It also makes efforts to include such people into a system of clinical care. Public health also makes efforts to transfer health information towards a marginalized target group.

8. Assure competent public and personal health care workforce:

To ensure a remarkable input of the field, the public health practitioners also make sure to maintain the standard of the public health workforce. To ensure this, it assures efficiency while giving licenses to the employees as well as organize workshops and other learning opportunities to enhance their understanding and skills.

9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health services:

While evaluating the effectiveness, accessibility, and quality of personal and population-based health, they also ensure that evaluation is conducted from time to time. During the evaluation, personal health services, population-based services, and the public health system are evaluated. They also focus on improving the quality and performance of evaluation.

10. Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems:

The contribution of public health towards the area of research includes identification and monitoring of innovative solutions and pioneering to advance public health as well as create links between public health practice and academia or researches. They also contribute to epidemiological studies, analysis of health policy, and public health systems research.

Conclusion

Public health, itself, is a broad field. However, in order to ensure quality, it makes joint ventures with other fields thus enhancing the impact of its endeavors. Joint schemes of public health with the field of medicine, media, or academia are some of the many examples. The successful ventures of public health bring impressive reforms in society. It would not be wrong to say that the initiatives and programs of public health provide an opportunity for to the general public to live a long life with good health. It ensures so not only by creating awareness among the general public but also by detecting health issues during the early stage and dealing with them wisely to curb the further development of disease. furthermore..

Every human being has the right to live a healthy life. The public health practitioners have this opportunity where they can invest their efforts and make sure that people are enjoying this right regardless of their socio-economical background. Nevertheless, the importance of public health is also that it provides an opportunity to its practitioners to enjoy the satisfaction of heart by becoming the voice of the voiceless and help those who have been disowned by many others.