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Public Health

    Public Health Editor's Picks

    • About Public Health Careers

      Choosing a career in public health offers you a wide range of career paths, spanning the fields of biomedicine, environmental health, behavioral science as it relates to society, the administration of public health services and nutrition science applications. You can work in the private sector or in the public sector with a degree in... more »

    • How to Get a Tick Off of a Person

      Tick bites don't hurt...and that's the problem. Sometimes you don't know the buggers are there until you discover them hours after that long hike in the woods or quiet picnic in the meadow. By that time they have dug themselves into your skin too deeply to just brush them off. There are plenty of rumored "remedies" for tick removal:... more »

    • Lyme Disease Cardiac Symptoms

      Lyme disease can have serious health implications, including cardiac dangers if not treated quickly. Although the infection begins with the bite of a tick and the manifestation of a bulls-eye rash, International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society reports that many people who are infected do not recall having the rash anywhere on... more »

    • Career Opportunities in Physical Therapy

      According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the health care field is the fastest growing industry in the United States today. The demand for qualified workers in physical therapy (PT) is expected to continue to grow at a "much greater than average" rate through at least 2016. Within the field of physical therapy, there are many... more »

    • Dangers of Stamina RX

      Stamina RX is sold via the Internet and elsewhere as a safe herbal alternative to the expensive impotence drug Viagra. Drawing on the mystique of ancient Chinese herbs and almost forgotten treatments that are handed down from generation to generation, Stamina RX and herbal supplements like it are sold to an audience clamoring for the... more »

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    Public health

    Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals." (1920, C.E.A. Winslow)C.-E. A. Winslow, “The Untilled Fields of Public Health,” Science, n.s. 51 (1920), p. 23 It is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. The population in question can be as small as a handful of people or as large as all the inhabitants of several continents (for instance, in the case of a pandemic). Public health is typically divided into epidemiology, biostatistics and health services. Environmental, social, behavioral, and occupational health are also important subfields.

    There are 2 distinct characteristics of public health:

    1. It deals with preventive rather than curative aspects of health
    2. It deals with population-level, rather than individual-level health issues

    The focus of public health intervention is to prevent rather than treat a disease through surveillance of cases and the promotion of healthy behaviors. In addition to these activities, in many cases treating a disease may be vital to preventing it in others, such as during an outbreak of an infectious disease. Hand washing, vaccination programs and distribution of condoms are examples of public health measures.

    The goal of public health is to improve lives through the prevention and treatment of disease. The United Nations World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, 1946

    Objectives
    The focus of a public health intervention is to prevent rather than treat a disease through surveillance of cases and the promotion of healthy behaviors. I read more at » http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public+health

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