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TextWhat is Public Health?
Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of communities through education, promotion of healthy lifestyles, and research for disease and injury prevention. Public health professionals analyze the effect on health of genetics, personal choice and the environment in order to develop programs that protect the health of your family and community.
Overall, public health is concerned with protecting the health of entire populations. These populations can be as small as a local neighborhood, or as big as an entire country.
Public health professionals try to prevent problems from happening or re-occurring through implementing educational programs, developing policies, administering services, regulating health systems and some health professions, and conducting research, in contrast to clinical professionals, such as doctors and nurses, who focus primarily on treating individuals after they become sick or injured. It is also a field that is concerned with limiting health disparities and a large part of public health is the fight for health care equity, quality, and accessibility.
Do you know the 10 essential public health services?
Learn more about public health by visiting www.WhatIsPublicHealth.org.
Hear more from public health nurses about
their work ... in their own words.
Public Health Partners
- Virginia Department of Health
- National Association of County and City Health Officials
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- American Public Health Association
- Association of Schools of Public Health
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