What is Public Health? (Why Public Health Matters)

Public health has increased U.S. life expectancy by 25 years since 1900. Public health is a cheat code for making everyone healthier. Public health literally saves lives. After years of wanting to be a physician, I came across a field of work that impacts the upstream factors of health at a population level. That field is public health. Public health is important because it improves the health of populations, addresses root causes of health issues, and focuses on prevention of disease rather than treatment. A fundamental truth in public health, communities are not the issue. Systems are the issue. The places communities live, play, and work affect their health, coupled with the policies, structures, and systems that surround communities. The only solution to health improvement is relentless inclusion of community voice in solutions. What is health and the detainment of health? Health comes from the Old English word, heal, which means wholeness, a thing that is complete, healthy. The World Health Organization defines health as, Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. There is still much debate on the concept of health, and health means different things to different people. No matter what your perspective on health, health is at the foundation for all individuals' self-realization. The determinants of health are the conditions surrounding the places where people are born, live, work, play, worship, vote, and age that affect their health. Health is a complex interaction of the determinants. The three that we will focus on are the social determinants of health, the political determinants of health, and the structural determinants of health. 1. The social determinants of health are the places we live, work, play, and live that affect our health. 2. The political determinants of health are how government, policy, and commercial interests affect our health. 3. Structural determinants of health are how economic systems, social systems, and structural discrimination affect health. All people and communities are interacting with the dynamic systems that surround their daily lives. Health of communities is determined through the overlapping interactions of various determinants of health. What is public health and how does it work? Public health is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through organized efforts. A quote by the former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. Health care is vital to all of us some of the time, but public health is vital to all of us all of the time. The American Public Health Association's goal is promoting and protecting the health of While physicians are interested in individual treatment, public health is focused on health at population levels. Public health looks at the determinants of health which act at the level of the population in a community. Communities can be considered neighborhoods, cities, counties, regions, states, or even countries. Public health then tries to affect those determinants so that there's an ultimately health improvement of individuals who constitute whatever community you're talking about. Public health is not about disease diagnosis, individual treatment, or care management. Public health is about improving the societal level determinants of communities. Public health is about creating equitable systems for communities. Public health is about collectivism and community. The history of public health can be traced back to the 1700s, but more to come on that later. To me, public health is a framework and a way to make equitable improvements to communities that have been historically marginalized and disinvested. In this, I have found much joy in working in public health. How public health works. Public health works in complex ways to protect and improve the health of people and their communities. Public health is concerned with the protection of health for entire populations. Public health achieves this goal by promoting healthy lifestyles, advocating for health-first policies, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing, and responding to infectious disease. There are three core areas of public health, protection, prevention, and promotion. These are the guiding principles that define public health careers. For protection, which is focused on protecting the health of the population, we focus on controlling infectious diseases, creating healthy and safe workplaces, managing and mitigating health emergencies, and managing environmental hazards and injustices. For prevention, which is focused on preventing health issues before diseases occur, we think about things like vaccines and immunization programs, screenings and cessation interventions, policies that reduce negative health-related incidences. And then when we think about promotion, which focuses on improving the health of populations, we think about things like addressing social determinants of health, advocating for equitable policy and systems change, and promoting health behaviors and lifestyles at the community level. Who is responsible for public health? Public health professionals try to prevent problems from occurring or reoccurring through programs, policies, services, and research. A public health expert is anyone who addresses health at the population level. Many jobs that may not be considered public health jobs still contribute to efforts to promote healthier communities. This covers engineering to ensure clean water systems to teachers educating the future leaders in class. Public health spans and touches just about every aspect of society. This is because, as we learned, health is dynamic and affected by many determinants of health. Some of the agencies responsible for public health are government, community, health departments, nonprofits, as well as the private sector. Some may think public health is the sole responsibility of government and health departments. In reality, public health is the responsibility of many interdisciplinary fields that work collaboratively or tangentially to improve populations' health. The skill set that someone in public health attains is marketable to many industries. In order for public health to be effective, it must work across sectors and center community voice. If you want to learn more about the various careers in public health, check out the Public Health Careers podcast for diverse stories. What's the difference between clinicians and public health practitioners? To differentiate the public health approach from a physician approach, I'll share an example of cardiac arrest, then highlight the physician, public health practitioner, and social scientist perspectives. A physician would claim that cardiac arrest was caused by a blockage in the patient's heart, then conclude the cause of the death was cardiac arrest. A public health practitioner would claim that cardiac arrest was caused by the patient's cigarette consumption habits. They have been a cigarette smoker since the age of 18. They conclude that smoking was the cause of the patient's premature death. A social scientist would claim that the patient lived in a poor neighborhood, smoked cigarettes because they felt stressed from poverty, had low education and literacy levels, and became addicted to smoking. They developed initial cardiac issues, but they didn't have affordable healthcare or access to insurance, so they were not seen for initial problems. The problems worsened and the patient died. They concluded that the cause of death was poverty. Public health works in between the public health practitioner and social scientist. The true goal of public health is to understand the societal circumstances that cause poor health and address those root causes to improve health at a population level. Clinicians look at the individual conditions of the patient. Public health looks at the external conditions affecting health. Public health looks at the immediate health causes, the combination of causes, and the causes of causes. Public health is not only concerned with the why behind the problem. They're concerned with the why behind the why and the why of the why of the why. The public health practitioner asks questions like, could this problem have been prevented? Which part of the system failed this community? What are the root causes that led to this issue? Why work in public health? There are several compelling reasons why you may choose to work in public health. Impact. Public health professionals have the opportunity to make a significant impact on the health and well-being of communities, both locally and globally. By addressing the challenges and needs of populations over individuals, there is a potential for large population level impact in public health. Community focus. Public health work often involves engaging directly with communities to understand their health needs and develop targeted interventions. This focus on community empowerment and collaboration can be highly rewarding for those who are passionate about making a difference at the grassroots through policy levels. Diverse career paths. Public health offers a wide range of career paths and opportunities for specialization. Whether your interests lie in data analysis, community organizing, health communication, or another area, there are diverse avenues to pursue within the field of public health. The interdisciplinary approach. Public health is inherently interdisciplinary, drawing on knowledge and expertise from the fields such as epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health, sociology, anthropology, and policy. This multidisciplinary nature appeals to individuals who enjoy working at the intersection of different disciplines and applying diverse perspectives to complex health challenges. Social justice and equity focus. Public health is closely linked to social justice and equity as it seeks to address disparities and inequities in health outcomes that are often driven by social, economic, and environmental factors. If you are committed to promoting fairness and equity in health, you may find public health work particularly fulfilling. Public health milestones. Public health is responsible for the 25-year life expectancy gain in the U.S. since 1900. Only five years of life expectancy gain is directly attributed to improvements in medicine. Public health has achieved many milestones through the years. The ten great public health achievements in the U.S. from 2001 to 2010 are 1. Vaccine-preventable diseases 2. Prevention and control of infectious diseases 3. Tobacco control 4. Maternal and infant health 5. Motor vehicle safety 6. Cardiovascular disease prevention 7. Occupation safety 8. Cancer prevention 9. Childhood-led poisoning prevention 10. Public health preparedness and response Public health has accomplished so much in improving populations' health, yet there is still much work to be done in public health and in health improvement. Join us in that journey. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review. You can check out the next video on YouTube here or check out another Public Health Career Podcast episode. Be sure to join my newsletter below and if you're looking for a community to build your brand and develop your career, check that out below. We'll see y'all next time.