Greg MartinThinkers

Public health is concerned both with prevention (for healthy people) and with ensuring access to treatment (for unwell people).

Public health is concerned with ensuring that the health systems are in place to provide care and treatment for people that need it via capability (i.e. Health service planning, governances, leadership, information management) and capacity (i.e. Finances and human resources).

Public health is concerned with groups (of both sick and well people) ranging anywhere from the smallest of communities to the entire globe.

Public health is concerned with preventing disease by promoting healthy behavioral changes and by reducing exposure to environmental risks (unsafe water) and social risks (gender discrimination).

Public health is concerned with understanding the causal relationship between exposures (risk factors) and outcomes (diseases) in order to better plan interventions.

Public health is concerned with understanding the magnitude and distribution (both physical and sociological) of risk factors (i.e. Exposures) and outcomes (i.e. Disease) through observation and research in population-level health.

Public health is concerned with using evidence research to advocate for policy change that ensures equitable access to safe and effective treatment (i.e. Access to health services).

Public health is different than from clinical medicine which deals with patients at an individual level.

Public health is the discipline that addresses health at a population level, no more, no less.