by Cameron Willis
People’s health and the health of the communities in which they live are supported and protected by public health. Individuals in the field of public health seek to ensure that people can be healthy in a variety of ways, from doing scientific research to educating about health. It is to encourage healthful practices to improve wellness. There have also been many achievements that help us in our everyday life that most of us aren’t aware of. The goal of public health is to concentrate on improving community health and well-being, with a focus on large-scale prevention.
Although medical care and public health go somewhat hand in hand, there are clear differences between the two. As mentioned in the article “What is Public Health”, it was stated that, “Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities. This work is achieved by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases”. What this means is that public health is in place to make people aware to fight against the possibility of getting ill. It’s main focus is prevention, rather than treatment. Similarly, in the article “ What is Public Health” it was stated that, “The many facets of public health include speaking out for laws that promote smoke-free indoor air and seatbelts, spreading the word about ways to stay healthy and giving science-based solutions to problems” (APHA, 2021). Public health moves towards cutting costs, smooth functionality, and helping individuals towards a healthy lifestyle. On the other hand, medical care is actual treatment for a health condition or injury that has already taken place. Medical care can also be seen as being more personal.
There have been many important achievements in Public Health that have made our lives easier than what they could be. The achievement that had the greatest impact in my daily life is the safer and healthier foods achievement. I have done a good amount of research when it comes to food that is sold in stores, and what the contents of those foods are. This has also led me to stop eating some of the foods that I used to love. Thanks to safer and healthier foods, nutritional deficiency diseases such as rickets, goiter, and pellagra are one less thing that I have to look out for. I think it’s important for people to pay attention to what’s in their food, and to also pay attention to ingredients that we can barely pronounce, and see what it actually is and why it should or shouldn’t be consumed.
All in all, I’ve learned that public health has a big impact on our daily lives. It plays such an important role when it comes to preventing millions of people from becoming sick or injuring themselves. I think it’s important that people become interested in learning what to do to avoid any type of harm to themselves, because information provided by public health professionals is beyond valuable.
References
What is public health? CDC Foundation. (n.d.). https://www.cdcfoundation.org/what-public-health.
What is public health? AMERICAN PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION. (n.d.). https://www.apha.org/what-is-public-health.
Cameron Willis writes about Healthcare and Policy for Sarah Mason Consulting LLC.
