Public Health

Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and communities through “the promotion of healthy lifestyles, research for disease and injury prevention, and detection and control of infectious diseases” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Public health addresses the health of populations that can span from a small, local neighborhood to the world. Thinking about what causes people to go into a hospital, it takes an interdisciplinary approach to identify and solve problems regarding the mental, physical, and emotional well-being of populations, public health draws from biomedicine, biomedical technology and engineering, public policy, economics, social psychology, environmental health, epidemiology, and biostatistics. Public health not only treats ongoing epidemics and health issues, it also makes an effort to prevent them from happening by implementing educational campaigns and programs, recommending services, and conducting research. The promotion of health-care equity, quality, and accessibility to address health disparities is also an essential part of public health.