If you have seen the 2011 film “Contagion,” you already know how suspenseful it is. You follow a deadly pandemic spreading worldwide as public health experts struggle to control it. The film contains some scary scenes. It also makes perfect sense.
Although tracking epidemics isn’t always as glamorous as Hollywood would have us believe, it is a daily task for public health professionals and one of the 10 essential health services in general.
History Public Health Services
Even though clinical medicine and public health frequently overlap, they have very distinct viewpoints on health. Public health has a broader view of an entire community in contrast to medical practitioners, who are frequently focused on treating, diagnosing, and caring for the individual patient in front of them.
Public health can accomplish something extraordinary when done well nothing zero outbreaks, No medical issues. There were no early deaths. It’s an ambitious and unachievable goal, but it covers the most crucial element of public health. And that is prevention.
The discussion about healthcare reform and the ten fundamental services began in the early 1990s. At the time, assurance, policy creation, and assessment were the only three core responsibilities for public health that were widely accepted.
Health agencies and lawmakers responsible for preserving the health of their communities requested more detailed instructions from public health officials. The result was a consensus statement that included ten essential services within the broad framework of the initial three core roles that every public health Administration should work for.
What they came up with is shown below.
Monitor Health Status to Solve and Identify Community Health Problems
Data are a crucial element required for all public health services. However, communities could only efficiently allocate resources or determine what is necessary. In “Contagion,” surveillance established procedures allowed public health organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization to identify the outbreak before the majority of people were aware it was occurring.
Around the globe, some technologies can help raise the alarm if something is wrong. For example, the internet has made it possible to track epidemics in their early stages or even before they start instead of relying mainly on traditional methods like medical practitioners’ reports, surveys, and lab testing. To assist public health workers and researchers quickly identifying epidemics by monitoring key terms on social media or scouring online news sources, a new discipline called “digital disease detection” has evolved.
These systems search for more than simply infectious disorders. Monitoring a community’s health condition is keeping an eye out for trends, if any, by keeping track of things like accidents, chronic illnesses, and birth outcomes. This assistance is essential. After all, public health officials must first determine what needs to be done to improve the health of a community.
Investigate and Diagnose Health Hazards and Health Problems in the Community
After alarms are raised, public health experts investigate who is most affected and why. Investigating these trends in health is a subject of study as a whole. This is known as epidemiology. Epidemiologists gather and examine data to determine how diseases or health conditions are dispersed within a population.
Additionally, what commonalities exist among the cases, and how that knowledge might be used to prevent new incidents. In the event of a salmonella epidemic, epidemiologists are responsible for speaking with persons who became ill, gathering data on what they consumed, and identifying the most likely contaminated foods so that they can be banned from store shelves.
Educate, Inform, and Empower People About Health Issues
Public health specialists inform the general population once they know what is happening, who it affects, and, if possible, how to prevent it. The Back to Sleep campaign was one of the best instances of this crucial service in action.
When epidemiologists worldwide identified sleep position as a risk factor for SIDS, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other health experts in the US urged parents to put their babies to sleep on their backs, not their stomachs or sides. Pediatricians discussed it with their patients’ families, distributed booklets, and authorities appeared on television to spread the news. And it appears to have succeeded. Over 50% fewer SIDS deaths occurred in the years immediately after the campaign’s beginning.
Mobilize Community Action and Partnerships to Solve and Identify Health Issues
It is uncommon for a single organization to act alone in a vacuum to prevent disease and promote health. For public health to look into, address, and prevent health issues, many stakeholders must cooperate and support it. That includes people and groups whose support is essential to acquiring correct information and enabling people to make specific behavioral adjustments, even though they may not be directly involved in health.
For instance, several public health efforts have looked to regional organizations and people to assist in fighting HIV in underserved populations. Programs use peer networks to target individuals at risk for infection rather than rely on authorities to convey important information. After all, those who are already community members are best suited to aid in influencing constructive change within it.
Develop Plans and Policies that Support Community and Individual Health Efforts
The greatest advancements in public health during the past century have resulted from something other than instructional support or small local efforts. Instead, they were the outcome of policy modifications. For example, safety regulations for the workplace, seat belt laws, and minimum requirements for drinking water have all significantly improved our health and wellness.
For instance, school immunization mandates significantly boosted vaccination rates, which helped fight diseases like measles and chickenpox that can be prevented by vaccination. Moreover, the high immunization rates that resulted from the regulations not only worked to protect individual children. It also helped protect a greater proportion of the community by slowing the spread of diseases, a phenomenon known as herd immunity.
Enforce Regulations and Laws that Ensure Safety and Protect Health
Health laws force restaurants to follow specific regulations to limit the spread of food-borne infections, but would they still be as successful if health inspectors never visited restaurants to check the kitchens? Pharmaceuticals fall within the same category.
The Food and Drug Administration’s inspections of manufacturing facilities reduce the possibility that medical items will become contaminated. Improvements in population health can result from policies, but only if they are implemented.
Link People to Needed Personal Health Services
The American healthcare system needs to be more cohesive and exceedingly complex. Your age, where you live, and your financial circumstances. Your health and job status can all impact your ability to see a doctor when you need one. Access to healthcare doesn’t just mean seeing a doctor; public health organizations work to ensure that some of the most disadvantaged groups in a community have this ability.
It can also refer to having access to transportation to and from medical facilities, affordable medical care, and the translation of written information into the target culture. Public health center are the primary means by which public health departments connect people to services. While these facilities frequently offer low-income and uninsured people direct medical care. They also frequently offer services like health education, counseling, and referrals.
For instance, local health departments frequently administer the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, or WIC, to guarantee that all children, regardless of income, have access to a healthy diet throughout their first few years of life.
Assure Competent Personal and Public Personal Healthcare Workforce
To keep up with the most recent findings and available technologies, medicine is always evolving. Because of this, continuing education courses are mandated for medical practitioners in the US.
Medical associations, public health organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and local health departments work together to offer continuing education courses on various subjects. It includes bioterrorism, emergency preparedness, and even handling natural disasters under the public health purview.
Evaluate Accessibility, Effectiveness, and Quality of Health Services
Even while public health initiatives have successfully saved lives and enhanced Global health, there is always room for improvement. Therefore, the effectiveness of health initiatives is almost always monitored and evaluated.
Agencies examine various variables and consult experts in various fields to do this. For instance, health economists can assist in calculating the cost-effectiveness of a specific policy reform. Likewise, epidemiologists examine participants in a specific health campaign to determine if illness trends have improved.
To ascertain whether specific health indicators in a given community have changed, biostatisticians examine data from surveys and medical records. The information gained from these evaluations is frequently applied to the first critical service list above. In addition to helping to enhance programs.
Research for New Innovative Solutions and Insights into Health Issues
Asking questions, gathering information, and coming up with new and improved solutions to problems are some of the most crucial ways public health works to safeguard the health and wellness of a community. For example, we now have safer autos and seat belts due to public health studies on auto accidents.
Fluoride was added to drinking water due to ongoing research into tooth abnormality. The creation of vaccines that have prevented millions of deaths. Saved billions of dollars was made possible by a greater understanding of the human immune system. The field of public health is somewhat glamorous. But it’s rather great.
FAQ
Q: What is the purpose of public health?
Public health works to advance the general welfare of the population. Protect it from environmental risks, infectious disease transmission, and other threats. Ensure that all community members have access to efficient and safe medical care.
Q: What are the health and social care services?
Social care and health services include all businesses that serve people’s healthcare needs, such as hospitals, dentists, and specialized services like physiotherapy, as well as social care needs, such as nursing homes, foster care, and daycare centers.
