Public Health: Enterina, Xy-Za B. MN-CHN 1

PUBLIC HEALTH
ENTERINA, XY-ZA B.
MN- CHN 1
PUBLIC HEALTH DEFINED
• Promotes and protects the health of the people and the communities where
they live, learn, work and play.
• Works to track disease outbreaks, prevent injuries and shed light on why
some of us are more likely to suffer from poor health than others
• saves money, improves our quality of life, helps children thrive and reduces
human suffering.
PUBLIC HEALTH CONNECTS US ALL.
• Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of families and
communities through promotion of healthy lifestyles, research for disease and
injury prevention and detection and control of infectious diseases.
• Public health professionals try to prevent problems from happening or recurring
through implementing educational programs, recommending policies,
administering services and conducting research – in contrast to clinical
professionals like doctors and nurses, who focus primarily on treating individuals
after they become sick or injured. Public health also works to limit health
disparities. A large
CORE FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC HEALTH
• Assessment
• Collection, assembly, analysis and distribution of information on the community’s
health
• Policy development
• Develop comprehensive policies from information gathered using scientific knowledge
and decision making.
• Inform, educate and empower people about health issues, mobilize communities
• Assurance
• Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety, link people to needed
personal health services and assure provision of care
SAMPLE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICES IN
ACTION
1. Monitor health status to identify community health problems through
registries (birth, death, immunization, surveillance).
2. Diagnose and investigate health problems and health hazards in the
community (outbreak investigations, death review boards)
3. Inform, educate and empower people about health issues (information
materials placed at public places)
4. Mobilize community partnerships to identify and solve health problems
(collaborative activities)
5. Develop policies and plans to support individual and community health
efforts (smoking bans, helmet laws, restaurant inspections)
6. Enforce laws and regulations that protect health and ensure safety (food
inspection certificates, smoking regulations)
7. Link people to needed personal health services and assure the provision
of health care when otherwise unavailable (insurance health programs)
8. Assure a competent public health and personal health care workforce
(conferences, trainings, research journals)
9. Evaluate effectiveness, accessibility and quality of personal and
population-based health services (outcome evaluation and economic
analyses)
10. Research for new insights and innovative solutions to health problems
SAMPLE FIELDS IN PUBLIC HEALTH
• Scientists and researchers • Occupational health and safety

professionals
• Nutritionists
• Community planners • Public policymakers
• Social workers • Sanitarians
• Epidemiologists • First responders
• Public health physicians • Restaurant inspectors
• Public health nurses • Health educators
FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCIES
• Forge community partnerships and community action

• Provide leadership for the integration and coordination of the personal health
care and public health systems
• Improve people’s health by increasing concern for social, economic and
environmental hazards
• Support research that promotes scientific advancement to the public’s health.
SPECIFIC ROLES OF PUBLIC HEALTH
AGENCIES
• collecting and analyzing health status and utilization information;
• developing policies and policy recommendations to maintain and protect the public's
health by building upon the data and its analysis and responding to community values;
• informing the public and policy makers of its analysis and recommendations;
• working to develop consensus on needed action; and
• making sure that necessary public health and personal health services are provided to
all.
GOVERNMENT’S ROLE IN PUBLIC HEALTH
• provide leadership, technical assistance, and funds for the nation;

• create national standards as needed and a national framework for their
implementation;
• assure national data, monitoring, and surveillance systems; and
• engage in research and epidemiological studies.
METHODS OF IMPLEMENTATION: ROLES OF
PUBLIC HEALTH AGENCIES
• Educating public health workers, public and private sector policy makers and leaders, health service
payers and providers, and the general public about essential public health functions to be performed by
government and the private sectors, and their implementation and effectiveness around the nation.
• Encouraging the training of public health professionals to participate in influencing public policy.
• Encouraging academic health centers to emphasize the teaching of concepts, skills, and attitudes about
prevention and coordination to students of the health professions and research to document the cost
effectiveness of prevention.
• Providing technical assistance and encouragement to public health workers to actively participate in
national and state health reform efforts, articulating the appropriate role for public health in such efforts.
• Advocating funding for essential public health services.

• Advocating a strong infrastructure that will be capable of implementing the roles and responsibilities
HEALTH POLICY
• Health policy can be defined as the "decisions, plans, and actions that are
undertaken to achieve specific healthcare goals within a society.
• it defines a vision for the future
• it outlines priorities and the expected roles of different groups;
• it builds consensus and informs people
PUBLIC POLICY PROCESS
• The manner in which public policy is formed, implemented and evaluated.
• 6 phases of public policy
1. Problem identification
2. Agenda setting
3. Policy making
4. Budgeting
5. Implementation
6. evaluation
OVERVIEW OF PUBLIC POLICY PROCESS
1. Problem Identification
• Either public opinion or elite opinion expresses dissatisfaction with a status quo policy. The
problem is defined and articulated by individuals and institutions such as mass media, interest
groups, and parties.
2. Agenda Setting
• The definition of alternatives is crucial to the policy process and outcomes. Before a policy can be
formulated and adopted, the issue must compete for space on the agenda (list of items being
actively considered). An idea must make it through several levels, including the broad political
system agenda, the congressional and presidential agendas, and the bureaucratic agenda. Key
actors in agenda setting include think tanks, interest groups, media, and government officials.
3. Policy Making
• From the problems that have been identified and have made it onto the various agendas, policies
must be formulated to address the problems. Those policy formulations then must be adopted
(authorized) through the congressional process and refined through the bureaucratic process. Of
course, a non-decision (inaction, or defeating a proposal) is, itself, policy making.
4. Budgeting
• Each year, Congress must decide through the appropriations process how much money to
spend on each policy. Generally, a policy must first be authorized (adopted) before money can
be appropriated for it in the annual budget.
5. Implementation
• Executive agencies (the bureaucracy) carry out, or implement, policy. Implementation could
include adopting rules and regulations, providing services and products, public education
campaigns, adjudication of disputes, etc.
6. Evaluation
• Numerous actors evaluate the impact of policies, to see if they are solving the problems
identified and accomplishing their goals. Evaluation looks at costs and benefits of policies as
well as their indirect and unintended effects. Congress uses its oversight function and the
General Accounting Office for evaluation, agencies evaluate their own performance, and
outside evaluators include interest groups, think tanks, academia, and media. Evaluation
frequently triggers identification of problems and a new round of agenda setting and policy
making.

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PUBLIC HEALTH

• Scientists and researchers • Occupational health and safety

• Forge community partnerships and community action

• provide leadership, technical assistance, and funds for the nation;

• Advocating funding for essential public health services.

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