public health- definition, components, basic areas. systematic approach to analysis of public health
definition & components & basic areas:
- science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting human health through organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals.
- Analyzing the health of a population and the threats is the basis for public health
- "public" can be as small as a handful of people or it can be as large as several continents
- aims to improve the quality of life through prevention and treatment of disease, including mental health (surveillance of cases and health indicators, promotion of healthy behaviors —> handwashing,breastfeeding
- Public health issues confronting the developing as well as the developed world —> As life expectancy increases in many developing countries, more people are developing those chronic diseases which have been a major burden in developed countries for many decades.
- history of public health:
- in the nineteenth centuries health problems: faecal contamination of water supplies, undernutrition, crowding and exhaustion associated with early industrialization. —> tuberculosis, enteric infections, infant mortality and acute respiratory disease.
- response: communities and nations developed successful ways of dealing with these problems persist in many part of the world,
- today: another set of health problems, including new infections disease and major non- communicable diseases —> Public health moved into the preventive and rehabilitative aspects of chronic diseases and behavioral problems
systematic approach to analysis of public health:
most suitable for estimation of the influence of social factors on public health is the qualification based on the conception of sociological structure of the society:
Factors connected to:
- the material production.
- the human reproduction (way of life, family, sport, public health).
- the spiritual sphere (science, morality, religion, arts, politics, etc.)
- the communications.
- the social management.