Public health. It’s a phrase we’ve seen on our phones, tv screens, newspaper articles, and more for the past 5 months, but what does it really refer to besides the known fact that we are currently experiencing a “public health crisis?”
What Really is Public Health?
According to the American Public Health Association, “public health promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, work, and play.” Here’s an example on how to better understand the role of public health officials—a doctor treats someone who is actively sick and seeking treatment, while those working in public health try to prevent people from getting sick in the first place. These tactics include vaccination, education, tracking diseases, and setting safety standards for the public to follow. Public health has a diverse array of job descriptions, and the great thing about it is the wide ranging responsibilities that we may not even know are related to public health. A large part of public health is trying to limit the health disparities within our community and to prevent problems from happening through educational programs, research, and public policy recommendations.
Public health professionals work to improve our quality of life and try to reduce overall human suffering. Some examples of public health fields are:
first responders
restaurant inspectors
health educators
social workers
public policymakers
epidemiologists
physicians and nurses
Organizations That Shape Public Health
International
WHO
The World Health Organization is a United Nations charter that was established in 1945. Its membership is open to countries that ratify its constitution. The headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland and consists of 193 delegates all who represent their respective country. The WHO works to promote healthy practices, keep the world safe, and serve vulnerable populations.
United States Governmental/Federal
HHS
The Health and Human Services agency is the leading group responsible for protecting the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. It is a massive department within the federal government, whose allocated budget is estimated to be $1 trillion—25% of the total U.S. budget. There are 11 operating divisions that make up this department; a few we are most familiar with include:
CDC
The United States’ premier public health agency is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC helps keep Americans safe and secure by reporting and tracking disease outbreaks, ensuring the food and water we consume is safe, and conducting critical research that will protect people from domestic and foreign health threats. Below is the organizational structure of the CDC as of June 17, 2020.
FDA
The Food and Drug Administration ensures the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary products, medical devices, food supply, cosmetics, and more.
State and Local Departments
There are 50 state health departments and many local health departments that are funded by tax dollars, grant dollars, and fees. Many of the services conducted are mandated by state laws—restaurant inspections, reporting certain communicable diseases, birth and death certificates, etc.
Other notable organizations:
American Red Cross
This quasi-governmental (funded by taxes and private sources who operate independently of government supervision) group serves a vital public health function, assisting in disaster relief and development assistance, community services for the needy, support and comfort to military and their families, and collection/distribution of blood and medical supplies.
Watch:
This video created by the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health does a great job illustrating the plethora of responsibilities and roles of public health.
Overview and Future Plans
Thank you to everyone who has subscribed and to anyone who has shared this newsletter! After taking an introductory public health class, I knew this was what I wanted to study for the rest of my educational career. My hope is to send out a newsletter every few weeks that contains public health findings, information, research, resources (e.g. where to get vaccines, public health charities to donate to), current events, and more! A big thank you to my public health professor, Dr. Patricia Wren, who, through her insightful and powerful lectures, inspired me to join this public health journey.
I would also like to give a huge shoutout to Jamie Babin, who encouraged me to start my own newsletter after subscribing to her COVID-19 newsletter. Jamie specializes in crisis, emergency, and disaster management and received her Master’s in Emergency and Disaster Management from Georgetown University. Her reporting is comprehensive, concise, objective, and factually based which is what we all need during this time. Subscribe to Jamie’s newsletter here to receive daily domestic and foreign updates on the pandemic.
If you have any questions, feel free to reach me at reemlfawaz@gmail.com.