Community Organization and Public Health

Community Organization and Public Health

• An organized community is more effective in maintaining community health.
• Positive health is not just the absence of disease, but a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being.

Understanding Health

• Health can be viewed as either positive or negative.
• Negative health is based on the absence of current illnesses.
• People often assume they are healthy if they don't have current illnesses like fever, cough, or cold.
• However, this approach does not include mental well-being, physical well-being, ability to cope, and social support.

Positive Health

• Positive health is a full and wealthy lifestyle.
• It involves more than just the absence of disease.
• According to the World Health Organization (WHO, 1948), health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being.

Public Health

• Public Health is the sum of all governmental efforts to promote health, prevent disease, and prolong life.
• It involves protecting people's health, preventing epidemics and spread of disease, protecting against environmental hazards, preventing injuries, and promoting healthy behaviors.
• Public Health also responds to disasters and assists communities in recovery, and assures the quality and accessibility of health services.

Mission of Public Health

• The mission of Public Health is to assure conditions in which people can be healthy.
• It involves organized community efforts aimed at the prevention of disease and the promotion of health.

Community

• A community is a group of people who form relationships over time by interacting regularly and sharing experiences.
• A community can be understood in terms of biology, sociology, and other fields.

Goal of Public Health

• The goal of Public Health is to promote health, prevent disease, and prolong life.### Public Health

• Composed of people interacting in a locality, focusing on preventing disease rather than treating it.

• Includes public and private efforts to promote, protect, and preserve the health of the community.

• Involves surveillance of cases, promotion of healthy behaviors, and distribution of resources (e.g., condoms, vaccinations).

Personal Health

• Refers to individual actions and decision-making that affect their wealth and the people around them.
• Depends on environment, socioeconomic level, and personal choices.

Community Health

• Focuses on people within a geographic area, promoting health and well-being.
• Includes public and private efforts to improve health, such as hand washing promotion and vaccination programs.

Factors Affecting Community Health

• Physical factors: wealth, location, environment, and industrial development.
• Social and cultural factors: traditions, beliefs, and cultural practices that impact health.

History of Public Health

• Ancient civilizations: evidence of community health practices in Northern India, Sumerian clay tablets, and the Code of Hammurabi.
• Middle Ages: little progress in public health, spiritual era, and epidemics of communicable diseases.
• Renaissance: renewed interest in causes and cures of diseases, exploration, and discovery of new lands.
• 18th century: industrial growth, poor sanitary conditions, and epidemics of cholera, yellow fever, and smallpox.
• 19th century: modern era of public health, discovery of cholera, bacteriologic period, and development of public health organizations.

Public Health Organizations

• Governmental health agencies (local, state, national, and international) funded by taxes.

• International health agencies: World Health Organization (WHO), founded in 1948, HQ in Geneva, Switzerland.

• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations.### Medical Institutions and Social Concerns

• Medical schools, hospitals, and nursing schools were established to assist people in member nations to attain the best level of health possible.

• Social concerns led to Congress passing legislation regulating food and other industries.

Reform Period (1900-1920)

• The decline of alcohol-related health problems was notable, but the eradication of smallpox was significant, with 2 million deaths in 1967, until its total eradication in 1980.

Great Depression and National Health Agencies

• The Social Security Act of 1935 led to the establishment of the National Cancer Institute in 1937.
• National health agencies were responsible for the protection of the health and welfare of citizens.

Post-War Years and Community Health

• Hospital construction resumed, and community health priorities failed.
• The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHHS) was established as the lead health agency in the federal government.

Period of Social Engineering (1940-1975)

• Government-improved access to healthcare, especially for children and the elderly, through Medicare and Medicaid.
• The discovery of the importance of lifestyle choices and the establishment of health-related agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Health Promotion Period (1975-1990)

• Improvement of healthcare delivery, and lifestyle diseases, such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and viral diseases, became a serious challenge.

Regional Health Departments

• 17 Centers for Health Development (CHDs) were established, each headed by a medical director.
• Regional health departments, formerly known as state health departments, were responsible for promoting, protecting, and maintaining the health and welfare of citizens.

Local Health Departments

• Local health departments were established at the local level, responsible for health assessment, assurance, and policy development, and were funded by local taxes.
• These departments were responsible for health-related issues, such as vaccination, disease control, and environmental health problems.