Introduction to Public Health

Course Introduction

• The "Getting Started" section on the MyLS page helps familiarize students with the course structure, assignments, and schedule.

Lesson Tasks

• A short article, "What is Public Health" by APHA, should be read
• A video titled "What is Public Health" (5:33) should be watched
• Completing online lesson notes and non-graded learning activities prepares for graded assessments
• Students must complete three discussion posts throughout the term

Lesson Outcomes

• Define health and explain its complexities
• Define "biomedical" and its relation to health
• Define "public health"

Instructor's Message

• The instructor acknowledges the shared experiences of living through the pandemic

Understanding Public Health

• The course will address topics like what makes a health issue a public health issue
• Other key questions covered include: What is a pandemic? What is the role of epidemiologists? What is the WHO?

Course Goals

• The course aims to provide a broad overview of the field of public health, covering history, ethics, practice, and methodology
• Mental health and infectious diseases are application areas

Public Health Defined

• Bartfay and Bartfay define public health as a holistic, evidence-informed discipline promoting and restoring health
• The population over the lifespan is the focus, using health promotion, prevention, and primary care initiatives
• The World Health Organization (WHO) defines public health as the art and science of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through organized societal efforts

Public Health Orientation

• Public health focuses on groups or populations, addressing health issues at the community level
• It seeks to prevent disease and promote health through large-scale measures

Interdisciplinary Nature

• Public health incorporates biology, medicine, sociology, statistics, geography, political science, history, law, and ethics
• It considers biological mechanisms, social dynamics, and human behavior

Public Health Practice

• Public health involves various professionals forming a network within a region
• Health promoters and epidemiologists design and measure public health interventions
• Doctors, nurses, and midwives apply a public health perspective in clinical practice

Population Health

• Public health considers the dynamics of illness, wellness, and disease at the population level
• This involves measuring and reporting everyone's health status collectively
• Examining mortality rates for men and women provides an example
• Life expectancy is a metric reflecting the average age of death in a population

Illustrative Story

• In 2017, in Russia's far north, a boy died of mysterious causes, followed by 71 community members becoming ill, due to thawing permafrost releasing anthrax into the water supply
• The story demonstrates elements of science (climate change), medicine (anthrax treatment), geography, sociology, and politics

Defining Health

• The WHO defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, but this definition may be too broad
• Health is often considered the absence of illness, but this definition has complexities
• Health relates to managing daily life
• Health includes an individuals perception of wellbeing
• Health is tied to social lives and communities
• Health involves bodies, physical health, minds, and mental health
• Health is a resource rather than a state

Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) Definition

• Health is a capacity or resource, enabling one to pursue goals, grow, and acquire skills/education
• Health includes adapting to, responding to, or controlling life's challenges and changes

Biomedicine

• Biomedicine is a modern Western conceptualization of the body and bodily functions
• It is rooted in scientific practice, experimentation, and observation
• It views the body as a machine and biological entity with regular, predictable systems and responses
• Illness is seen as a disruption of bodily systems, with health as a return to bodily order

Differences between Biomedicine and Public Health

• Biomedicine focuses on the individual, while public health focuses on collective issues
• Biomedicine focuses on cures and treatments after illness
• Biomedicine emphasizes the biology of illness, rather than social roots
• Biomedicine is often technological and interventionist at the individual level

Analogy

• The body may be compared to a car, needing fuel, tune-ups, and maintenance

Public Health Approach

• Public health relies on biomedicine but is rooted in understanding health from a social perspective
• Public health links health to the social world, intervening at the community level
• Public health approaches involve policy and health promotion

Public Health Objects Activity

• In 2016, Johns Hopkins University (JHU) compiled a list of 100 objects that have shaped public health
• Students are asked to choose four objects and consider their impact on public health over the last century

Examples

• Birth certificates provide data on population health, such as birth rates and disparities
• Processed foods were originally intended to be safer, but have caused uninentended health issues: medical waste including face masks
• Radium dials in watches led to worker poisoning, highlighting occupational health and safety
• Automotive transportation has transformed public health, marked by sedentary lifestyles, climate change, and traffic fatalities

Conclusion

• This lesson introduces building-block terms like "health," "public health," and "biomedicine"
• The primary goals of public health are to protect and promote health and prevent disease