Public Health Access and Assessment

Access

• Access is the potential for, or actual entry of, a population into the health system.
• Factors influencing access include travel, distance, waiting time, financial resources, and availability of regular care.
• Access also means the extent to which a public health service is readily available to those in need.
• Accessibility also considers the agency's ability to provide services reflecting the community's social and cultural characteristics.
• The goal is to reduce barriers to service utilization.

Assessment

• Assessment involves collecting, analyzing, and using data to educate and mobilize communities.
• It's about establishing priorities, securing resources, and planning actions to improve public health.

Benchmarks

• Benchmarks are reference points or standards to compare measurements.
• In public health, a benchmark is a precise data point used to compare future data (similar to a baseline).

Communicable Disease

• This category includes diseases primarily transmitted through person-to-person contact or shared contaminated items/materials.
• Many of these diseases are preventable through protective measures, such as extensive vaccine coverage for vulnerable populations.

Demographic Characteristics

• Demographic characteristics of a jurisdiction include the overall population, age and gender breakdowns, racial and ethnic representation, location of populations, and changes in population density.
• Changes are due to births, deaths, and migration.

Disease

• A disease is a state of organ or organ system dysfunction which can negatively impact quality of life.

Endemic

• Endemic conditions are prevalent in a specific location or community.

Epidemic

• An epidemic involves a significant increase in cases of a specific disease or illness exceeding normal numbers in a particular area over a given period.

Evaluation

• Evaluation is a systematic and objective process for determining relevance, effectiveness, and impact of activities in the light of stated objectives.
• It identifies steps to address health challenges and the methods to achieve such.

Evidence

• Evidence is defined as facts or testimony that supports a conclusion, statement, or belief.
• Evidence serves as proof.

Foodborne Illness

• Foodborne illness is an illness resulting from the transfer of disease-causing organisms or toxins from food to humans.

Health Indicator

• A health indicator is a way to measure the state of health within a specified population.
• Examples include infant mortality rates.

Health Promotion

• Health promotion aims to help individuals increase control over and improve their health.

Health Status

• Health status describes the current state of a given population using indicators such as morbidity, mortality, and available health resources.

Incidence

• Incidence rate refers to the number of new events or cases (like a new disease) within a specific time frame, and defined population.

Infectious

• Infectious diseases are caused by living organisms.
• They may, or may not, be spread between individuals.

Intervention

• An intervention is an action that modifies or changes a condition or process.
• Public health interventions typically benefit the whole community or society along with its members.

Morbidity

• Morbidity refers to illness or a lack of health caused by disease, injury or disability.

Mortality

• Mortality measures the rate of deaths in a population.

Outbreak

• An outbreak is an occurrence of more cases of a disease than expected in a given place or population over a given amount of time.

Prevention

• Prevention in public health involves actions to reduce exposure to risks, preventing illness, and halting the worsening of diseases.

Public Health

• Public health is a systematic, interdisciplinary effort to maintain, improve, and protect the population's health.
• It employs assessment, policy development, and assurance to maintain and improve the overall well-being of individuals within a given community or population.

Public Health Disasters

• Public health disasters are severe or catastrophic events that impact the health of the area or population affected.

Public Health System

• A public health system includes all public, private and voluntary organizations that provide essential health services within a region or community.
• It's a complex network comprised of varied entities with different roles and relationships.

Quarantine

• Quarantine involves the physical isolation of individuals and/or groups or the restriction of movement of goods and/or people to prevent or limit disease spread.

Reportable Diseases

• Reportable diseases are health conditions that must be recorded and reported to public health agencies, according to government regulations, upon diagnosis in an individual.

Screening

• Screening involves using technology and procedures to distinguish individuals showing symptoms or signs of illness from others who are less likely to be affected.

Surveillance

• Surveillance involves continuing and systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data.
• The aim is to timely disseminate the collected data which can then improve public health programs.

Vectors

• Vectors are living organisms, like animals or insects, that transmit diseases.

Vital Statistics

• Vital statistics are data collected from reports and certificates regarding birth, death, pregnancy termination, marriage and other related reports.

Vulnerable Populations

• Vulnerable populations comprise groups of people more likely to experience negative health outcomes due to specific characteristics.
• Characteristics may include age, socioeconomics, culture, disability, education, ethnicity, access to healthcare, mental health, and housing.