Public Health Access and Assessment

Access

• Access is the potential or actual entry of a population into the health system
• Factors influencing access include travel, distance, waiting time, financial resources, and availability of care
• Accessibility also considers the agency's capacity to provide services reflecting the diverse social and cultural characteristics of the community
• The aim is to reduce barriers to service utilization

Assessment

• Assessment involves collecting, analyzing, and using data to educate, mobilize communities, prioritize needs, gather resources, and plan actions for better public health
• Behavioral risk factors—including behaviours that can lead to accidents, injuries, diseases, and death, especially during youth and adolescence—are a categorized issue to consider for community health analysis

Benchmarks

• Benchmarks are reference points or standards for comparing measurements
• In public health, benchmarks are accurate data points for future comparison akin to a baseline for indicators

Communicable Disease

• This category includes diseases typically spread through person-to-person contact or shared contaminated materials
• Prevention involves measures like high vaccine coverage rates for vulnerable populations

Demographic Characteristics

• Demographic characteristics encompass the total population, age groups, gender, race, ethnicity, population locations, and rates of population density change due to births, deaths, and migration

Disease

• A disease is a state of organ or organ system dysfunction reducing quality of life

Endemic

• Endemic refers to a disease prevalent in a particular region or among a particular group of people

Epidemic

• An epidemic is a greater than usual number of cases of a specific disease within a geographic location

Evaluation

• Evaluation systematically determines the relevance, effectiveness, and impact of health activities
• It involves identifying actions required to improve health problems

Evidence

• Evidence encompasses facts and testimony supporting a conclusion, statement, or belief

Foodborne Illness

• Foodborne illness results from disease organisms or toxins transferred from food to humans

Health Indicator

• A health indicator measures the health status of a defined population, like the infant mortality rate

Health Promotion

• Health promotion empowers individuals to improve their health by increasing control over health factors

Health Status

• Health status assesses the current state of a population encompassing morbidity, mortality, and available health resources

Incidence

• Incidence rate measures the number of new events (e.g., new cases of a disease) within a defined population during a specific period

Infectious

• Infectious describes an ability to cause infection or disease via the entrance of organisms like bacteria, viruses, protozoa, and fungi

Infectious Diseases

• Infectious diseases arise from living organisms, potentially spread from person to person, animal to person, or insect to person

Intervention

• An intervention modifies a condition or process, aiming to deliver community/population benefits alongside individual benefits

Morbidity

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

Mortality

• Mortality measures the rate of deaths within a population

Outbreak

• An outbreak refers to an unusually high number of disease cases in a specific region or group over a certain timeframe

Prevention

• Prevention activities reduce exposure or risk factors to prevent illness and improve health status

Public Health

• Public health is a combination of assessment, policy development, and assurance (directed at the entire population via collective actions) aimed at maintaining and improving health

Public Health Disasters

• Public health disasters involve severe or catastrophic events impacting the health of an area or its population

Public Health System

• Public health systems comprise all public, private, and voluntary entities facilitating the delivery of essential public health services within a specific geographic region

Quarantine

• Quarantine involves compulsory physical separation or confinement of individuals, animals, or goods to prevent or limit the spread of disease

Reportable Diseases

• Reportable diseases are health conditions requiring reporting to public health agencies following diagnosis

Screening

• Screening identifies individuals exhibiting disease symptoms from those less likely to have the condition

Surveillance

• Surveillance involves ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of health data, aimed at dissemination and application for public health programs

Vectors

• Vectors are living organisms (e.g., rats, mosquitoes, foxes) transmitting diseases

Vital Statistics

• Vital statistics comprise data extracted from birth, death, fetal death, induced pregnancy termination, marriage, and divorce/dissolution documents

Vulnerable Populations

• Vulnerable populations are groups facing a higher risk of poor health outcomes due to specific characteristics (e.g., age, culture, disability, education, sex, ethnicity, health insurance, housing, income, mental health, race)