Public Health Prevention Methods

Prevention

• Works on both individual and community levels
• Directed at the host to increase resistance to the agent (e.g., immunization, cessation of smoking)
• Directed at environmental activities to reduce conditions favorable to the vector for a biological agent (e.g., mosquito vectors of malaria)

Levels of Prevention

• Primary Prevention: prevents the occurrence of a disease
• Secondary Prevention: early diagnosis and management to prevent complications from a disease
  • Includes steps to isolate cases and treat or immunize contacts to prevent further epidemic outbreaks
• Tertiary Prevention: involves activities directed at the host and environment to promote rehabilitation, restoration, and maintenance of maximum function after the disease and its complications have stabilized
  • Examples: providing a wheelchair, special toilet facilities, doors, ramps, and transportation services for paraplegics

Public Health Approach

• Focuses on population, disease prevention, health promotion, and intervention (environment, human behavior)
• Contrasts with the Medical Model, which focuses on individual, diagnosis, treatment, and private (some public) intervention

The Health Field Concept

• Four major determinants of health or ill health:
  • Human Biology: genetic factors, genetic counseling, genetic engineering
  • Environment: external factors, including life support, physical factors, biological factors, psycho-social and economic factors, and chemical factors
  • Lifestyle (Behavior): actions that affect health directly or indirectly, such as cigarette smoking, unsafe sexual practice, and eating contaminated food
  • Health Care Organization: availability, scarcity, and acceptability of health services, as well as nutrition, reproductive health, environmental health, and health education

Major Disciplines in Public Health

• Epidemiology: study of frequency, distribution, and determinants of diseases and other related states or events in specified populations
• Health Economics: alternative uses of resources in the health services sector and efficient utilization of economic resources
• Biostatistics: application of statistics to biological problems, especially medical problems
• Health Service Management: getting people to work harmoniously together and making efficient use of resources to achieve objectives
• Ecology: study of relationships among living organisms and their environment