Oke News-What exactly is public health? While doctors diagnose and treat patients individually, public health professionals do so on a grander scale. For example, a doctor may work with a patient to minimize the physical effects of a sexually transmitted disease (STD). A public health professional specializing in epidemiology might coordinate with community leaders to stop the spread of that very same STD. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the nation’s premier public health agency, the philosophy is simple: find out what’s making people sick and killing them, and then do the things that work to protect them and make them healthier.
During the 20th century, the average lifespan worldwide increased by 30 years. Twenty-five of the years can be attributed directly to advances in public health. These advances fall into three main categories: health, disease and safety.
Health
Safer and Healthier Foods
Contaminated food, milk and water cause many infections, including typhoid fever, tuberculosis, botulism and scarlet fever. Initiatives to ensure safer and healthier foods have resulted in significant decreases in microbial contamination. The discovery of essential nutrients and their roles in disease prevention has been instrumental in reducing nutritional deficiency diseases such as goiter, rickets and pellagra in the United States.
Healthier Mothers and Babies
From 1915 through1997, the maternal mortality rate declined to less than 0.1 reported deaths per 1,000 live births, and the infant mortality rate fell to 7.2 per 1,000 live births. Environmental interventions, improvements in nutrition, advances in clinical medicine, increased access to health care, better disease surveillance and monitoring, and higher standards of living contributed to these remarkable declines.
Family Planning
Family planning health includes smaller family size and longer interval between the birth of children; increased opportunities for pre-pregnancy counseling and screening; fewer infant, child and maternal deaths; and the use of barrier contraceptives to prevent pregnancy and transmission of human immunodeficiency virus and other STDs.
Tobacco as a Health Hazard
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease in the U.S. Recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard has resulted in restrictions on cigarette advertising, consumer education campaigns and initiatives aimed at reducing the population’s exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.
Earn a Degree
The need for public health professionals at the national, state and local levels continues to rise. For example, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 21% increase in community health workers between 2012 and 2022. Also, in its Healthy 2020 initiative, the federal government called for an increase in public health experts across the country to prevent and treat diseases, identify potential threats, and facilitate collaboration both within and across communities. This demand, however, requires a larger and more flexible supply of higher educational opportunities in the field, both on campus and online. Access to quality degree programs in public health and related majors remains a critical step toward healthier communities and a healthier country.
Online Public Health Degrees
Many students may ask how an online degree in public health works. How can something that requires hands-on training and patient interaction work via online learning? Colleges and universities across the U.S. address these challenges in two specific ways. (1) Hybrid learning. Part of the degree program takes place online, including written coursework such as exams and exercises, as well as routine collaboration with professors and peers. In contrast, students must visit either a campus or another medical center or laboratory with which the school has a partnership. (2) Targeted programs. It’s true that many public health programs call for in-person work, yet some don’t. For example, an established professional looking to add management experience can take online MPH courses from home.