What is Public Health?   

This question seems easy enough.  According to the Kentucky Public Health Improvement Plan of 1998, written in collaboration with some 2,500 Kentuckians, “Public Health is the art and science of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical health and efficiency through organized community effort.”  In 1988, the Institute of Medicine interpreted public health as "what we as a society do collectively to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy. “ (IOM 1988)  When asked, the majority of people might list only indigent care or health promotion activities as services that health departments and public health professionals provide.   A well-informed citizen might say that public health professionals provide medical care for the indigent, immunizations for school children, food inspections, health education, water control, and health promotion activities such as promoting safer sex, healthier lifestyles, and improved eating habits.   So which is the correct definition?  In fact, all are correct.  Public health encompasses so many aspects of Americans’ daily lives that a single definition cannot provide a comprehensive description. 

Every day, thousands of citizens awake early to prepare for work.  As an average, working adult, you may have some cereal with fresh pasteurized milk for breakfast.  Then it’s off to the bathroom to brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste.  After your menial morning tasks are completed, you walk outside and take in a breath of fresh air, hop in your car, put on your seatbelt, and pull out of the driveway.   On your way, you are signaled to stop your car as a crossing guard allows children to cross the street on their way to school.  Once you arrive at work, you settle at your desk and begin relentlessly typing on your new ergonomically designed keyboard.  As the day progresses, you note that a number of your co-workers are out with the flu; however, you are not worried because you get a regular flu shot in the fall of each year from the health department.  At lunch, you walk into your work place’s smoke-free cafeteria and enjoy a nice ham sandwich prepared in a kitchen inspected and approved by the health department.  You also have a fruit drink fortified with Vitamin C, which, according to a previous episode of Dateline NBC, can fend off cancer and heart disease, slow the aging process, prevent colds, and extend our lives by up to 35 years. You return to your workplace, stopping on the way for a drink of clean water from the water fountain.  The rest of your day is uneventful, yet productive.  As you are sitting at a stop light on your way home, you reflect on the success of your day and listen to news about the e bola virus that has worked its way into fresh produce supplied to some fast food restaurants in the US.  You can’t wait to get home to have dinner and be with your family.

Clearly, public health positively impacts each of us in our daily lives, but we have become so accustomed to our safe environment that we do not often notice.  The majority of Americans have come to expect clean air, safe drinking water, road safety, child hazard protection, a smoke-free workplace, bacteria-free food, comfortably designed office equipment, immunizations against communicable diseases, and the promotion of healthy behaviors through prevention campaigns.  For most, public health receives attention only when there is a public health crisis, i.e., an infectious disease outbreak, a chemical/oil spill, a high profile accident.  Certainly, all should be thankful that there are devoted public health professionals who, daily, work diligently to address public health issues and to make our lives safe and healthy.