Vaccination

New AI tool predicts COVID-19 vaccine uptake

Findings of a new study led by researchers at Northwestern University and the University of Cincinnati could help public health officials lead more effective vaccination campaigns that overcome hesitancy.

Health

Fight health misinformation by influencing the influencers

Public health institutions are facing the challenge of a lifetime as social media breeds misinformation and disinformation about everything from COVID vaccines to climate change. Now, a creative program at Harvard T.H. Chan ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

An online tool for long COVID support

A website to support people living with long COVID is launched today, on Long COVID Awareness Day (March 15), by a research team led by a Southampton professor with first-hand experience of the condition.

Health

Q&A: The rising rates of immunosuppression among US adults

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, as it became clear that people with suppressed immune systems were particularly vulnerable to the worst of the virus, public health officials prioritized their protection. Leaders presented ...

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Public health

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals." (1920, C.E.A. Winslow)[citation needed] It is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. The population in question can be as small as a handful of people or as large as all the inhabitants of several continents (for instance, in the case of a pandemic). Public health is typically divided into epidemiology, biostatistics and health services. Environmental, social, behavioral, and occupational health are also important subfields.

There are 2 distinct characteristics of public health:

1. It deals with preventive rather than curative aspects of health 2. It deals with population-level, rather than individual-level health issues

The focus of public health intervention is to prevent rather than treat a disease through surveillance of cases and the promotion of healthy behaviors. In addition to these activities, in many cases treating a disease may be vital to preventing it in others, such as during an outbreak of an infectious disease. Hand washing, vaccination programs and distribution of condoms are examples of public health measures.

The goal of public health is to improve lives through the prevention and treatment of disease. The United Nations' World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

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