News tagged with public health
Student's fast start in research contributes to life-saving rapid test
As if the story of breakthrough research were not enough, there is the story of the researcher. The accomplishment, in this case, is a rapid test for detecting devastating bacterial infections. The researcher ...
Medical research
May 08, 2013 |
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New study offers insight on pandemic flu
(Medical Xpress)—Pandemic flu continues to threaten public health, especially in the wake of the recent emergence of an H7N9 low pathogenic avian influenza strain in humans. A recent study published in ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Apr 26, 2013 |
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Anxious British parents queue for vaccines as measles rages
Fears about the purported side effects once sent British parents running from vaccinations against measles. But now an outbreak of the potentially deadly disease in one city has brought them back in droves.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Apr 28, 2013 |
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Most with confirmed H7N9 avian flu are critically ill
(HealthDay)—Most Chinese patients with confirmed avian influenza A (H7N9) are critically ill and 21 percent have died, according to a preliminary report published online April 24 in the New England Journal of ...
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Apr 25, 2013 |
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Hong Kong prescribes new dose of old Chinese medicine
The young woman pours a pack of brown powder into a glass of hot water, stirs it well and drinks the murky mixture down, hoping the traditional Chinese medicine will cure her feverish cold.
Medications
Apr 30, 2013 |
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Older US-born Mexican-Americans more physically limited than Mexican-American immigrants
New research indicates that Mexican-Americans born in the United States who are aged 55 and over are significantly more likely than Mexican-American immigrants to report that they have substantial limitations in one or more ...
Health
May 03, 2013 |
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Leading explanations for whooping cough's resurgence don't stand up to scrutiny
Whooping cough has exploded in the United States and some other developed countries in recent decades, and many experts suspect ineffective childhood vaccines for the alarming resurgence.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
May 20, 2013 |
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French victim of SARS-like virus in intensive care
A man who contracted a deadly new SARS-like virus after sharing a hospital ward with France's first victim was moved to intensive care on Sunday following a deterioration in his condition, hospital officials said.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
May 12, 2013 |
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China bird flu devastates Shanghai family
The virus has already killed her mother, and Kelly Gu's father lies critically ill with H7N9 bird flu in a Shanghai hospital bed—the only couple both infected in China's outbreak of the disease.
Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
May 16, 2013 |
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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."
For more information about Public health, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
