What is Public Health?

Public health has been described as a “complex network of organizations that coordinates efforts to protect, promote, and improve the health of the population as a whole”. Public health is a discipline that is distinct from clinical medicine. Both specialties focus attention on health status yet the target of attention and the means by which health status is addressed can vary. Preventive medicine, health education, control of communicable diseases, application of sanitary measures and environmental monitoring are but a few of the fields that contribute to public health.

Public Health	Medicine
Primary focus on population	Primary focus on individual
Public service ethic, as an extension of concerns for the individual	Personal service ethic, in the context of social responsibilities
Emphasis on disease prevention and health promotion for the whole community	Emphasis on disease diagnosis, treatment, and care for the individual patient
Public health paradigm employs a spectrum of interventions aimed at the environment, human behavior and lifestyle, and medical care	Medical paradigm places predominant emphasis on medical care
Variable certification of specialists beyond professional public health degree	Uniform system for certifying specialists beyond professional medical degree
Lines of specialization organized, for example by: • analytical method (epidemiology, toxicology) • setting and population (occupational health, international health) • substantive health problem (environmental health, nutrition)	Lines of specialization organized, for example, by: • organ system (cardiology, neurology) • patient group (obstetrics, pediatrics) • etiology and pathophysiology (infectious disease, oncology) • technical skill (radiology, surgery)
Biological sciences central, stimulated by major threats to the health of populations; research moves between laboratory and field	Biological sciences central, stimulated by needs of patients; research moves between laboratory and bedside
Numerical sciences an essential feature of analysis and training	Numerical sciences increasing in prominence, though still a relatively minor part of training
Social sciences an integral part of public health education	Social sciences tend to be an elective part of medical education
Harvard School of Public Health (2006)