Module Components

• Overview
• Assignments

Topics

• Introduction to Population Health
• Modern Era of Public Health
• Healthy People Reports

NRSG 780 - Health Promotion and Population Health

Module 1: Overview of Population/Public Health

Introduction to Population Health

Many of the major improvements in the quality of life and longevity of Americans since the late 19th century have been accomplished through successful public health measures. Examples include:

• Immunization for infectious disease
• Safe food and water
• Population-based screening and follow-up programs for infectious and chronic diseases

Much of this progress is taken for granted, and public health is sometimes referred to in the field as “what we don’t see”. As a result, funding and critical services may not be sufficient to address public health crises . We are witnessing this worldwide with the global COVID 19 pandemic. Health professionals and the population-at-large need to recognize the importance of maintaining and, in many cases, enhancing current preventive efforts to meet continuing and emerging threats to the public’s health.

The IOM Report (The Future of Public Health, 1988) defined public health as “what we as a society do collectively to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy”. Population-based health care focuses on reducing morbidity and mortality. It emphasizes the availability and accessibility of adequate health care resources for the population-at-large, as opposed to care for a special few. The organizational mechanism for achieving the best population health, the public health system, encompasses activities undertaken within the formal structure of government and the associated efforts of private and voluntary organizations and individuals.

Setting Priorities for the Population

In most cases, because resources are limited, it is necessary to establish health care priorities for the population. What becomes a priority is often the result of social policies and politics as well as science. Priorities are extremely responsive to politics as the majority of public health programs are funded by public dollars in the form of federal, state, and local taxes.

Given the limited resources we have to spend and the consequences of treating or not treating certain diseases or reducing risk for certain diseases, it is important to carefully consider how public health priorities are established. As a society and as health professionals, we need to begin thinking about which areas should be selected for public intervention, the time it takes to effectively implement public health programs, and the impact of shifting priorities.