print this page

Public Health Concepts

The concepts described below elaborate on the definition of public health as "what we, as a society, do collectively to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy." Institute of Medicine, 1988

Population-based

Public health is focused on an entire population (of a country, or a state, or a county). It is also concerned with sub-populations such as children or the elderly or ethnic groups or neighborhoods.

Prevention

Public health promotes the social conditions and personal behaviors that support and enhance health. It protects populations from the spread of disease and the occurrence of injury.

Social justice

Public health is concerned with social justice, which is not the same as market justice. On the one hand, we want health to be equally distributed, regardless of social standing, wealth, or ethnicity. On the other hand, we believe in free markets and individual choice/responsibility. These two perspectives--of equal distribution of health and of free markets--exist in constant tension. Their balance depends upon social and political forces.

Core public health functions

According to the Institute of Medicine, public health agencies carry out three core functions:

1. Assessment. Public health agencies assess the health of the population they are responsible for. These assessments include identification of leading health problems and their underlying causes.
   
   
2. Policy. Public health agencies work with communities, businesses, academia, health care delivery systems, media, and other governmental agencies to create policies that will assure the conditions in which people can be healthy.
   
   
3. Assurance. Assurance means checking to see that policy and programs are carried out well. Assurance includes evaluation of public health programs, enforcement of laws and regulations, and making sure that public and personal health services are being provided.