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What is Public Health?

“Public health is what we, as a society, do collectively to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy. This requires that continuing and emerging threats to the health of the public be successfully countered.”

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What’s the Difference Between Public Health and Medicine?

Public Health

• Primary focus is on populations and preventing illness

Medicine

• Primary focus is on individual patients and caring for the sick

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Ten Great Public Health Achievements United States1900 - 1999

Epidemic

• An occurrence in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people

• A sudden quickly spreading occurrence of something harmful or unwanted

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Epidemics

• Recent Epidemics:– Ebola– SARS– Avian Influenza (H7H9)

• Epidemics of the Past– Smallpox– Plague– Polio

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Smoking, Obesity, Lack of Physical Exercise

• Today 34 percent of high school seniors smoke at least monthly, up from 28 percent in 1991

• In the U.S. today, 400,000 Americans die annually from smoking related illnesses

• Today 30% of youth are overweight

• 63% of high school students said they didn’t exercise for at least 60 minutes (recommended amount) every day

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No Data <10% 10%–14%

(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs overweight for 5’ 4” person)

Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1985

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No Data <10% 10%–14% 15%–19%

(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs overweight for 5’ 4” person)

Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1991

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No Data <10% 10%–14% 15%–19% ≥20

(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs overweight for 5’ 4” person)

Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1997

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Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 1999

(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs overweight for 5’ 4” person)

No Data <10% 10%–14% 15%–19% ≥20

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No Data <10% 10%–14% 15%–19% 20%–24% ≥25%

(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs overweight for 5’ 4” person)

Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 2001

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(*BMI ≥30, or ~ 30 lbs overweight for 5’ 4” person)

Obesity Trends* Among U.S. AdultsBRFSS, 2004

No Data <10% 10%–14% 15%–19% 20%–24% ≥25%

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Fields of Public Health

• Epidemiology

• Health Education

• Health Systems and Policy

• Environmental Health

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Public Health…Being prepared for whatever might happen next!

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Examples Public Health Research• Epidemiology

– Does Needle Exchange in NJ Stop the Spread of HIV Infection

• Health Systems and Policy – How Can We Reshape the Health System to Lower Health

Care Costs in Camden• Health Education

– What’s the Impact of New Taxes on Tobacco Snuff on Use• Environmental and Occupational Health

– Air Quality Monitoring at the Beijing Olympics

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New Jersey needs more public health professionals. NJ ranks 42 out of the 50 states in terms of the size of its public health workforce.

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Examples of Careers in Public Health• Local and state health departments• Federal—Centers for Disease Control, Public

Health Service• International—World Health Organization• Academia—teaching and research at the

undergraduate and graduate level • Private industry—pharmaceutical companies • Hospitals and clinics, community based

organizations

Undergraduate Programs

• Rutgers—Undergraduate degree in Public Health or Health Sciences

• Richard Stockton—Undergraduate degree in Public Health

• Camden Community College—course—Introduction to Public Health

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Let’s Look at How a Disease Spreads in a Population

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