Healthiest Nation in One Generation

Click on the title of my blog post to find out more about what public health is/does and check out this great video. A fellow colleague of mine found it and I think it captures the essence of who we are. Enjoy! ;-)

Faith

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate....that is the question

posted by CNN: 
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/13/hpv.vaccine.gardasil/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

This article was posted on cnn.com and presents some interesting opinions on the new vaccine to prevent HPV (Gardasil). What are your thoughts on this? Take my survey on the right side bar and I'll post results, and my opinion in a few weeks...........

What is Public Health, anyway?

A professor of mine once described public health this way: Two young men were fishing in a river. As the older of the two men cast his bait out to the middle he saw a body floating down the river before him. He was awestruck as another body floated by, and then another one. When his partner began to run from the river, the older man asked "Won't you help me pull these bodies out of the river?" to which the young man replied "I'm going to see who's pushing them in!"

When I say I work in Public Health the first question I get asked is "Are you a nurse?" Nope.
"Oh, do you work in a lab?" Nope.

I don't fault them for this--the field as a whole is still vying for its niche. Basically, what we do can range from coordinating social research projects (like what I do) and conducting research, writing reports, etc. to becoming an advocate for tobacco prevention (for example), to putting up mosquito nets to ward off Malaria. Public health plays an important role in disease prevention in developing and developed countries.

The key component of public health is that it is focused on a) prevention rather than the cure (or an upstream approach), and b) it deals with population-level, rather than individually-focused health issues. In other words, we are interested in improving the health of the community as a whole as opposed to an individual intervention.

Be safe and healthy!
Faith

Welcome

Hi,

My name is Faith and I decided to start this site because of my passion for public health. I have a Masters degree in Public Health with a focus on adolescent risk behavior (read more in "About Me." My interest in health issues stems not only from my personal experiences, which I will share throughout this site, but also from my passion for debate. I realize not everyone shares my views and although I have always been comfortable expressing my opinion on public health-related issues, I have never attempted a blog before--so be gentle. This site will be dedicated to public health-related issues, current and proposed policy, and education. I hope you find this a safe, welcoming forum with which to express your opinions, ask questions, comment, and ultimately strive to improve the health of our nation. That is my goal after all.....

Enjoy and be safe,
Faith