Portal:Public health

Introduction

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the determinants of health of a population and the threats it faces is the basis for public health. The public can be as small as a handful of people or as large as a village or an entire city; in the case of a pandemic it may encompass several continents. The concept of health takes into account physical, psychological, and social well-being.

Public health is an interdisciplinary field. For example, epidemiology, biostatistics, social sciences and management of health services are all relevant. Other important sub-fields include environmental health, community health, behavioral health, health economics, public policy, mental health, health education, health politics, occupational safety, disability, oral health, gender issues in health, and sexual and reproductive health. Public health, together with primary care, secondary care, and tertiary care, is part of a country's overall healthcare system. Public health is implemented through the surveillance of cases and health indicators, and through the promotion of healthy behaviors. Common public health initiatives include promotion of hand-washing and breastfeeding, delivery of vaccinations, promoting ventilation and improved air quality both indoors and outdoors, suicide prevention, smoking cessation, obesity education, increasing healthcare accessibility and distribution of condoms to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. (Full article...)

Selected general articles

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  Pharmacovigilance (PV, or PhV), also known as drug safety, is the pharmaceutical science relating to the "collection, detection, assessment, monitoring, and prevention" of adverse effects with pharmaceutical products. The etymological roots for the word "pharmacovigilance" are: pharmakon (Greek for drug) and vigilare (Latin for to keep watch). As such, pharmacovigilance heavily focuses on adverse drug reactions (ADR), which are defined as any response to a drug which is noxious and unintended, including lack of efficacy (the condition that this definition only applies with the doses normally used for the prophylaxis, diagnosis or therapy of disease, or for the modification of physiological disorder function was excluded with the latest amendment of the applicable legislation). Medication errors such as overdose, and misuse and abuse of a drug as well as drug exposure during pregnancy and breastfeeding, are also of interest, even without an adverse event, because they may result in an adverse drug reaction.
  
  The law on pharmacovigilance in Azerbaijan was revised and implemented as part of the "Regulation of Pharmacovigilance for Medicinal Products" in 2019. This regulation was developed to establish state control over the effectiveness and safety of medicinal products. It outlines measures to detect, evaluate, and prevent adverse reactions and other undesirable effects of medicinal products, applying to marketing authorization holders and all health institutions in Azerbaijan (Full article...)
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  Male (or "external") condoms can be used to cover the penis for safer sex during vaginal or anal insertion or fellatio.

  
  Safe sex is sexual activity using methods or contraceptive devices (such as condoms) to reduce the risk of transmitting or acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), especially HIV. "Safe sex" is also sometimes referred to as safer sex or protected sex to indicate that some safe sex practices do not eliminate STI risks. It is also sometimes used colloquially to describe methods aimed at preventing pregnancy that may or may not also lower STI risks.
  
  The concept of "safe sex" emerged in the 1980s as a response to the global AIDS epidemic, and possibly more specifically to the AIDS crisis in the United States. Promoting safe sex is now one of the main aims of sex education and STI prevention, especially reducing new HIV infections. Safe sex is regarded as a harm reduction strategy aimed at reducing the risk of STI transmission. (Full article...)
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  Schistocytes seen in a person with hemolytic-uremic syndrome

  
  A novel strain of Escherichia coli O104:H4 bacteria caused a serious outbreak of foodborne illness focused in northern Germany in May through June 2011. The illness was characterized by bloody diarrhea, with a high frequency of serious complications, including hemolytic–uremic syndrome (HUS), a condition that requires urgent treatment. The outbreak was originally thought to have been caused by an enterohemorrhagic (EHEC) strain of E. coli, but it was later shown to have been caused by an enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) strain that had acquired the genes to produce Shiga toxins, present in organic fenugreek sprouts.
  
  Epidemiological fieldwork suggested fresh vegetables were the source of infection. The agriculture minister of Lower Saxony identified an organic farm in Bienenbüttel, Lower Saxony, Germany, which produces a variety of sprouted foods, as the likely source of the E. coli outbreak. The farm was shut down. Although laboratories in Lower Saxony did not detect the bacterium in produce, a laboratory in North Rhine-Westphalia later found the outbreak strain in a discarded package of sprouts from the suspect farm. A control investigation confirmed the farm as the source of the outbreak. On 30 June 2011, the German Bundesinstitut für Risikobewertung (BfR) (Federal Institute for Risk Assessment), an institute of the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, announced that seeds of organic fenugreek imported from Egypt were likely the source of the outbreak. (Full article...)
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  West facade of the original Kirkbride building of the Oregon State Hospital, 2011

  
  Oregon State Hospital is a public psychiatric hospital in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the state's capital city of Salem with a smaller satellite campus in Junction City opened in 2014. Founded in 1862 and constructed in the Kirkbride Plan design in 1883, it is the oldest operating psychiatric hospital in the state of Oregon, and one of the oldest continuously operated hospitals on the West Coast.
  
  The hospital was established after the close of the Oregon Hospital for the Insane in Portland, located 47 miles (76 km) north of Salem. Originally named the Oregon Hospital for the Insane, the Oregon State Hospital was active in the fields of electroconvulsive therapy, lobotomies, eugenics, and hydrotherapy. In the mid-twentieth century, the facility experienced significant overcrowding problems, with a peak of nearly 3,600 patients. In 1961, Dammasch State Hospital opened in Clackamas County near Portland, which served to mitigate the hospital's overcrowding issues. Dammasch would close in 1995. (Full article...)
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  Malaria parasite connecting to a red blood cell

  
  Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates. Human malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, fatigue, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. Symptoms usually begin 10 to 15 days after being bitten by an infected Anopheles mosquito. If not properly treated, people may have recurrences of the disease months later. In those who have recently survived an infection, reinfection usually causes milder symptoms. This partial resistance disappears over months to years if the person has no continuing exposure to malaria.
  
  Human malaria is caused by single-celled microorganisms of the Plasmodium group. It is spread exclusively through bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. The mosquito bite introduces the parasites from the mosquito's saliva into a person's blood. The parasites travel to the liver, where they mature and reproduce. Five species of Plasmodium commonly infect humans. The three species associated with more severe cases are P. falciparum (which is responsible for the vast majority of malaria deaths), P. vivax, and P. knowlesi (a simian malaria that spills over into thousands of people a year). P. ovale and P. malariae generally cause a milder form of malaria. Malaria is typically diagnosed by the microscopic examination of blood using blood films, or with antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests. Methods that use the polymerase chain reaction to detect the parasite's DNA have been developed, but they are not widely used in areas where malaria is common, due to their cost and complexity. (Full article...)
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  Esing Bakery, from The Illustrated London News (1857)

  
  The Esing Bakery incident, also known as the Ah Lum affair, was a food contamination scandal in the early history of British Hong Kong. On 15 January 1857, during the Second Opium War, several hundred European residents were poisoned non-lethally by arsenic, found in bread produced by a Chinese-owned store, the Esing Bakery. The proprietor of the bakery, Cheong Ah-lum, was accused of plotting the poisoning but was acquitted in a trial by jury. Nonetheless, Cheong was successfully sued for damages and was banished from the colony. The true responsibility for the incident and its intention—whether it was an individual act of terrorism, commercial sabotage, a war crime orchestrated by the Qing government, or purely accidental—both remain a matter of debate.
  
  In Britain, the incident became a political issue during the 1857 general election, helping to mobilise support for the war and the incumbent Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston. In Hong Kong, it sowed panic and insecurity among the local colonists, highlighting the precariousness of imperial rule in the colony. The incident contributed to growing tensions between Hong Kong's European and Chinese residents, as well as within the European community itself. The scale and potential consequences of the poisoning make it an unprecedented event in the history of the British Empire, the colonists believing at the time that its success could have wiped out their community. (Full article...)
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  Ethylene glycol (IUPAC name: ethane-1,2-diol) is an organic compound (a vicinal diol) with the formula (CH₂OH)₂. It is mainly used for two purposes: as a raw material in the manufacture of polyester fibers and for antifreeze formulations. It is an odorless, colorless, flammable, viscous liquid. It has a sweet taste, but is toxic in high concentrations. This molecule has been observed in outer space. (Full article...)
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  Rye (Secale cereale) is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from eastern and northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than other cereals, making it useful in those regions; its vigorous growth suppresses weeds, and provides abundant forage for animals early in the year. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) which includes the cereals wheat and barley. Rye grain is used for bread, beer, rye whiskey, and animal fodder. In Scandinavia, rye was a staple food in the Middle-ages, and rye crispbread remains a popular food in the region. Around half of world production is in Europe; relatively little is traded between countries. A wheat-rye hybrid, triticale, combines the qualities of the two parent crops and is produced in large quantities worldwide. In European folklore, the Roggenwolf ("rye wolf") is a carnivorous corn demon or Feldgeist. (Full article...)
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  The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CCDC; Chinese: 中国疾病预防控制中心) is an institution directly under the National Health Commission, based in Changping District, Beijing, China.
  
  Established in 1983, it works to protect public health and safety by providing information to enhance health decisions, and to promote health through partnerships with provincial health departments and other organizations. The CCDC focuses national attention on developing and applying disease prevention and control (especially infectious diseases), environmental health, occupational safety and health, health promotion, prevention and education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the People's Republic of China. (Full article...)
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  The above image shows a table with some of the most common test statistics and their corresponding tests or models.

  
  A statistical hypothesis test is a method of statistical inference used to decide whether the data sufficiently support a particular hypothesis. A statistical hypothesis test typically involves a calculation of a test statistic. Then a decision is made, either by comparing the test statistic to a critical value or equivalently by evaluating a p-value computed from the test statistic. Roughly 100 specialized statistical tests have been defined. (Full article...)
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  In the United States, the National Malaria Eradication Program (NMEP) was launched in July 1947. By 1951 this federal program—with state and local participation—had reduced the incidence of malaria in the United States to the point that the program was officially ended. (Full article...)
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  The group exposed to treatment (left) has half the risk (RR = 4/8 = 0.5) of an adverse outcome (black) compared to the unexposed group (right).

  
  The relative risk (RR) or risk ratio is the ratio of the probability of an outcome in an exposed group to the probability of an outcome in an unexposed group. Together with risk difference and odds ratio, relative risk measures the association between the exposure and the outcome. (Full article...)
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  The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) is a landmark United States federal law which aims to curb inflation by possibly reducing the federal government budget deficit, lowering prescription drug prices, and investing into domestic energy production while promoting clean energy. It was passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on August 16, 2022.
  
  It is a budget reconciliation bill sponsored by Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Joe Manchin (D-WV). The bill was the result of negotiations on the proposed Build Back Better Act, which was reduced and comprehensively reworked from its initial proposal after being opposed by Manchin. It was introduced as an amendment to the Build Back Better Act and the legislative text was substituted. All Democrats in the Senate and House voted for the bill while all Republicans voted against it. (Full article...)
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  Chloramphenicol is an antibiotic useful for the treatment of a number of bacterial infections. This includes use as an eye ointment to treat conjunctivitis. By mouth or by injection into a vein, it is used to treat meningitis, plague, cholera, and typhoid fever. Its use by mouth or by injection is only recommended when safer antibiotics cannot be used. Monitoring both blood levels of the medication and blood cell levels every two days is recommended during treatment.
  
  
  Common side effects include bone marrow suppression, nausea, and diarrhea. The bone marrow suppression may result in death. To reduce the risk of side effects treatment duration should be as short as possible. People with liver or kidney problems may need lower doses. In young infants, a condition known as gray baby syndrome may occur which results in a swollen stomach and low blood pressure. Its use near the end of pregnancy and during breastfeeding is typically not recommended. Chloramphenicol is a broad-spectrum antibiotic that typically stops bacterial growth by stopping the production of proteins. (Full article...)
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  Patient safety is a discipline that emphasizes safety in health care through the prevention, reduction, reporting and analysis of error and other types of unnecessary harm that often lead to adverse patient events. The frequency and magnitude of avoidable adverse events, often known as patient safety incidents, experienced by patients was not well known until the 1990s, when multiple countries reported significant numbers of patients harmed and killed by medical errors. Recognizing that healthcare errors impact 1 in every 10 patients around the world, the World Health Organization (WHO) calls patient safety an endemic concern. Indeed, patient safety has emerged as a distinct healthcare discipline supported by an immature yet developing scientific framework. There is a significant transdisciplinary body of theoretical and research literature that informs the science of patient safety with mobile health apps being a growing area of research. (Full article...)
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  A child is vaccinated on Pulse Polio Day in Gwalior.

  
  Pulse Polio is an immunisation campaign established by the government of India to eliminate poliomyelitis (polio) in India by vaccinating all children under the age of five years against the polio virus. The project fights polio through a large-scale, pulse vaccination programme and monitoring for poliomyelitis cases. (Full article...)
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  Tropical diseases are diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by forcing hibernation. However, many were present in northern Europe and northern America in the 17th and 18th centuries before modern understanding of disease causation. The initial impetus for tropical medicine was to protect the health of colonial settlers, notably in India under the British Raj. Insects such as mosquitoes and flies are by far the most common disease carrier, or vector. These insects may carry a parasite, bacterium or virus that is infectious to humans and animals. Most often disease is transmitted by an insect bite, which causes transmission of the infectious agent through subcutaneous blood exchange. Vaccines are not available for most of the diseases listed here, and many do not have cures.
  
  Human exploration of tropical rainforests, deforestation, rising immigration and increased international air travel and other tourism to tropical regions has led to an increased incidence of such diseases to non-tropical countries. Of particular concern is the habitat loss of reservoir host species. (Full article...)
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  Management of depression is the treatment of depression that may involve a number of different therapies: medications, behavior therapy, psychotherapy, and medical devices.
  
  Depression is a symptom of some physical diseases; a side effect of some drugs and medical treatments; and a symptom of some mood disorders such as major depressive disorder or dysthymia. Physical causes are ruled out with a clinical assessment of depression that measures vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, and hormones. (Full article...)
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  Mallon in 1909

  
  Mary Mallon (September 23, 1869 – November 11, 1938), commonly known as Typhoid Mary, was an Irish-born American cook who is believed to have infected between 51 and 122 people with typhoid fever. The infections caused three confirmed deaths, with unconfirmed estimates of as many as 50. She was the first person in the United States identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogenic bacteria Salmonella typhi. She was forcibly quarantined twice by authorities, the second time for the remainder of her life because she persisted in working as a cook and thereby exposed others to the disease. Mallon died after a total of nearly 30 years quarantined. Her popular nickname has since become a term for persons who spread disease or other misfortune, not always aware that they are doing so. (Full article...)
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  Bottles of elixir sulfanilamide

  
  Elixir sulfanilamide was an improperly prepared sulfonamide antibiotic that caused mass poisoning in the United States in 1937. It is believed to have killed more than 100 people. The public outcry caused by this incident and other similar disasters led to the passing of the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which significantly increased the Food and Drug Administration's powers to regulate drugs. (Full article...)
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  The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) is an operating agency of the U.S. Public Health Service within the Department of Health and Human Services that focuses preventing, preparing for, and responding to the adverse health effects of public health emergencies and disasters. Its functions include preparedness planning and response; building federal emergency medical operational capabilities; countermeasures research, advance development, and procurement; and grants to strengthen the capabilities of hospitals and health care systems in public health emergencies and medical disasters. The office provides federal support, including medical professionals through ASPR’s National Disaster Medical System, to augment state and local capabilities during an emergency or disaster.
  
  The agency has direct predecessors going at least back to 1955. In 2002, it was promoted to be a staff office headed by an Assistant Secretary, and in 2006 it was expanded and renamed the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In July 2022, it was announced that the agency was being elevated from a staff office to an operating division, and renamed the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. (Full article...)
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  A roundabout in Wishaw, 2014

  
  In the 18th century agriculture in the area consisted mainly of growing oats although some wheat and pear trees were cultivated. Members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church took up the favourable terms of the proprietor to enable them to establish a congregation in Wishaw in 1792. The village itself was laid out in 1794, named Cambusnethan, and later renamed Wishawtown.
  
  In 1801 the population of Wishaw was about 400 and that of the whole parish only 1972. In the 1830s Lord Belhaven set up a distillery in Wishaw. Other nineteenth century industries included coal mining, iron and steel making, foundry work, railway-waggon building and fire-clay making. Wishaw grew dramatically in the 1830s, with railways and gasworks coming to the town, many collieries opening during this time period. By the time the Caledonian Railway's main line came through Wishaw in 1848 it was a major mining centre fueling an important part of Scotland's industrial heartland. There were also factories for needle-work and tambouring, and confectionery. On 4 September 1855, the town was incorporated with the villages of Coltness and Stewarton to form the Burgh of Wishaw, with a population of approximately 5,000. Four years later, in 1859, St.Ignatius Parish Church was established, and the church built on Young Street, where it remains to this day. In 1882 Groome recorded that there were 5 schools in Wishaw as well as others in nearby villages. Wishaw in the middle of the 19th century was visited by the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin. Chopin was entertained at Wishaw house and played there for the family, the Hamiltons of Belhaven. (Full article...)
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  Good agricultural practice (GAP) is a certification system for agriculture, specifying procedures (and attendant documentation) that must be implemented to create food for consumers or further processing that is safe and wholesome, using sustainable methods. While there are numerous competing definitions of what methods constitute good agricultural practice, there are several broadly accepted schemes that producers can adhere too. (Full article...)
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  Aldicarb is a carbamate insecticide which is the active substance in the pesticide Temik. It is effective against thrips, aphids, spider mites, lygus, fleahoppers, and leafminers, but is primarily used as a nematicide. Aldicarb is a cholinesterase inhibitor which prevents the breakdown of acetylcholine in the synapse. Aldicarb is considered "extremely hazardous" by the EPA and World Health Organization and has been banned in more than 100 countries. In case of severe poisoning, the victim dies of respiratory failure.
  
  Aldicarb was first synthesized in 1965 by Payne and Weiden, and was sold on the market for the first time in 1970. The synthesis of aldicarb results in both the E and Z isomers. (Full article...)
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  Since the 1990s, several mass poisonings from toxic cough syrup have occurred in developing countries. In these cases, an ingredient in cough syrup, glycerine (glycerol), was replaced with diethylene glycol, a cheaper alternative to glycerine for industrial applications. Diethylene glycol is nephrotoxic and can result in multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), especially in children. (Full article...)

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Selected images

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  A village health worker in Zimbabwe conducting a pediatric examination (from Public health)
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  Ghanaian children receive insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent exposure to malaria transmitting mosquitos. (from Public health)
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  A Public Health Prayer - Dr Edmond Fernandes (from Public health)
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  Newspaper headlines from around the world about polio vaccine tests (13 April 1955) (from Public health)
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  The WHO is the predominant agency associated with global health. (from Public health)
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  Example of historical public health recommendations during the 1918 flu pandemic in New Haven, Connecticut, United States (from Public health)
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  A malaria test in Kenya. Despite being preventable and curable, malaria is a leading cause of death in many developing nations. (from Public health)
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  Early epidemiologist John Snow mapped clusters of cholera cases in London. (from Public health)
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  A Somali boy is injected with inactivated poliovirus vaccine (Mogadishu, 1993). (from Public health)
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  The 2010 ISCD study "Drug Harms in the UK: a multi-criteria decision analysis" found that alcohol scored highest overall and in Economic cost, Injury, Family adversities, Environmental damage, and Community harm. (from Public health)
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  A depiction of Aztec smallpox victims (from Public health)
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  A community health worker in Korail Basti, a slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh (from Public health)
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  Paul-Louis Simond injecting a plague vaccine in Karachi, 1898 (from Public health)
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  The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is the oldest school of public health in the Anglosphere. (from Public health)
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  Sir Edwin Chadwick was a pivotal influence on the early public health campaign. (from Public health)
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  Three former directors of the Global Smallpox Eradication Program reading the news that smallpox had been globally eradicated, 1980 (from Public health)
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  Mass burials during the second plague pandemic (a.k.a. the Black Death; 1346–1353) intensified urban responses to disaster on the basis of earlier practices. Miniature from "The Chronicles of Gilles Li Muisis" (1272–1352). Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, MS 13076–77, f. 24v.
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  Cigarette packet warnings as part of anti-smoking campaigns (from Public health)

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