Definition
Public health refers to activities by which a society attempts to increase life expectancy, decrease morbidity, and help improve health-related quality of life.
Description
An important cornerstone of public health is prevention. Primary prevention refers to measures taken to reduce the incidence of disease. In the case of CVD (cardiovascular disease), for example, people may be encouraged to quit smoking, decrease intake of dietary fat, and increase physical activity before diseases become evident. In contrast, secondary prevention involves reducing the prevalence of disease by shortening its duration. Mortality from certain cancers, for example, prostate cancer, is decreased by early detection of the cancers when they are still treatable. Still another form of prevention is tertiary prevention. This involves reducing the complications associated with chronic diseases reducing the complications associated with chronic diseases and minimizing disability and suffering....
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References and Further Reading
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Gellman, M.D. (2019). Public Health. In: Gellman, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Behavioral Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_338-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6439-6_338-2
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