What is health equity? How the idea grew—and why it matters
It's an idea as old as modern medicine and as new as the latest medical research. No matter how you look at health equity, the conversation involves contradictions.
2 hours ago
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It's an idea as old as modern medicine and as new as the latest medical research. No matter how you look at health equity, the conversation involves contradictions.
2 hours ago
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There is increasing evidence that implicit bias—non-conscious attitudes toward specific groups—is a source of racial inequities in certain aspects of health care, and lawmakers are taking note.
3 hours ago
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Public health experts are calling for a ban on alcohol industry funded education programs in UK universities and schools, which they say normalize drinking and downplay the long term health risks of alcohol.
21 hours ago
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The suicide rate for men is about four times higher than for women. While men make up 50% of the population, they account for 80% of the suicides. Yet, suicide risk in men often goes unnoticed.
23 hours ago
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A new research paper titled "Using genetics and proteomics data to identify proteins causally related to COVID-19, healthspan and lifespan: a Mendelian randomization study" has been published in Aging.
23 hours ago
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A team of researchers from The University of Manchester has spent the last 18 months examining how faith spaces in Greater Manchester support different groups of older people within their communities.
Apr 24, 2024
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US health authorities said Tuesday they had discovered fragments of bird flu virus in the nation's pasteurized cow milk supply during the course of a large study, but the samples likely posed no health risk to humans.
Apr 24, 2024
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Since developing countries have both lower levels of hospital infrastructure and serious health shocks driven by air pollution, how responsive are their health care systems to these health shocks? In a new study, researchers ...
Apr 23, 2024
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Policymakers and public health officials have a critical role to play in reducing excessive alcohol use and alcohol use disorder, says the American College of Physicians in a new policy. "Excessive Alcohol Use and Alcohol ...
Apr 23, 2024
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In the mid-20th century, psychedelics were deemed illegal substances with little medical purpose, a high potential for abuse and a lack of safety. However, emerging evidence suggests the opposite; a potential role for these ...
Apr 23, 2024
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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." (1920, C.E.A. Winslow)[citation needed] It is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. The population in question can be as small as a handful of people or as large as all the inhabitants of several continents (for instance, in the case of a pandemic). Public health is typically divided into epidemiology, biostatistics and health services. Environmental, social, behavioral, and occupational health are also important subfields.
There are 2 distinct characteristics of public health:
1. It deals with preventive rather than curative aspects of health 2. It deals with population-level, rather than individual-level health issues
The focus of public health intervention is to prevent rather than treat a disease through surveillance of cases and the promotion of healthy behaviors. In addition to these activities, in many cases treating a disease may be vital to preventing it in others, such as during an outbreak of an infectious disease. Hand washing, vaccination programs and distribution of condoms are examples of public health measures.
The goal of public health is to improve lives through the prevention and treatment of disease. The United Nations' World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
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