Public Health is the art and science of organising collective efforts to:
- promote well-being,
- protect health and
- prevent disease,
- based upon robust intelligence and
enabled by good governance, advocacy and the capacity to ensure fair and sustainable health and well-being for all’
Role of a Public Health Professional
Public health professionals have a set of key meta functions:
- Assessment – Assessing the health needs of the community, Investigating the occurrence of health effects and health hazards in the community, Strengthening disease surveillance, disease prevention, control and notification and Analysing the determinants of identified health needs.
- Policy development- Advocating for public health, building constituencies and identifying resources in the community, Setting priorities among health needs, Developing plans and policies to address priority health needs and Building inter-sectoral action to support health objectives
- Providing Evidence for Effectiveness- Assembling the evidence for the effectiveness of programmes, interventions and services for improving population health and well-being and Translating evidence into policy and programmatic action
- Assurance- Managing resources and developing organisational structure, Providing leadership for population health and well-being and Informing and educating the public.
- Intervention- Develop and implement clinical intervention at population level, Implementing programmes and Evaluating programmes and providing quality assurance
public Health Medicine physicians
Public Health Medicine is a medical speciality similar to all other clinical specialities in South Africa and recognised by the College of Medicine and the Health Professional Council of South Africa.
Public Health & Preventive Medicine is a branch of medicine concerned with the health of populations. The Public Health & Preventive Medicine specialist uses population health knowledge and skills to play leading and collaborative roles in the maintenance and improvement of the health and well-being of the community. Through interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral partnerships, the Public Health & Preventive Medicine specialist measures the health needs of populations and develops strategies for improving health and well-being, through health promotion, disease prevention and health protection.
The Public Health & Preventive Medicine specialist demonstrates skills in leadership, development of public policy, and the design, implementation and evaluation of health programs, and applies them to a broad range of community health issues.
Public Health Medicine specialists are medical doctors that have completed 48 months of supervised training in a health service environment at a municipal, hospital, district, provincial and or research environment having gained experience in the following domains:
- Health measurement and informatics
- Social sciences
- Occupational health
- Communicable diseases
- Environmental health
- Non-communicable diseases
- Organisation, development and management of health care
Public Health medicine specialists work with colleagues in other disciplines and areas of health care, and across sectors in the prevention of disease and injury and the promotion of healthy behaviour. They also work in the development of health policy, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of services and programmes, the control of communicable and non-communicable diseases, reproductive health and diseases, environmental health and sustainable development, occupational health and health economics. They are trained in research methods and have particular skills in interpretation and translation of research findings for public health policy and clinical intervention. Their training in health management and behavioural sciences enables them to contribute to key public health functions within state and non-governmental services geared at equitable access to health services
Public Health Practitioners
In order to foster a multi-disciplinary approach to addressing public health issues, many Universities have developed a Graduate Program in Public Health comprising the Post Graduate Diploma in Public Health (PGDip), Masters of Public Health (MPH) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health (PhD). These degrees are purely academic degrees and require no state or national certification requirements such as Health Professional Council Accreditation and are open to non-medical personnel.
The Public Health Practitioner receives generalised training that focuses on knowledge rather than competencies and is usually taken to enhance ones career opportunities.
The Public health practitioner might focus on communicable diseases or environmental hazards that affect the workplace or the community as a whole, health promotion, public policy, evaluating the public’s health needs and working to design and implement health care programs that will address those needs. Some public health practitioners may choose a career at the administrative or management level working in hospital supply organizations, healthcare-related agencies of the government, pharmaceutical companies, public health educators or applied research.