What is public health? You hear the term daily in the news, on the internet, and applied to many different things, but can’t quite grasp exactly what it is. Well, that makes sense! Public health is a huge field, and it has effects on almost every action we take in our lives.

It’s hard to nail down, but in essence, we can define public health using the Three P’s: prevention, promotion, and protection. That is, disease and injury prevention, health promotion and education, and disease and injury protection.

Diseases and injuries affect us all, one way or another. It’s an inescapable part of life, and this is exactly why you should care about public health! Whether you’re sick with the flu, starting a healthy New Year’s resolution, or dealing with a chronic illness, public health professionals spend their lives researching and promoting the best ways to be and stay healthy as individuals and communities. Here are five (of many) reasons you should stay up to date with public health issues, and support your local public health practitioners!

1. The News Freaks You Out

Not only does the media profit off of fear and anxiety, it can also cause fear and anxiety (not to mention the “fake news” epidemic). While there are a lot of scary things happening in the world, you might be surprised to hear that in general, the world is becoming a better, safer, and healthier place as time progresses. Despite major issues like climate change and obesity, we are presently in the best time to be living when it comes to health, education, poverty, literacy, and even “freedom” (though that one is decidedly harder to define).

Just know this: While the news freaks you out (and you’re constantly surrounded by it), remember that behind the scenes, public health workers around the world are quietly working towards a better future, and they’re succeeding. In the 1800s, 40% of babies globally would die before the age of five. Now, it’s a tiny fraction. This is because hygiene, sanitation, housing, clean water, and diet have all improved thanks to, you guessed it, public health!

2. You Hate Getting the Flu

Did you know that on average, nearly 40,000 people in the United States died in 2017 from the flu, or other health complications related to the flu? And the estimates so far for 2018-2019 are near 60,000. I know we just talked about not freaking out because of the news, but it seems to be easily forgotten how dangerous the flu can be, even by medical professionals. Another crazy thing about the flu is that it mutates every year, which means we need an updated vaccine every year to combat that particular strain.

Epidemiologists (scientists who study and prevent the spread of disease) work around the clock to ensure an effective vaccine for each flu season. Don’t let their work be in vain… get the flu shot! By doing so, you’ll be contributing to herd immunity, which can help protect the weakest and most vulnerable people around us, including babies, people with cancer, and the elderly.

3. Your Health Insurance Sucks

Me when I open my doctor bill.

If you live in the United States, you’ve probably fallen on one side or the other when it comes to the health insurance debate – but the thing is, both sides can agree that our system is not great right now. The implementation of the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) has been more than a decade in the making, and it is still very rocky due to politics, the size and scope of the problem, and mostly… money.

As evidenced by the 250,000+ health and medical GoFundMe campaigns there are each year, Americans are struggling to pay their medical bills, even despite many having “good” insurance through their employers. It has been reported that hospitals are suggesting to patients to start these fundraising campaigns to cover the cost of their medically necessary surgeries. The CEO of GoFundMe, Rob Solomon, was even named one of 50 most influential people in healthcare by TIME Magazine.

“I would love nothing more than for ‘medical’ to not be a category on GoFundMe,” Solomon told Kaiser Health News in an interview last year. “The reality is, though, that access to health care is connected to the ability to pay for it. If you can’t do that, people die. People suffer. We feel good that our platform is there when people need it.”

Affordable access to healthcare is probably one of the more obvious reasons you should care about public health.

4. You’re Sick and Tired of Feeling Sick and Tired

Did you know that less than 10% of Americans eat an adequate amount of fruits and vegetables per day? This might explain why a lot of us aren’t feeling great. But maybe you’re not sick, you’re not hurt, and you just kinda feel “blah.” It might be your sedentary lifestyle, or your snacking habit, or maybe you enjoy one too many beers at night.

As mentioned earlier, public health is all about prevention, promotion, and protection. When we’re feeling sick and tired, a lot of times we will go to the doctor. But when poor nutrition, or lack of exercise, or vices step in our way, we need to know how to address them. Well, this is where public health can step in. From registered dietitians to community health educators, these public health professionals help us make lifestyle changes when we need to be healthier.

5. It Will Save You Money

Maybe you feel great, eat well, and get the recommended amount of exercise per week. That’s great! You want to keep it that way. Remember the first “P” in the 3 P’s of public health? Prevention. According to a 2017 review published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, it was found that public health interventions have saved about $34 for every $1 spent on them. And according to the American Public Health Association, for each 10% increase in local public health spending, infant deaths decrease by 6.9%, cardiovascular deaths decrease 3.2%, diabetes deaths decrease by 1.4%, and cancer deaths decrease by 1.1%.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Benjamin Franklin (fun fact, this quote was in the context of fire prevention – also a public health issue!

Conclusion

Supporting preventive public health programs can not only save us money, it helps us live longer, happier lives, and improves the world around us. In fact, thanks to many early public health programs, adult life expectancy has doubled in the last 200 years. With issues such as climate change and obesity making headlines daily, now more than ever is the time to understand the truly vital importance of public health.

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