NCS1101 Lecture 2: WEEK 2 – Public health and epidemiology introduction: health data and population health
5 Jun 2018
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WEEK 2 – Public health and epidemiology
What public health does:
• Prevents disease before it occurs
• Promote health in the community
• Manage risk (natural and man made)
• Support clinical care through workforce development, policy
and standards
• EXAMPLE: Immunization’s – when they stay high, disease
rates stay low
Epidemiology
• The scientific investigation of patterns of health and ill health
in a given population/community
• Why and how often diseases occur in given population
• Causes and distribution of disease
• Tracks disease back to causative agent
Demography
• Study of statistics (birth/death/disease) which shows
characteristics, influences and patterns in populations
Disease pattern
1. Agent – causative/risk factor, environmental exposure
2. Environment – places, biological, physical, psychosocial
3. Host – person, characteristics
4. Time – incubation/latency, length of disease process
MORBIDITY = ILLNESS
MORTALITY = DEATH
Population health
• Understanding health and disease in community, and
improving health through priority health approaches that
address disparities between social groups
• 3 categorisations of priority health in AUS for example:
- Priority population groups
- Priority age groups
- National health priority areas
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
