Why I Chose Public Health?
I'm not entirely sure how long many of you have been following me and if some of you are relatively new to this blog, welcome. Almost a year ago I wrote a piece here about global health, what it was and my interest in it. At the time I was contemplating taking a year out of medicine degree to pursue a BSc in Global Health to gain a better understanding and indeed a better foothold in that world. However since then i have sort of left that behind and chosen to undertake a degree in Public Health instead.
Now i'm not sure if many people know what Public Health is and what it does. Sure enough about 90% of the people i tell i'm doing a degree in Public Health, they turn around and ask what its about. The remaining 10% just smile and nod and quickly change the subject so they don't have to ask me what it is i'm actually doing. So i thought i would take some time to go through different aspects of Public Health, my interest in and the key area where i want to do further research.
So what is Public Health?
Public Health relates to all aspects that would impact the health of an individual. Often the typical definition thrown around is that it is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting human health through organized efforts and informed choice. It is bigger than simply health promotion or the impact of the environment on health (though those two definitely factor into it). Public Health looks at why inequalities exist in the health of individuals and how to reduce them so as to ensure everyone has access to safe affordable healthcare.
My area of interest...
At the minute my area of interest is in the provision of health in humanitarian crises. My particular interest is in looking at the impact of mass migration of people on the healthcare service of acceptation countries.
We are all at this point familiar with forced displacement, and the mass migration of people from unsafe areas (often countries with civil war) to safer areas which are usually located in the neighbouring countries. This disproportionally impacts neighbouring countries, for example in the Syrian crisis, whilst many migrants were travelling into Europe, most headlines forgot to mention how the countries of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan accepted a large proportion of those refugees, putting strain on their own healthcare services.
In times of stress on a healthcare service, whether from forced displacement, or natural disasters (the impact of the recent hurricanes on the Central American island nations) or from outbreaks (such as Ebola, SARS), the healthcare provision of the native people can often be overlooked. As attention is diverted to deal with the stressors, it is inadvertently removed from other key areas such as the impact of non-communicable diseases and maternity care.
Now i'm not sure if many people know what Public Health is and what it does. Sure enough about 90% of the people i tell i'm doing a degree in Public Health, they turn around and ask what its about. The remaining 10% just smile and nod and quickly change the subject so they don't have to ask me what it is i'm actually doing. So i thought i would take some time to go through different aspects of Public Health, my interest in and the key area where i want to do further research.
So what is Public Health?
Public Health relates to all aspects that would impact the health of an individual. Often the typical definition thrown around is that it is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting human health through organized efforts and informed choice. It is bigger than simply health promotion or the impact of the environment on health (though those two definitely factor into it). Public Health looks at why inequalities exist in the health of individuals and how to reduce them so as to ensure everyone has access to safe affordable healthcare.
My area of interest...
At the minute my area of interest is in the provision of health in humanitarian crises. My particular interest is in looking at the impact of mass migration of people on the healthcare service of acceptation countries.
We are all at this point familiar with forced displacement, and the mass migration of people from unsafe areas (often countries with civil war) to safer areas which are usually located in the neighbouring countries. This disproportionally impacts neighbouring countries, for example in the Syrian crisis, whilst many migrants were travelling into Europe, most headlines forgot to mention how the countries of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan accepted a large proportion of those refugees, putting strain on their own healthcare services.
In times of stress on a healthcare service, whether from forced displacement, or natural disasters (the impact of the recent hurricanes on the Central American island nations) or from outbreaks (such as Ebola, SARS), the healthcare provision of the native people can often be overlooked. As attention is diverted to deal with the stressors, it is inadvertently removed from other key areas such as the impact of non-communicable diseases and maternity care.
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