New public health body must not forget health improvement, experts warn

Reproductive health experts warn women not to abandon birth control.

For debate: a new wave in public health improvement.

The rising burden of chronic disease poses a challenge for all public health systems and requires innovative approaches to effectively improve population health. Persisting inequalities in health are of particular concern. Disadvantage because of education, income, or social position is associated with a larger burden of disease and, in particular, multimorbidity. Although much has been achieve...

Public health in hospitals: the missing link in health improvement.

Traditionally, public health professionals have scorned hospitals as the antithesis of community health. Secondary care remains notably distant from public health practice and policy. Yet hospitals consume over 50 per cent of the health budget and over a quarter of the population have contact with hospital services every year. There is an important public health agenda in hospitals for promotin...

Assessing Health Impacts within Environmental Impact Assessments: An Opportunity for Public Health Globally Which Must Not Remain Missed

Within the member states of the United Nations 190 of 193 have regulated Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) which is a systematic process to prevent and mitigate the potential environmental impacts of industry development projects before these occur. However, the routine and comprehensive assessment of health impacts within EIAs remains underdeveloped. Focusing, as an example, on the risks ...

Public health: someone must have been doing something right!

Table 1 illustrates the change in infant mortality rates, according to WHO statistics. Across a wide geographic and economic range, many countries have made substantial progress, partly due to improvements in sanitation and control of infectious diseases but also due to an improved nutritional situation. Even within a country with a comparatively low infant mortality rate in 1960 like Sweden, t...