Public Health Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology Prof. Ashry Gad Mohammed MB, ChB. MPH, Dr P.H Prof. of Epidemiology College of Medicine King Saud University

What is Public Health?

Public Health Organized efforts of society to Protect, Promote People ’ s Health Restore It is the combination of science, skills beliefs that is directed to the maintenance and improvement of the health of all people through collective or social actions.

The mission of Public Health is to “ fulfill society ’ s interest in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy ” “ Health care is vital to all of us some of the time, but public health is vital to all of us all of the time ”

Who is responsible for conducting Health Public services?

Who is responsible? Ministry of Health + Other governmental agencies + community participation

What are the essential public health functions?

Essential Public Health Functions I- Monitoring, Evaluation and Analysis of Health Status. Health situation. Trends & their determinants. Population health needs. Vital statistics. Performance of health services. Identification of resources. Management of information.

II-Public Health surveillance, Research and Control Risks & Threats to Public Health. Infrastructure to conduct population screening, case finding and general epidemiological research. Public health lab. (high volume of tests) Epidemiological surveillance and control of communicable diseases. Links with international networks.

III-Health promotion Culture of Health (lifestyle & environment). Intrsectoral partnership. Assessment of impact of Public Policies on health. Reorientation of health services.

IV- Social participation in health. Strengthen the power of civil society & NGOs. Community participation.

V- Development of policies &institutional capacity for regulation and enforcement in public health. Definition of national and sub- national public health objectives. Development of competencies for Evidence – based decision making.

VI- Strengthening of institutional capacity for planning & management in public health. Enforcement of frameworks that protect public health & monitor compliance within these frameworks. Generate new laws and regulations to improve public health. Protect consumers.

VII- Valuation & Promotion of Equitable Access to Necessary Health Services. Equity of access by civil society to necessary health services. Link vulnerable groups to necessary health services. Monitor & evaluate private providers. Ensure collaboration with governmental & non-governmental institutions.

VIII- Human Resources Development & Training in Public Health. Development of public health workforce. Education & training of public health personnel. Public Health education of all students. Bioethics training.

IV- Quality Assurance in personal and population-based services. Development of standards. Promotion of quality. Users ’ rights. Health technology assessment. Users ’ satisfaction

X- Research in Public Health. To increase knowledge to support decision makers. To innovate solutions for health problems. To cooperate with scientific agencies.

XI- Reduction of the impact of emergencies & disasters on health Plans for disasters control. Early response and rehabilitation.

What is preventive Medicine?

Preventive Medicine It is a specialized field of medical practice. It is concerned with application of preventive measures within all areas of clinical medicine.

What are the requirements and skills needed for a preventive medicine physician?

Requirements: Knowledge of basic clinical skills common to all physicians. Knowledge and competence in: Biostatistics Epidemiology Planning and organization Management

Financing Evaluation of health programs Environmental Health Health education Nutrition Others

What are the levels of prevention?

Levels of preventions Primary prevention Protection of health by personal and community wide effects from diseases and disabilities. e.g. immunization, physical fitness, good nutrition …….etc.

Secondary prevention Early detection Prompt and effective intervention Tertiary prevention Reduction or elimination of long term impairment. Rehabilitation

What are the uses of Epidemiology

Uses of Epidemiology 1-Community diagnosis: What are the major health problems occurring in a community? 2-Establishing the history of a disease in a population e.g. identifying the periodicity of an infectious disease.

3-Describing the natural history of disease e.g. natural history of HIV infection in the individual (infection acute symptoms- asymptomatic phase- clinical disease- death). 4-Describing the clinical picture of the disease Who gets the disease? Who dies from the disease? What is the outcome of the disease?

5-Estimating the risk. What factors increase the risk of heart diseases, road accidents, violence? 6-Identifying syndromes and precursors relationship of hypertension to stroke, kidney disease, heart disease.

7-Evaluating prevention / intervention programs. 8- Investigating epidemics and diseases of unknown etiology.

Thank you