Why Study Public Health?

Public health can take many forms, from tracing foodborne illness outbreaks to developing teen smoking prevention campaigns to improving workers’ health and safety in industrial plants.

Public health is big-picture, upstream, holistic thinking that can make sense of some of our sprawling, complex problems.

It applies the knowledge of many disciplines, including political science, medicine, social work, and management. Bringing these perspectives together can help improve health and prevent disease on a population level.

Open New Career Opportunities

Public health researchers and practitioners transform the world in ways that affect every household, workplace, classroom, and community. News headlines offer compelling reasons to study public health now: bioterrorism, obesity, West Nile virus, global warming, health care costs, and family violence. There is increasing demand for public health professionals who can tackle these complex issues.

Our graduates work in the Minnesota Department of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and many other local, state, federal, and international agencies.

They work at March of Dimes, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics, Urban Coalition, and many other non-profit and community-based organizations.

They work in private industry, such as medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies.

And they work for universities, research institutions and health care providers like United HealthCare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and Kaiser Permanente.

Some of the job titles of public health graduates include:

• Malaria Vaccine Program Advisor
• Director, Nutrition and Obesity Research
• Manager, Emergency Preparedness & Response
• Global Health Training Specialist
• Senior HIV Advisor
• Principal Occupational Health Specialist
• Nutrition Intervention Coordinator
• Cancer Epidemiologist
• Biostatistician/Investigator
• Safety and Health Specialist

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Top 10 Public Health Achievements of the 20th Century

The field of public health has a long legacy of accomplishments. Here are the 10 greatest public health achievements in the United States during the 20th Century.

Vaccination 
Resulted in: eradication of smallpox; elimination of poliomyelitis in the Americas; and control of measles, rubella, tetanus, diphtheria, and Haemophilus influenzae type b in the United States and other parts of the world

Motor-vehicle safety 
Resulted in: large reductions in motor-vehicle-related deaths due to safer vehicles and highways and efforts to change personal behavior (e.g., increased use of safety belts, child safety seats, and motorcycle helmets, as well as decreased drinking and driving)

Safer workplaces 
Resulted in: reduction of approximately 40 percent in the rate of fatal occupational injuries

Control of infectious diseases 
Resulted in: dramatic reduction of infections such as typhoid and cholera, due to clean water and improved sanitation; greater control of infections such as tuberculosis and sexually transmitted diseases by discovery of antimicrobial therapy

Decline in deaths from coronary heart disease and stroke 
Resulted in: 51 percent decrease in death rate from coronary heart disease due to risk-factor modification, such as smoking cessation and blood pressure control coupled with improved access to early detection and better treatment

Safer and healthier foods 
Resulted in: near elimination of major nutritional deficiency diseases such as rickets, goiter, and pellagra in theUnited States by identifying essential micronutrients and establishing food-fortification programs

Healthier mothers and babies 
Resulted in: 90 percent decrease in infant mortality and 99 percent decrease in maternal mortality due to better hygiene and nutrition, availability of antibiotics, greater access to health care, and technologic advances in maternal and neonatal medicine

Family planning 
Resulted in: altered social and economic roles of women afforded by access to family planning and contraceptive services; smaller family size and longer interval between the birth of children; increased opportunities for preconceptional counseling and screening; fewer infant, child, and maternal deaths; use of barrier contraceptives to prevent pregnancy and spread of sexually transmitted diseases

Fluoridation of drinking water 
Resulted in: reductions in tooth decay (40 percent-70 percent in children) and of tooth loss in adults (40 percent-60 percent); effectively prevents tooth decay, regardless of socioeconomic status or access to care

Recognition of tobacco use as a health hazard 
Resulted in: prevention of millions of smoking-related deaths; changes in social norms to prevent initiation of tobacco use, promote cessation of use, and reduce exposure to environmental tobacco smoke

Source: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report;April 02, 1999; 48(12): 241-243