Probably because I have never discussed the idea of public health in any college classes before, I had no idea what that term included. From the readings we were assigned this week, I was struck by the amount of factors that fall under the category of public health- politics, economics and education all play a role, as made clear in chapter 3. It is incredible to think of all of the things that affect our individual and collective health as opposed to thinking of disease as a more random idea that affects whoever it happens to affect. In addition to feeling enlightened about the meaning of public health, the chapters we had to read made me feel like the issue is far bigger than I had imagined, involving so many different compartments of society, and therefore more difficult to rectify. One particular passage in chapter 3 caught my attention in regards to this idea was on page 38:
“Every sector of government and society has the potential to affect health and health equity…it is particularly important that policies are coherent, that is, that one policy (or set of policies) does not work against the other. For example, a recent proposal in the United Kingdom to increase the speed limit on motorways from 70 miles per hour to 80 miles per hour, if enacted, might increase transportation efficiency but would increase both carbon dioxide emissions and the risk of road deaths.”
This paragraph highlights the difficulties of public health, that because so many branches of society are involved, they must be careful not to step on each other’s toes. We have to always approach an issue with an idea of the effects a solution could possibly have on all sectors of our society.
I also was surprised to learn just how extensive the field of Public health was. What struck me as most interesting while reading the passage was the relative priority given to other fields over that of the field of public health. While laws are usually meant to improve our daily lives, the lack of attention given to laws that improve our daily health is shocking.