HLTH 2000 — 300 Q&A Review Guide | ECU
East Carolina University
300 Questions & Answers — Chapters 1–7 Comprehensive Review
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Q1. How is public health defined?
ANSWER Public health is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life,
and promoting health through organized community efforts, including sanitation,
control of infections, hygiene education, early diagnosis and treatment, and
development of social systems for ensuring everyone has a standard of living adequate
to maintain health.
Q2. What is the mission of public health?
ANSWER The mission of public health is to fulfill society's interest in assuring
conditions in which people can be healthy.
Q3. What are the three core functions of public health?
ANSWER Assessment, policy development, and assurance.
Q4. What does the assessment core function involve?
ANSWER Systematically collecting, assembling, analyzing, and making available
information on the health of the community, including statistics on health status,
community health needs, and epidemiologic and other studies of health problems.
Q5. What does the policy development core function involve?
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, HLTH 2000 — 300 Q&A Review Guide | ECU
ANSWER Serving the public interest in the development of comprehensive public
health policies by promoting use of the scientific knowledge base in decision-making
about public health and by leading in developing public health policy.
Q6. What does the assurance core function involve?
ANSWER Assuring constituents that services necessary to achieve agreed-upon
goals are provided, either by encouraging actions by other entities, by requiring such
action through regulation, or by providing services directly.
Q7. What are the Ten Essential Public Health Services?
ANSWER 1) Monitor health, 2) Diagnose and investigate health problems, 3)
Inform/educate/empower people about health, 4) Mobilize community partnerships, 5)
Develop policies and plans, 6) Enforce laws and regulations, 7) Link people to health
services, 8) Assure a competent workforce, 9) Evaluate effectiveness, 10) Research
new solutions.
Q8. What distinguishes public health from clinical medicine?
ANSWER Public health focuses on populations rather than individuals, emphasizes
prevention over treatment, uses interdisciplinary approaches, and addresses the social
and environmental determinants of health.
Q9. What is a population-based approach in public health?
ANSWER A strategy that focuses on reducing the risk or improving health
outcomes across an entire population rather than solely treating individual patients.
Q10. What is the concept of 'the public's health'?
ANSWER It refers to the overall health status and health-related quality of life of a
defined community or population, including physical, mental, and social dimensions.
Q11. Who is known as the 'father of public health' in the United States?
ANSWER Lemuel Shattuck, who published a landmark report in 1850
recommending a comprehensive public health infrastructure for Massachusetts.
Q12. What is the difference between public health and personal health?
ANSWER Personal health refers to individual-level behaviors and health care, while
public health focuses on the collective health of communities and the systems,
policies, and environments that support or hinder health.
Q13. What is meant by the 'health of populations'?
ANSWER It is the distribution of health outcomes and their determinants within and
across defined populations, and the policies and interventions that link these two.
Q14. What role does government play in public health?
ANSWER Government has a responsibility to protect the public's health through
surveillance, regulation, public education, funding for health services, and developing
health policies and programs.
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, HLTH 2000 — 300 Q&A Review Guide | ECU
Q15. What is the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report 'The Future of Public Health'
(1988) known for?
ANSWER It defined the mission, core functions, and governmental responsibilities
of public health, and highlighted the disarray in the U.S. public health system, calling
for reform and investment.
Q16. What are the levels of prevention in public health?
ANSWER Primary prevention (preventing disease before it occurs), secondary
prevention (early detection and treatment), and tertiary prevention (managing disease
to limit disability and complications).
Q17. What is primary prevention?
ANSWER Interventions aimed at preventing disease or injury before it occurs, such
as vaccinations, health education, and environmental changes.
Q18. What is secondary prevention?
ANSWER Early detection and treatment of disease to halt or slow its progress, such
as cancer screenings and blood pressure checks.
Q19. What is tertiary prevention?
ANSWER Interventions aimed at reducing the impact of an existing disease by
restoring function and reducing disease-related complications, such as cardiac
rehabilitation.
Q20. What is a 'health disparity'?
ANSWER A type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic,
and/or environmental disadvantage — affecting groups who have systematically
experienced greater obstacles to health based on race, ethnicity, income, education,
disability, or other characteristics.
Q21. What is a determinant of health?
ANSWER A factor or characteristic that influences the health of individuals and
populations, including genetic, behavioral, social, economic, and environmental
factors.
Q22. Name five broad categories of determinants of health.
ANSWER Biology/genetics, individual behavior, social environment, physical
environment, and health services.
Q23. What does ECU's approach to public health education emphasize?
ANSWER ECU's HLTH 2000 program emphasizes health promotion, disease
prevention, and community health within a framework that includes social
determinants, health equity, and evidence-based practice.
Q24. What is health promotion?
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, HLTH 2000 — 300 Q&A Review Guide | ECU
ANSWER The process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve,
their health through a combination of education, policy, and community actions.
Q25. What does 'evidence-based public health' mean?
ANSWER Using current best evidence (from research, surveillance data, and
community input) to make decisions about public health practice, program
development, and policy.
Q26. What is a public health intervention?
ANSWER Any action taken to prevent or control disease, promote health, or address
a health problem in a population, such as a vaccination campaign or tobacco tax
policy.
Q27. What is epidemiology's role in public health?
ANSWER Epidemiology provides the scientific foundation for public health by
studying the distribution and determinants of health and disease in populations and
informing the design of prevention strategies.
Q28. What is the 'ecological model' of health?
ANSWER A framework that views health as influenced by multiple levels of factors
— individual, interpersonal, community, organizational, and societal — that interact
with each other.
Q29. Why is interdisciplinary collaboration important in public health?
ANSWER Health problems are complex and require input from medicine,
sociology, economics, environmental science, law, education, and other fields to
develop effective, comprehensive solutions.
Q30. What was John Snow's contribution to public health?
ANSWER John Snow identified the source of a cholera outbreak in London in 1854
by mapping cases and tracing the disease to a contaminated water pump on Broad
Street, a foundational example of epidemiological investigation.
Q31. What is a community health assessment?
ANSWER A systematic process for identifying key health issues in a community by
collecting and analyzing data on health outcomes, demographics, behaviors, and
social/environmental factors.
Q32. What is the Healthy People initiative?
ANSWER A national initiative by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services that sets science-based 10-year national objectives for improving the health
of Americans (currently Healthy People 2030).
Q33. What are the overarching goals of Healthy People 2030?
ANSWER To attain healthy, thriving lives free of preventable disease, disability,
injury, and premature death; eliminate health disparities; create social, physical, and
Page 4
East Carolina University
300 Questions & Answers — Chapters 1–7 Comprehensive Review
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
.
Q1. How is public health defined?
ANSWER Public health is the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life,
and promoting health through organized community efforts, including sanitation,
control of infections, hygiene education, early diagnosis and treatment, and
development of social systems for ensuring everyone has a standard of living adequate
to maintain health.
Q2. What is the mission of public health?
ANSWER The mission of public health is to fulfill society's interest in assuring
conditions in which people can be healthy.
Q3. What are the three core functions of public health?
ANSWER Assessment, policy development, and assurance.
Q4. What does the assessment core function involve?
ANSWER Systematically collecting, assembling, analyzing, and making available
information on the health of the community, including statistics on health status,
community health needs, and epidemiologic and other studies of health problems.
Q5. What does the policy development core function involve?
Page 1
, HLTH 2000 — 300 Q&A Review Guide | ECU
ANSWER Serving the public interest in the development of comprehensive public
health policies by promoting use of the scientific knowledge base in decision-making
about public health and by leading in developing public health policy.
Q6. What does the assurance core function involve?
ANSWER Assuring constituents that services necessary to achieve agreed-upon
goals are provided, either by encouraging actions by other entities, by requiring such
action through regulation, or by providing services directly.
Q7. What are the Ten Essential Public Health Services?
ANSWER 1) Monitor health, 2) Diagnose and investigate health problems, 3)
Inform/educate/empower people about health, 4) Mobilize community partnerships, 5)
Develop policies and plans, 6) Enforce laws and regulations, 7) Link people to health
services, 8) Assure a competent workforce, 9) Evaluate effectiveness, 10) Research
new solutions.
Q8. What distinguishes public health from clinical medicine?
ANSWER Public health focuses on populations rather than individuals, emphasizes
prevention over treatment, uses interdisciplinary approaches, and addresses the social
and environmental determinants of health.
Q9. What is a population-based approach in public health?
ANSWER A strategy that focuses on reducing the risk or improving health
outcomes across an entire population rather than solely treating individual patients.
Q10. What is the concept of 'the public's health'?
ANSWER It refers to the overall health status and health-related quality of life of a
defined community or population, including physical, mental, and social dimensions.
Q11. Who is known as the 'father of public health' in the United States?
ANSWER Lemuel Shattuck, who published a landmark report in 1850
recommending a comprehensive public health infrastructure for Massachusetts.
Q12. What is the difference between public health and personal health?
ANSWER Personal health refers to individual-level behaviors and health care, while
public health focuses on the collective health of communities and the systems,
policies, and environments that support or hinder health.
Q13. What is meant by the 'health of populations'?
ANSWER It is the distribution of health outcomes and their determinants within and
across defined populations, and the policies and interventions that link these two.
Q14. What role does government play in public health?
ANSWER Government has a responsibility to protect the public's health through
surveillance, regulation, public education, funding for health services, and developing
health policies and programs.
Page 2
, HLTH 2000 — 300 Q&A Review Guide | ECU
Q15. What is the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report 'The Future of Public Health'
(1988) known for?
ANSWER It defined the mission, core functions, and governmental responsibilities
of public health, and highlighted the disarray in the U.S. public health system, calling
for reform and investment.
Q16. What are the levels of prevention in public health?
ANSWER Primary prevention (preventing disease before it occurs), secondary
prevention (early detection and treatment), and tertiary prevention (managing disease
to limit disability and complications).
Q17. What is primary prevention?
ANSWER Interventions aimed at preventing disease or injury before it occurs, such
as vaccinations, health education, and environmental changes.
Q18. What is secondary prevention?
ANSWER Early detection and treatment of disease to halt or slow its progress, such
as cancer screenings and blood pressure checks.
Q19. What is tertiary prevention?
ANSWER Interventions aimed at reducing the impact of an existing disease by
restoring function and reducing disease-related complications, such as cardiac
rehabilitation.
Q20. What is a 'health disparity'?
ANSWER A type of health difference that is closely linked with social, economic,
and/or environmental disadvantage — affecting groups who have systematically
experienced greater obstacles to health based on race, ethnicity, income, education,
disability, or other characteristics.
Q21. What is a determinant of health?
ANSWER A factor or characteristic that influences the health of individuals and
populations, including genetic, behavioral, social, economic, and environmental
factors.
Q22. Name five broad categories of determinants of health.
ANSWER Biology/genetics, individual behavior, social environment, physical
environment, and health services.
Q23. What does ECU's approach to public health education emphasize?
ANSWER ECU's HLTH 2000 program emphasizes health promotion, disease
prevention, and community health within a framework that includes social
determinants, health equity, and evidence-based practice.
Q24. What is health promotion?
Page 3
, HLTH 2000 — 300 Q&A Review Guide | ECU
ANSWER The process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve,
their health through a combination of education, policy, and community actions.
Q25. What does 'evidence-based public health' mean?
ANSWER Using current best evidence (from research, surveillance data, and
community input) to make decisions about public health practice, program
development, and policy.
Q26. What is a public health intervention?
ANSWER Any action taken to prevent or control disease, promote health, or address
a health problem in a population, such as a vaccination campaign or tobacco tax
policy.
Q27. What is epidemiology's role in public health?
ANSWER Epidemiology provides the scientific foundation for public health by
studying the distribution and determinants of health and disease in populations and
informing the design of prevention strategies.
Q28. What is the 'ecological model' of health?
ANSWER A framework that views health as influenced by multiple levels of factors
— individual, interpersonal, community, organizational, and societal — that interact
with each other.
Q29. Why is interdisciplinary collaboration important in public health?
ANSWER Health problems are complex and require input from medicine,
sociology, economics, environmental science, law, education, and other fields to
develop effective, comprehensive solutions.
Q30. What was John Snow's contribution to public health?
ANSWER John Snow identified the source of a cholera outbreak in London in 1854
by mapping cases and tracing the disease to a contaminated water pump on Broad
Street, a foundational example of epidemiological investigation.
Q31. What is a community health assessment?
ANSWER A systematic process for identifying key health issues in a community by
collecting and analyzing data on health outcomes, demographics, behaviors, and
social/environmental factors.
Q32. What is the Healthy People initiative?
ANSWER A national initiative by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services that sets science-based 10-year national objectives for improving the health
of Americans (currently Healthy People 2030).
Q33. What are the overarching goals of Healthy People 2030?
ANSWER To attain healthy, thriving lives free of preventable disease, disability,
injury, and premature death; eliminate health disparities; create social, physical, and
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