PUBH 201 Midterm Study Guide
What is PH - correct answer ✔✔-the fulfillment of society's interest in assuring conditions in which
people can be healthy
-organized community efforts aimed at the prevention of disease and the promotion of
"the future of public health" - correct answer ✔✔defines the mission of public health as "the fulfillment
of society's interest in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy"
definition of PH - correct answer ✔✔health of the population as a whole, especially as monitored,
regulated, and promoted by the state
Core functions of PH - correct answer ✔✔ASSESSMENT (diagonostic function), POLICY
DEVELOPMENT(strategic approach to improve community's health), ASSURANCE (assuring that the
services needed for the protection of public health in the community are available and accessible to
everyone
"rectangularizing" the life curve - correct answer ✔✔goal of the public health life expectancy for
peopleímaking it bigger than ideal
PH disciplines - correct answer ✔✔epidemiology (outbreak of diease), statistics (data of the community),
biomedical sciences (studies prevention and control for diseases like AIDS, flu), environmental health
science (preventing disease through water, air, and food), social and behavioral sciences (studying
disease relation with behavior and social environment), and health policy and management (role of
medical care in public health)
Primary, secondary, & tertiary prevention - correct answer ✔✔PRIMARY: prevent disease (discourage
teenagers from smoking and encouraging smokers to quit)
SECONDRY: minimize severity of the illness (detect cancer early when it's treatable)
TERTIARY: minimize the disability, rehabilitations
chain of causation - correct answer ✔✔AGENT, HOST, ENVIRONMENT, INTERVENTIONS
, (suicide example: susceptible young person (host), gun pills etc (agent), school, family, social media
(environment), intervention (make young people less susceptible to self- destructive thinking
market justice - correct answer ✔✔-emphasizes individual responsibility, minimal obligation to the
common good, and the "fundamental freedom to all individuals to be left alone"
-powerful forces of environment, hereditary, and social structure prevent a fair distribution of the
burdens and benefits of society
social justice - correct answer ✔✔-suggests that minimal levels of income, basic housing, employment,
education, and health care should be seen as fundamental rights
-public health disease
Cost vs. benefit in PH - correct answer ✔✔cost easier to measure than benefit (ex: cost of reducing the
smog to reduce level of lung disease, but how would they calculate benefit is worth the cost?)
Tragedy of the commons - correct answer ✔✔-"freedom to pollute", behavior on INDIRECT HARM, in
order to save the community people need to restrict freedom (such as pollution) placing fair and
equitable limits for the purposeof protecting people's health and safety
"paternalism" - correct answer ✔✔restrictions on individual behavior; children and young people can be
restricted in their behavior on the basis that they are not mature enough to make considered judgments
asto their own best interests
Political interference w/ science - correct answer ✔✔-ex: promoting abstinence by the CDC to prevent
teen pregnancy, forced to remove on their website "programs that work" for sex education that
teenagers have found effective
-politics can limit release of scientific evidence
Administrative agencies - correct answer ✔✔-public health has a responsibility primarily of the states,
not under the country
-there are county and city health departments
-public health activities may be delegated by the state to local governments
-agencies vary from state to state
, Role of the courts - correct answer ✔✔-federal: power to tax and spend, can provide funds to states,
made states pass law to make motorcyclists wear helmets, Medicaid program (providing health care for
the poor), has steadily widened its role in public health
-states: sanitation, regular safety, immunization,
-LEGISLATIVE: passes statutes
-EXECUTIVE: public health agencies carry out the law; may issue regulations
-JUDICIAL: laws and regulations can be challenged in court
OSHA (occupational safety and health administration) - correct answer ✔✔-sets standards regulating
employees' exposure to hazardous substances
-has regulated benzene, which caused a variety of toxic effects among workers in the rubber and
petrochemical industries
CDC - correct answer ✔✔-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
-main epidemiologic and assessment agency in the nation
-mission="to control and prevent humans diseases"
-chronic diseases, genetics, injury and violence, and environmental health
-publishes Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
NIH - correct answer ✔✔-National Institutes of Health
-biomedical research agency
-institutes on cancer, heart and lung disease, diabetes, aging, and others
-aiming to cure diseases
PH at the local, state, & federal level - correct answer ✔✔-Local: county and city, often responsible for
providing medical care for the poor, may be funded from state or federal govs.
-State: coordinating activities of local health agencies and providing funding, lab services, collect and
analyze data, license and certify medical personnel, manage Medicaid
-Federal: controls departments of health and human services such as CDC, EPA, USDA, etc
What is PH - correct answer ✔✔-the fulfillment of society's interest in assuring conditions in which
people can be healthy
-organized community efforts aimed at the prevention of disease and the promotion of
"the future of public health" - correct answer ✔✔defines the mission of public health as "the fulfillment
of society's interest in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy"
definition of PH - correct answer ✔✔health of the population as a whole, especially as monitored,
regulated, and promoted by the state
Core functions of PH - correct answer ✔✔ASSESSMENT (diagonostic function), POLICY
DEVELOPMENT(strategic approach to improve community's health), ASSURANCE (assuring that the
services needed for the protection of public health in the community are available and accessible to
everyone
"rectangularizing" the life curve - correct answer ✔✔goal of the public health life expectancy for
peopleímaking it bigger than ideal
PH disciplines - correct answer ✔✔epidemiology (outbreak of diease), statistics (data of the community),
biomedical sciences (studies prevention and control for diseases like AIDS, flu), environmental health
science (preventing disease through water, air, and food), social and behavioral sciences (studying
disease relation with behavior and social environment), and health policy and management (role of
medical care in public health)
Primary, secondary, & tertiary prevention - correct answer ✔✔PRIMARY: prevent disease (discourage
teenagers from smoking and encouraging smokers to quit)
SECONDRY: minimize severity of the illness (detect cancer early when it's treatable)
TERTIARY: minimize the disability, rehabilitations
chain of causation - correct answer ✔✔AGENT, HOST, ENVIRONMENT, INTERVENTIONS
, (suicide example: susceptible young person (host), gun pills etc (agent), school, family, social media
(environment), intervention (make young people less susceptible to self- destructive thinking
market justice - correct answer ✔✔-emphasizes individual responsibility, minimal obligation to the
common good, and the "fundamental freedom to all individuals to be left alone"
-powerful forces of environment, hereditary, and social structure prevent a fair distribution of the
burdens and benefits of society
social justice - correct answer ✔✔-suggests that minimal levels of income, basic housing, employment,
education, and health care should be seen as fundamental rights
-public health disease
Cost vs. benefit in PH - correct answer ✔✔cost easier to measure than benefit (ex: cost of reducing the
smog to reduce level of lung disease, but how would they calculate benefit is worth the cost?)
Tragedy of the commons - correct answer ✔✔-"freedom to pollute", behavior on INDIRECT HARM, in
order to save the community people need to restrict freedom (such as pollution) placing fair and
equitable limits for the purposeof protecting people's health and safety
"paternalism" - correct answer ✔✔restrictions on individual behavior; children and young people can be
restricted in their behavior on the basis that they are not mature enough to make considered judgments
asto their own best interests
Political interference w/ science - correct answer ✔✔-ex: promoting abstinence by the CDC to prevent
teen pregnancy, forced to remove on their website "programs that work" for sex education that
teenagers have found effective
-politics can limit release of scientific evidence
Administrative agencies - correct answer ✔✔-public health has a responsibility primarily of the states,
not under the country
-there are county and city health departments
-public health activities may be delegated by the state to local governments
-agencies vary from state to state
, Role of the courts - correct answer ✔✔-federal: power to tax and spend, can provide funds to states,
made states pass law to make motorcyclists wear helmets, Medicaid program (providing health care for
the poor), has steadily widened its role in public health
-states: sanitation, regular safety, immunization,
-LEGISLATIVE: passes statutes
-EXECUTIVE: public health agencies carry out the law; may issue regulations
-JUDICIAL: laws and regulations can be challenged in court
OSHA (occupational safety and health administration) - correct answer ✔✔-sets standards regulating
employees' exposure to hazardous substances
-has regulated benzene, which caused a variety of toxic effects among workers in the rubber and
petrochemical industries
CDC - correct answer ✔✔-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
-main epidemiologic and assessment agency in the nation
-mission="to control and prevent humans diseases"
-chronic diseases, genetics, injury and violence, and environmental health
-publishes Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
NIH - correct answer ✔✔-National Institutes of Health
-biomedical research agency
-institutes on cancer, heart and lung disease, diabetes, aging, and others
-aiming to cure diseases
PH at the local, state, & federal level - correct answer ✔✔-Local: county and city, often responsible for
providing medical care for the poor, may be funded from state or federal govs.
-State: coordinating activities of local health agencies and providing funding, lab services, collect and
analyze data, license and certify medical personnel, manage Medicaid
-Federal: controls departments of health and human services such as CDC, EPA, USDA, etc
