(4,5) Four diseases namely heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic pulmonary diseases contribute nearly 80% of all deaths due to NCDs and they share four common risk factors namely tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet, and lack of physical activities.

Work with other sectors, media, and advocacy coalitions on what we term “eternal challenges”: poverty, equity, powerlessness, discrimination, and stigma. Strengthen linkages between public health and clinical care systems to help make national health systems more affordable and sustainable.

Top 10 Public Health Challenges

• Alcohol-related harms. Approximately 88,000 deaths per year in the United States are attributed to excessive alcohol consumption.
• Food safety.
• Healthcare-associated infections.
• Heart disease and stroke.
• HIV.
• Motor vehicle injuries.
• Nutrition, physical activity and obesity.
• Prescription drug overdose.

Examples of health-related policies include: Policies prohibiting tobacco and alcohol use at the workplace. Policies requiring healthy foods to be served at company meetings and events. Policies allowing for flextime to exercise or attend health programs.

The five core disciplines are:

• Behavioral science/health education.
• Biostatistics.
• Environmental health.
• Epidemiology.
• Health services administration.

Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of people and their communities. This work is achieved by promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing and responding to infectious diseases.

Career Paths in Public Health

• Dietitian and Nutritionist.
• Emergency Management Specialist.
• Epidemiologist.
• Health Educators and Community Health Workers.
• Microbiologist.
• Occupational Health and Safety Specialist.
• Public Health Nurse.
• Social and Community Service Managers.

Many public health employees become interested in this field to improve the health and well being of other people and communities. One of the most rewarding benefits for public health is knowing that they are making a lasting impression to improve society.

Yes. Bachelor’s-level degrees in public health are not valuable in the job market.

While the demand for each job varies, data suggests the overall need for public health workers is on the rise. Jobs for epidemiologists are projected to increase by 9% over the same span,3 while jobs for medical and health services managers are expected to increase by 20%.

Salaries & Wages With a median annual wage of $70,990 per year, epidemiologists are among the highest paid public health practitioners. The top 10% of epidemiologists earn more than $119,200 while the lowest 10% earn less than $44,000.

Common Career Paths for Master of Public Health Graduates

• 1) Healthcare Administrators. Average Annual Salary: $99,730 per year.
• 2) Registered Nurses.
• 3) Epidemiologists.
• 4) Social and Community Service Managers.
• 5) Dieticians and Nutritionists.
• 6) Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors.

Public health nursing programs are also often referred to as community health nursing programs. It is very important, particularly for students who decide to study online, to ensure their program is fully accredited. Only with accredited programs will they be able to take the licensure exam to become an RN.

Public health graduates have numerous career options depending on their educational attainment, experience, and specialty. They take careers with the government, state and community public health agencies, consulting firms, research organizations, universities, hospitals, and nonprofits.

Public health nurses comprise the largest professional segment of the workplace in public health and are involved in the prevention, education, advocacy, activism, assessment, and evaluation of Public Health. They hold a vital role in the prevention of disease and help to promote community health and safety.

Nurses can direct people to local resources and give out health and wellness information. Telehealth would be useful when parents seek well-baby/well child information, information on vaccines, smoking cessation, addiction counseling, adolescent mental health resources, nutrition information etc.

While most nurses care for one patient at a time, public health nurses care for entire populations. Instead of waiting for patients to come to the hospital with an illness, they go into communities to try and help people improve their health and prevent disease.