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Health
is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community
based on population health analysis. Health is defined and
promoted differently by many organizations. The World Health
Organization, the United Nations body that sets standards
and provides global surveillance of disease, defines health
as:
"A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being
and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
Public health experts agree this definition is incomplete.
Other components included in an individual's health are nutritional,
spiritual, and intellectual.
The population in question can
be as big as a handful of people or, in the case of a pandemic,
whole continents.
Public health has many sub-fields, but is typically divided
into the categories of epidemiology, biostatistics and health
services. Environmental, social and behavioral health, and
occupational health, are also important fields in public health. |