Public Health
What is Public Health?
The term 'public health' can conjure a variety of images and ideas for individuals in Canadian society and abroad. For some, it means screening for communicable diseases, mass immunization programs or legislation for healthy and safe work environments. For others, public health means the creation of governmental agencies or combating Ebola and the Zika virus. Overall, the aim of public health is to empower residents to make informed decisions and partake in interventions that seek to preserve, promote, and restore their health.
However, if a definition for public health is to be stated then it can be defined as a holistic and evidence-informed discipline that promotes, maintains, and restores the health and quality of different populations over the lifespan through health promotion, policies or legislation.
- Bartfay W.J. & Bartfay E. (2016). Public Health in Canada 2.0. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.
The Public Health specialization program provides career-oriented undergraduate programs that were developed using the 36 Core Competencies for Public Health in Canada, which is deemed essential for all public-health workers and professionals in Canada.
You will learn about:
- determinants of health and illness
- disease and injury prevention
- factors that influence the delivery and use of health services
- health protection
- health status of populations
- inequities in health
- strategies for health promotion
To learn more about our faculty's programs, check out this Virtual Open House presentation on Faculty of Health Sciences BAHSc and BHSc programs.
