Foundations in Public Health Study Guide (Weeks 1–5)

Vocabulary flashcards covering core public health concepts, historical eras, epidemiology terms, morbidity/mortality measures, and communicable/non-communicable disease strategies from Weeks 1 through 5.

Public Health

The science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through organized community efforts.

Health (WHO Definition)

A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being — not merely the absence of disease.

Health Protection Era

An era of public health (Antiquity–1830s) where authority and religion controlled behavior through quarantines for epidemics, dietary rules, and sexual prohibitions.

Hygiene Movement Era

An era of public health (1840s–1870s) where sanitary conditions became the basis for health, marked by John Snow's work on cholera and the collection of vital statistics.

Contagion Control Era

An era of public health (1880s–1940s) where germ theory proved infections had biological causes, leading to vaccination, sanatoriums, and outbreak investigation.

Filling Holes in Medical Care Era

An era of public health (1950s–mid 1980s) where communicable disease control merged with mainstream medical care, characterized by antibiotics, risk factor identification, and the Framingham study.

Health Promotion / Disease Prevention Era

An era of public health (Mid 1980s–2000) focused on individual behavior and disease detection, heavily driven by the AIDS epidemic.

Population Health Era

The current era of public health (2000s–present) where public health and healthcare delivery coordinate using shared evidence to address global collaboration, technology, and climate change.

High-Risk Approach

A strategy that targets people with the highest chance of getting a disease, assuming risk is concentrated in individuals with specific exposures.

Population Approach

A strategy ("improving the average") that targets everyone, assuming everyone carries some risk and that risk increases with more exposure.

Health Care (Public Health Strategy)

One-on-one health services, including vaccines, screening, medical treatment, and rehabilitation.

Traditional Public Health

Group and community health interventions, such as communicable disease control, food and drug safety, and environmental hazard control.

Social Interventions

Actions with non-health primary goals that improve health as a side effect, such as better housing, expanded education, and tax policy.

Contributory Causes

Immediate causes of a disease where the presumed cause precedes the effect and altering the cause directly changes the probability of the outcome.

Determinants

Underlying "causes of causes" that set the stage for health and illness across populations.

BIG GEMS

A mnemonic representing the major determinants of health: Behavior, Infection, Genetics, Geography, Environment, Medical Care, and Socioeconomic / cultural factors.

Scientific Medicine

A branch of science focused on understanding and treating disease in individual patients, grounded in biomedical science.

Science of Public Health

A discipline focused on finding patterns, distributions, and causes of health conditions across whole populations using environmental science, social/behavioral science, and epidemiology.

John Snow

An English physician who mapped the 1854 London cholera outbreak and traced it to a specific contaminated water source two decades before germ theory was established.

Louis Pasteur

The scientist who demonstrated that microorganisms cause spoilage in liquids, leading to the establishment of germ theory in 1861.

Edward Jenner

The doctor who developed the world's first vaccine in 1796 by using cowpox to protect humans against smallpox.

Epidemiology

The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related phenomena in human populations, and the application of that study to control health problems.

Exposures

Factors or events (such as lifestyle choices, environment, genetics, or medical care) that bring about a change in health and act as determinants in epidemiologic studies.

Morbidity

Illness or disability due to a specific disease or health condition.

Mortality

Deaths occurring within a population from various causes.

Public Health Surveillance

The ongoing, systematic collection, analysis, and dissemination of health data used to monitor, prevent, and control diseases in populations.

Incidence

A morbidity measure that quantifies new cases of a disease arising in a population during a specified period.

Incidence Rate

A rate calculated as $\text{new cases during a period} \times (\text{people at risk} \times \text{length of the period})^{-1}$.

Point Prevalence

A snapshot measure of all existing cases (new and old) at a specific point in time, calculated as $\text{people with the disease at a point in time} \times (\text{total population})^{-1}$.

Crude Death Rate

A mortality measure calculated using the formula $\text{Total deaths in a year} \times (\text{total population})^{-1} \times 100,000$.

Specific Mortality Rate

A mortality rate restricted to a designated subgroup within a population, such as a specific age range.

Case Fatality Rate

A metric indicating disease severity, calculated as $\text{People who died from a disease} \times (\text{people who contracted it})^{-1} \times 100$.

Communicable Disease

An infectious disease that can be transmitted directly or indirectly from one person to another.

Koch's Postulates

A sequence of scientific conditions used to prove that a specific organism is the contributory cause of a disease, evolving from classic lab isolation rules to modern epidemiological standards.

R0 (R Naught)

The basic reproductive number measuring a disease's potential spread; if $R_0 > 1$, each infected person infects more than one new person on average, causing an outbreak to grow.

Passive Immunity

Short-term immunity provided by injecting antibodies directly into an individual.

Active Immunity

Long-term immunity produced when live or inactivated vaccines stimulate the body to generate its own antibodies.

Herd Immunity

Protection achieved across an entire community when a sufficient percentage of the population is immunized, stopping transmission to unvaccinated individuals.

Ring Vaccination

An outbreak control strategy where healthcare workers vaccinate an infected person's household, close contacts, and immediate surrounding community.

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)

Chronic conditions (such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory disease) that are non-transmissible, long-lasting, and slow-progressing.

Epidemiologic Transition

The shift in dominant health threats within a developing nation from communicable diseases to non-communicable diseases as economic and social development progresses.

Sequential Testing

A disease screening approach where an initial screening test is conducted first, followed by confirmatory diagnostic tests only if the initial result is positive.

Sensitivity

The proportion of time a screening or diagnostic test correctly identifies individuals who truly have the disease.

Specificity

The proportion of time a screening or diagnostic test correctly identifies individuals who truly do not have the disease.

Multiple Risk Factor Reduction

An intervention strategy that addresses several risk factors for a disease simultaneously, particularly when risk factors cluster together or multiply overall risk.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis

An evaluation method that quantifies the total health benefits gained per dollar spent to compare different medical or public health interventions.

QALY (Quality-Adjusted Life Year)

A standardized measure combining both the additional length and the quality of life gained from a health intervention.