Community Health Priorities: A Resource for Oregon in Action

Next Page  
Viewing page 1 of 2.

Access: The potential for or actual entry of a population into the health system. Entry is dependent on the wants, resources, and needs that individuals bring to the care-seeking process. The ability to obtain wanted or needed services may be influenced by many factors, including travel distance, waiting time, available financial resources and availability of a regular source of care.

Addiction and Drug Abuse: Drug abuse is described as the excessive use of drugs and is a major public health problem that impacts society on multiple levels. Directly or indirectly, every community is affected by drug abuse and addiction.

Art and Health: Deteriorating physical features of urban environments can negatively influence public health. Dilapidated environments and urban blight tend to promote alienation and can be associated with social disorder, vandalism, crime, drug abuse, traffic violations, and littering, which in turn affects health and well-being. Studies have shown that bringing art into communities drastically improves these public health factors.

Biological Expression of Social Inequality: How people literally embody and biologically express experiences of economic and social inequality, from in utero to death. Examples include biological expressions of poverty, deprivation (material and social), and diverse types of discrimination.

Capacity: The resources, skills, and abilities to perform essential public health functions. (Also see "Infrastructure.")

Case: In epidemiology, a countable instance in the population of a particular disease, health disorder, or condition. A case can also refer to an individual with the particular condition.

Community: A group of people who have common characteristics; communities can be defined by location, race, ethnicity, age occupation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. Ideally, there should be available assets and resources, as well as collective discussion, decision making, and action.

Determinants of Health: The leading factors that contribute in aggregate to health status in an individual or populations. Determinants include: income, education level, living environment, personal behavior, health care access, genetics and social/cultural issues.

Disaster/Emergency: The possibility of public health emergencies arising in the United States concerns many people in the wake of recent hurricanes, tsunamis, acts of terrorism and the threat of pandemic influenza. Though some people feel it is impossible to be prepared for unexpected events, taking preparedness actions help people deal with disasters of all sorts much more effectively when they do occur.

Early Childhood Development: Children grow, develop, and learn throughout their lives from birth and infancy to adulthood. A child’s development can be measured through social, physical, and cognitive developmental milestones. Children who grow up in environments where their developmental needs are not met are at an increased risk for compromised health and safety, and learning and developmental delays. Failure to invest time and resources during children’s early years may have long term effects on the foster care, health care, and education systems. Therefore, it is in the public's interest to ensure that children develop in safe, loving, and secure environments.

Education: Complex problems surrounding public health require multi-faceted public health actions based on an ecological approach to problem solving. Such an approach requires a well-educated interdisciplinary core of public health professionals who focus on population health and understand the multiple determinants that affect health. A cadre of professionals who also understand that successful interventions require understanding not only the effects of biology and behavior, but also the social, environmental and economic contexts within which populations exist.

Environmental Health: A branch of public health that is concerned with all aspects of the natural and built environment that may affect human health. Environmental health and protection refers to protection against environmental factors that may adversely impact human health or the ecological balances essential to long term human health and environmental quality.

Epidemiology: The study of the distribution and determinants of health-related events in specified human populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems.

Health Care: The prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical and allied health professions.

Health Disparity: A statistically significant difference in a health indicator between groups that persists over time. (Also see "Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities.")

Health Equity: Distribution of disease, disability and death in such a way as to not create a disproportionate burden on one population; the absence of persistent health differences over time, between racial and ethnic groups.

Health: A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

High Risk Group: A group in the community with an elevated risk of health problems.

Immigration: Although immigration policies are complex, much of the work of public health professionals and organizations is to consider how best to serve the immigrant populations who arrive. There are several public health agencies in the United States responsible for the health of entering populations – helping care for the education, social, and health needs of immigrants. For refugees, in particular, the resettlement process in the United States entails federal agencies working with local providers to ensure health services are provided.

Immunization/Vaccination: Immunization is the process of conferring increased resistance (or decreased susceptibility) to infection. The term “vaccination” is also used to describe this kind of protective measure. Immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health measures available.

Incidence: A measure of the health condition in the population; generally the number of new cases occurring during a specified time period.

Infrastructure: The resources (e.g., personnel, information, monetary, and organizational) used by the public health system to provide the capacity to perform its duties. (Also see "Capacity.")

Next Page  
Viewing page 1 of 2.