Importance of Public Health and the role of the State

Public health is a series of policies aimed at promoting and maintaining the health of the population. These policies must be designed and implemented by the competent state agencies, as well as the national health system, under the coordination of its ministry of health.

The importance of public health lies in the fact that in many countries the provision of health services is in the hands of the state. This makes it possible to guarantee the population's access to the health system and its main programs, both preventive as curatives that lead to an improvement in the quality of life of the population, decreasing their morbidity and their mortality.

The state, as a regulatory entity, through its supervision, guarantees that the treatment guidelines are in accordance with medical knowledge and the guidelines and protocols with sustained efficacy and safety., in accordance with trends such as evidence-based medicine. What protects the treatment and therapeutic population without scientific basis or that imply non-negotiable risks.

Importance of public health plans

An important part of the efforts of the health system are directed to the health promotion and disease prevention both communicable and non-transmissible.

public health programs They also seek to integrate all sectors of the population, guaranteeing that special, needy or minority groups have access to medical care.

Listed below are just some of the achievements of public health policies that ratify their importance:

– Control of outbreaks of communicable diseases to avoid the appearance of epidemics.
– Eradication of some diseases (as is the case of smallpox) through the implementation of vaccination schemes.
– Decrease in mortality from diseases such as lung cancer by raising awareness among the population about the risks of tobacco.
– Decrease in the incidence of infectious diseases transmitted by vectors by adopting preventive measures. prevention such as vector control by eliminating its reservoirs or its elimination by actions such as fumigation.
– Control of the conditions of the environment where work activities are carried out to reduce their negative impact on the health of workers.
– Promotion of healthy habits such as personal hygiene, feeding balanced, physical activity and recreation.

Main public health programs

The State must design health plans and programs for specific situations with a high impact on the health of the population and their quality of life.
The main programs cover:

– Prevention of communicable diseases through immunization with vaccines.
– Sex education
– Planning familiar
– Prenatal control
– Control of healthy child
– Control of healthy adult
– Non-communicable diseases
- Mental health
– Occupational health
- Epidemiology

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