Definitions

Public health: the organized effort of society to protect and improve the health and well-being of the population through the following

a) health monitoring, assessment and surveillance,

b) health promotion and informing the public,

c) reducing inequalities in health status,

d) prevention of disease, injury, disability and premature death,

e) protection from environmental hazards to health, and,

f) research into all of the above, to provide an evidence base for what works.

(adapted from the Glossary of Public Health Terms, accessed 21 August 2008)