The Future of Public Health

Though there has sometimes been distrust between the health care and public health fields, they are inevitably and increasingly interdependent. And improvements in some types of public health interventions can increase the impact of clinical care on population health. The field of public health aims to improve the health of as many people as possible as rapidly as possible. Since 1900, the average life span in the United States has increased by more than 30 years; 25 years of this gain have been attributed to public health advances. 1 , 2 Globally, life expectancy doubled during the 20th century, 3 largely as a result of reductions in child mortality attributable to expanded immunization coverage, clean water, sanitation, and other child-survival programs. 4 Public health focuses on denominators — what proportion of all people who can benefit from an intervention actually benefit. Maximizing health . . .