Question

Q1. Discuss the importance of Epidemiology in Public Health Management practice. Any evidence of plagiarism would result in cancelation of the entire paper. Use APA referencing style. Failure to reference your work constitutes plagiarism and the sanction in iii shall apply.

Answer 1

Epidemiology is often considered the key scientific underpinning of public health practice. This pivotal role of epidemiology was emphasized by the Institute of Medicine in its definition of the substance of public health as organized community efforts aimed at the prevention of disease and promotion of health, with linkages to many disciplines and a scientific core of epidemiology

Lilienfeld and Lilienfeld observed 3 decades ago that “… the discipline of epidemiology has become increasingly divorced from those activities in the real world that result in the improvement of public health” .epidemiology (i.e., the study of the distribution and determinants of health and diseases in populations). A useful starting point is perhaps the most comprehensive definition and the one most relevant to public health practice

To discover the agent, host, and environmental factors that affect health to provide the scientific basis for the prevention of disease and injury and the promotion of health;

To determine the relative importance of causes of illness, disability, and death to establish priorities for research and action;

To identify those sections of the population that have the greatest risk from specific causes of ill health so that the indicated action may be directed appropriately; and

To evaluate the effectiveness of health programs and services in improving the health of the population.

In describing the role of epidemiology in public health practice, the authors introduce their 7 epidemiologic steps in the public health cycle. These steps include conducting a needs assessment, setting priorities, formulating objectives, constructing a logic model, developing an evaluation plan, performing quality control, and analyzing processes and outcomes. The heart of the book is the chapter-by-chapter description of each of these steps. Many of these approaches are parallel to frameworks for evidence-based medicine (5) and evidence-based public health practices (6). One could argue that much of what is contained in the 7 core chapters is quite different from the standard literature on epidemiology; yet, in most places, the authors do a nice job of linking epidemiologic contributions to these important public health functions. There are 2 areas in which I would have valued more detail: 1) the important contributions and approaches from economic evaluation and 2) searching the scientific literature when a systematic review is not available

In the later chapters, the authors introduce other disciplines that complement epidemiology (e.g., health services, health promotion, and primary care)