Public health is the ultimate”big tent.” How do we introduce such a vast
and glorious field to the uninitiated? How do we interest them in becoming
public health professionals themselves, who will then offer their skills
and enthusiasm in service of public health goals? As lifelong public health
professionals who have taught public health to undergraduate and graduate
students for many years, this was our aim in writing an Introduction to
Public Health.
There is an urgent need to develop the public health perspective in
more people to deal with the wide ranging problems that threaten health
today. Despite many improvements in health and the conditions that promote
health in recent years, there are areas of deep concern. These include
the deterioration of global water supplies; stress on world food supplies and
the resulting hunger suffered by millions daily; warming of the earth and its
adverse impact on the natural environment; manmade catastrophes related
to industrialization that expose people needlessly to toxins and injury; wars
that leave millions homeless and without adequate food, water, and shelter
and a stable social environment in which to live and raise children; and
disparities in access to resources needed to promote health and well-being.
For the many in the United States, these troubles may seem far away—
difficulties that happen only in other countries and parts of the world—but
they either exist here or have an impact on us indirectly.