Glossary of Public Health Terms

Achieving and maintaining good health is an important goal for everyone. Public health plays a crucial part in making that possible for people in every county, city, and neighborhood. To help understand the role of public health in communities across the country, it's important to understand the terminology associated with it.

Accreditation: A process or review that determines if a health department or agency is meeting a set of standards for which they receive recognition or certification

Assessment: A public health function that regularly collects, analyzes, and shares information regarding a community's health risks, conditions, and resources

Bioterrorism: The use of dangerous viruses, bacteria, fungi, or other infectious microbes as a weapon to inflict disease or death upon human beings or animals to instill fear in or coerce a civilian population or government

Chronic Disease: A disease that lasts more than a year and causes a lingering disability or requires ongoing medical care

Clinical Services/Medical Services/Personal Medical Services: Medical or non-medical care given to a person for sickness or injury

Determinants of Health: Factors that, when combined, impact a person or community's health. These factors may be personal, social, environmental, and/or economic.

Disease: An abnormal state of the body's organs or systems that negatively impacts its normal function and one's quality of life

Disease Management: Care given to individuals to help better manage and improve their health and quality of life. Patients are taught the best way to care for themselves and avoid problems that may worsen their condition. Disease management also helps to reduce the cost of care and improve its quality.

Endemic: A condition or disease that occurs frequently or is consistently present in a certain region and population

Entomologist: A person who specializes in the study of insects

Epidemic: The sudden increase in cases of a disease beyond what is normally expected in an area

Foodborne Illness: Illness caused by the consumption of food contaminated by pathogens, toxins, or chemicals

Health: The state of a person's mind and body

Health Disparities: Differences in access to and quality of health care because of ethnic or socioeconomic status, resulting in differences in both morbidity and mortality

Health Education: Educational activities and programs that teach and motivate people and communities to take healthy action

Health Promotion: Support, both educational and environmental, that helps to provide healthy conditions and resources for individuals and communities

Incidence: The measure of how often a population experiences new cases of disease or illness, injury, or certain symptoms within a specific time period

Infant Mortality Rate: The rate of infant deaths within the first 12 months of life per every 100 live deaths.

Intervention: Programs, treatments, policies, and other health interventions that are meant to positively impact a health-related problem

Infrastructure: Resources that make it possible for the public health system to function

Isolation: A period during which an infected person is kept separated from others to prevent or limit the spread of infection

Morbidity: The amount of disease within a group or population

Mortality: The number of deaths among a particular population or group in a specific area

Non-Infectious: Not caused by infection or liable to spread disease

Outcomes: The results of health care

Pathogens: Microorganisms, such as viruses, bacteria, or fungi, that cause disease

Prevention: Steps that are taken to reduce or stop exposure to sickness and disease, illness, and its effects

Protective Factors: Factors that reduce the risk of adverse outcomes

Public Health: Ensuring the health of communities through organized efforts to promote healthy attitudes and behaviors and prevent and stop disease and other health threats

Quarantine: The isolation of apparently healthy people who've been exposed to an infectious or contagious disease

Screening: Evaluating individuals by using technology and certain procedures to discover disease and to determine who is more likely to have a disease

Social Norm: Expected behavior within any specific social group that is accepted as normal

Standards: Established and accepted points of reference or treatment to measure others against

Threshold Standards: Guidelines that determine how far a sickness can spread through a population before new action is required

Years of Potential Life Lost: A measurement of the loss of life before a certain age because of the effects of a serious medical condition or injury

Learn More About Public Health

• What Is the Difference Between Isolation and Quarantine?
• Examining Length of Life
• Determinants of Health
• Disparities in Health and Health Care: Five Key Questions and Answers
• Why Community Health Is Important for Public Health
• Social Norms and the Health of Populations
• What's the Difference Between Morbidity and Mortality?
• What You Need to Know About Health Screenings
• Preventative Dental Health
• Benefits and Impact of Accreditation
• Health Education vs. Health Promotion
• Foodborne Pathogens
• Bioterrorism
• Epidemic, Endemic, Pandemic: What Are the Differences?
• What Is Epidemiology?
• Risk and Protective Factors