THE ROLE OF PUBLIC HEALTH IN SOCIETY

Abstract

The formation of a healthy society is a social activity and is the moral duty of everyone, regardless of
class, gender, or race. Public health is one of the factors that lead to the civilization of mankind. This
problem, which maintains its relevance at the individual and state level, has become a research field
and has contributed to the development of medicine. One of the scientific studies that focused
attention on the importance of public health was the Institute of Medicine's 1988 report entitled "The
Future of Public Health." One of the first tasks of the study committee was to reexamine the definition
of public health, justifying the need for a broad definition of public health to be effective. The study
committee's rationale definition consists of four parts: the mission, nature, organizational framework,
and core functions of public health. "The Future of Public Health" defines the mission of public health
as "creating conditions where people can be healthy, ensuring the interests of society."
The essence of public health is "organized community efforts aimed at preventing disease and
promoting health." The organizational framework of public health encompasses "activities carried out
within the formal structure of government, as well as the related efforts of private and voluntary
organizations and individuals." Public health has three main functions:
1. Evaluation
2. Policy development
3. Security
One way to better understand public health and its functions is to compare it to medical
practice. While medicine deals with individual patients, public health treats society as its patient. Thus,
public health care stands guard over the health of the population, while medicine focuses on curing
patients. Public health takes measures to prevent disease.
Public health decision-making depends on politics. An example of this is the new type of
pneumonia COVID-19 coronovirus pandemic. The virus was first detected in Wuhan, central China's
Hubei province, in a case of pneumonia of unknown origin in local residents associated with the local
Huanan meat and seafood market, according to the World Health Organization. A pandemic has been
declared worldwide by the World Health Organization since March 2020. Thanks to the preventive
prophylactic epidemiological measures implemented by the Operational Staff of the Cabinet of
Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan (vaccine against COVID-19, wearing a mask, maintaining
social distance, disinfecting streets and living spaces, observing hygienic rules), the existing
restrictions are relaxed in accordance with the sanitary-epidemiological situation, from the quarantine
regime phased exit mechanisms are applied.
As defined in the Institute of Medicine's report "The Future of Public Health," the mission of public
health is to satisfy society's interest in providing conditions in which people can be healthy.