What is public health?
“Public Health is the science and art of protecting and improving the health of communities through education, promotion of healthy lifestyles, and research of disease and injury prevention. Public health helps improve the health and wellbeing of people in local communities and across our nation. Public health helps people who are less fortunate to achieve a healthier lifestyle.”
(www.whatispublichealth.org)
Websites for learning more about public health include:
What Is Public Health: http://www.whatispublichealth.org
American Public Health Association: http://www.apha.org/
Council on Education for Public Health: http://www.ceph.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1
What are the career options in public health?
“Public Health professionals come from varying educational backgrounds and can specialize in an array of fields. A host of specialists, including teachers, journalists, researchers, administrators, environmentalists, demographers, social workers, laboratory scientists, and attorneys, work to protect the health of the public.”
(www.whatispublichealth.org)
Individuals can find public health career opportunities in many different sectors of the workforce:
- Federal government
- State government
- Local government
- Non-profit organizations
- Non-governmental organizations
- Private companies
For information on the salary ranges of different public health jobs, go to: http://www.whatispublichealth.org/faqs/index.html#career_faqs4
Some of the websites available for searching for public health jobs include:
Colorado School of Public Health Career Center: http://www.cudenver.edu/Academics/Colleges/PublicHealth/practice/CenterforPublicHealthPractice/CareerCenter/Pages/index.aspx
American Public Health Association CareerMart: http://www.apha.org/about/careers/
PublicHealthJobs.net: http://www.publichealthjobs.net/default.cfm