Public health is a unique area of study with limitless opportunities. It has been one of the fastest-growing areas in the labor force, with a projected growth of 12% from 2021 to 2031. Public health offers real-world solutions to global challenges like climate change, malnutrition, infectious diseases, polluted water, and air pollution.
Public health professionals are, therefore, vital to the health of our communities and nations. They can make a difference in preventing disease, improving the environment, and ensuring everyone have access to quality healthcare. Public health emphasizes that health issues can be curbed with the help of healthy foods, hygiene practices, and safe living places.
Alongside accessibility, public health highlights the cruciality of promoting awareness around rising community health issues and its responsive precautionary measures.
So, whether you are interested in education, public health research, or policymaking, becoming a public health professional is rewarding.
Other profound reasons include the following:
Building Resilient Communities
Public health professionals are crucial to the nation’s safety and well-being. They play a critical role in providing access to healthcare in times of disaster or crisis. They strengthen the ability of people to deal with the long-term effects of disasters while still promoting social services and quality of life for all.
In addition, they can help prevent disease outbreaks by monitoring the spread of disease and providing early detection and rapid response when needed.
Further, public health professionals work to improve the general welfare of individuals by dealing with the lasting psychological effects of disasters, nutrition deficits, and compounded health disparities.
This explains why public health careers are witnessing a staggering rise in demand, especially disaster management. Those who feel compelled to better prepare communities for future disasters can opt for MPH disaster management to kick-start their career or can further study the public health domain if they are already working in it.
Contribute to Global Health
Public health programs are globally oriented. By pursuing them, you tend to promote the overall health of communities and thus create a worldwide impact. Major global health challenges include:
Infectious diseases: An infectious disease is one caused by an agent that can infect humans or animals. Examples include tuberculosis, malaria, and dengue fever. Public health professionals work with organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) to prevent the spread of these conditions through specific interventions such as vaccination campaigns or clean water supplies.
Noncommunicable diseases: Also called chronic diseases, these disorders include heart disease, stroke, and cancer. They can lead to death if left untreated but can be prevented with early detection and treatment options that improve quality of life while lowering risk factors associated with these conditions.
Diversified Field and Career Evolution
Public health is an ever-evolving in-demand field that is becoming more significant than ever. The field of public health is broad and encompasses many disciplines, such as:
Research and Education
Prevention and control of disease outbreaks
Surveillance and monitoring
Evaluation, planning, and management
Administration and policy development
As public health caters to a variety of domains, it, therefore, offers vast career opportunities to public health professionals. They can work as epidemiologist,environmental scientists, biostatisticians, nutritionists, and economists in a variety of settings which includes:
Local, state, and federal government agencies
Schools, universities, and research institutes
Healthcare facilities, including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and community organizations
Private companies
Nonprofit organizations
Job Stability and Higher Earning Potential
Public health is a growing field. On average, over 16,000 new job openings are projected annually for public health professionals. This means that if you choose to study public health, your chances of finding work after graduation will be greater than ever before.
The salaries of public health professionals are high due to the job security of being in the field. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual pay for public health workers is $48,860. In addition to being in high demand and receiving good pay, other benefits you receive as a public health professional include:
Paid time off
Health insurance options
Retirement benefit packages
Leadership Opportunities
As a public health professional, you will be expected to lead teams and individuals in pursuing goals aligned with your organization’s mission. This means you must be able to communicate effectively, build strong relationships with others, and motivate them through effective communication methods such as coaching or mentoring.
In addition, you can take on new roles with increased responsibility within your organization at various stages in your career. You may have opportunities for advancement where you can develop expertise in specific areas such as program development, policymaking, administration, or management.
Eradicate Diseases and Promote Preventative Care
Being a public health professional, you can play a part in public policy decisions that affect people’s daily lives.
You devise plans for infrastructure development alongside educating the public on disease prevention. They work to ensure that people have access to nutritious food; clean water; adequate sanitation facilities; safe working environments; and timely health care services.
Additionally, they help implement programs such as immunization programs or track trends in disease prevalence through surveillance methods such as case management or laboratory testing. They also promote the importance of vaccinations against infectious diseases, such as flu, measles, etc., that are preventable through vaccination.
Afterward, they monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of these public health programs and interventions.
Environmental Monitoring
Major environmental hazards are:
Air pollution: The contamination of air by the release of air pollutants
Water pollution: The contamination of water sources by waste products and industrial pollutants
Soil pollution: The contamination of soil with chemicals, microorganisms, or pesticides
Public health professionals play an important part in the environmental health field. They can help protect the environment by promoting sustainable development and conservation of biodiversity .
Conclusion
Being a public health professional is hard, but it can be a rewarding career choice. The best part of becoming a public health professional is that you can influence countless lives and impact communities all over the globe.
