Library: Medicine & Public Health by Credo Reference: Public Health Policy

Government Agencies

Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)
From The Columbia Encyclopedia
Federal executive department charged with administering government health programs.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Topic Page
Agency established to safeguard the environment.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
From the The Columbia Encyclopedia
Agency of the Public Health Service division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is charged with protecting public health by ensuring that foods are safe and pure, cosmetics and other chemical substances harmless, and products safe, effective, and honestly labeled.
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
From Nursing Leadership The HRSA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is the principal federal division aimed at improving health care access to vulnerable and special needs populations
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
From the The Columbia Encyclopedia
Agency of the U.S. Public Health Service, with headquarters in Bethesda, Md. It was established initially in 1887 as a laboratory in the U.S. Marine Hospital on Staten Island in New York City, and was given its present name in 1948.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
From The Great American History Fact-Finder
A federal agency of the Department of Labor established by Congress in 1970 to maintain safe conditions in the workplace.
Surgeon General of the United States
From The American Heritage Medical Dictionary
The chief general officer in the medical departments of the US Army, Navy, or Air Force.
United Nations: Topic Page
The United Nations (U.N.) is both an international organization and a transnational association of countries. Its primary mission is to maintain world peace and security and promote social development and human rights.
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA): Topic Page
Federal executive department established in 1862, whose head was made a cabinet member in 1889. The department administers federal programs related to food production and rural life.

Policies & Topics in Public Health

Air Pollution: Topic Page
Contamination of the air by noxious gases and minute particles of solid and liquid matter (particulates) in concentrations that endanger health.
Biodiversity: Topic Page
Biodiversity is generally used to refer to all aspects of variability evident within the living world, including diversity within and between individuals, populations, species, communities, and ecosystems.
Environmentalism: Topic Page
Emerged out of concerns over pollution, global warming, soil erosion, deforestation, waste disposal, and resource depletion.
Food Poisoning: Topic Page
Acute illness following the eating of foods contaminated by bacteria, bacterial toxins, natural poisons, or harmful chemical substances.
Health Care: Topic Page
Health care refers to services provided by medical professionals aimed at promoting physical and mental welfare, through the prevention, treatment, and management of illness.
Health Promotion
From Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine
Health promotion is any planned combination of educational, political, regulatory and organizational supports for actions and conditions of living conducive to the health of individuals, groups, or communities.
Human Nutrition: Topic Page
Securing adequate food supplies and necessary nutrition is a global concern. The production, distribution, and consumption of food are matters that concern governments, corporations, and individuals everywhere.
Human Rights: Topic Page
A right is an entitlement that is usually encoded in a legal context (see law). One can distinguish between human rights and citizenship rights.
Immunization: Topic Page
Process of conferring immunity to infectious disease by artificial methods, in other words making someone not liable to catch a disease.
Industrial health and safety
From McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Science and Technology
An interdisciplinary field that focuses on preventing occupational illnesses and injuries.
Pollution: Topic Page
The concept of pollution consists of the inappropriate or undesirable mixing of items or elements that may in themselves be quite appropriate or desirable.
Science and Public Health
From the Encyclopedia of American Studies
The connection between science and the health of the American public evolved late in the nineteenth century. Innovations during the twentieth century brought radical changes to health care.
Standard of Living: Topic Page
Level of consumption that an individual, group, or nation has achieved.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
The food stamp program is a federal program to help low-income people buy food.
Vaccination: Topic Page
Means of producing immunity against pathogens, such as viruses and bacteria, by the introduction of live, killed, or altered antigens that stimulate the body to produce antibodies against more dangerous forms.
Water Pollution: Topic Page
Contamination of water resources by harmful wastes.
Water-supply: Topic Page
Process or activity by which water is provided for some use, e.g., to a home, factory, or business. The term may also refer to the supply of water provided in this way.