Public Health: Essential Practices and Treatments
What is Health?
Public health is the set of activities and services to promote, protect, and restore the health of people.
Healthcare
Water Treatment and Disinfection
Supply water to the population must be preceded by potabilization, which consists of different processes:
- Pre-treatment: Includes filtration, decanting, and aeration.
- Disinfection: Can be achieved through chemical agents like chlorine or ozone, and ultraviolet radiation.
Waste Treatment
- Wastewater: Must be collected and returned to the environment, but only after undergoing preliminary purification treatment.
- Solid waste: The current trend is to enhance collection, enabling recycling of a significant portion of waste. Disposal of non-recyclable waste is done through landfilling or incineration.
Food Safety
- Food shortages: Affect many parts of the planet and are the cause of serious diseases.
- Conservation techniques: Guarantee good food quality.
- Health Monitoring: Designed to ensure the absence of parasites, microorganisms, and chemicals that can cause disease.
- Labeling: Allows consumers to know the characteristics of food.
- Manipulation: Should be done with strict hygiene measures.
The Treatment of Disease
The Use of Drugs
Chemotherapy is the use of chemicals (medications) to fight diseases. Among the chemicals used to prevent and combat disease are:
- Disinfectants
- Antiseptics
- Antibiotics
- Antivirals
- Analgesics
- Corticosteroids
- Others (anticoagulants, antihistamines, antidiabetics, anti-ulcer drugs)
The Treatment of Cancer
Cancer treatments include anticancer chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and radiotherapy.
The Rational Use of Medicines
Rational use implies that each patient receives the drugs most appropriate to their clinical needs, in measured doses and for the appropriate period.
Surgery
Surgery involves the direct manipulation of the organism to establish an accurate diagnosis or to repair damage to anatomical organs in order to cure disease.
| Surgical Specialty | Area of Focus |
|---|---|
| General Surgery | Gastrointestinal tract |
| Cardiac Surgery | Pathology and valvular heart disease |
| Neurosurgery | Nervous system disorders |
| Vascular Surgery | Blood Vessels |
| Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery | Conditions of face, neck, and mouth |
| Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery | Damage modification and repair; aesthetic appearance |
| Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology | Treatment of damage to bones, joints, and muscles |
| Pediatric Surgery | Corrects diseases or disorders in children |
Transplantation and Solidarity
A transplant is a surgical technique intended to replace an organ or tissue irreversibly damaged by one from a donor. Rejection is a response triggered by the recipient’s immune system, which recognizes antigens in the cells of the transplanted organ and attempts to destroy them.