Objectives

Public Health is one of the efforts organized by society to protect, promote, and restore the people’s health. It is the combination of sciences, skills, and beliefs that is directed to the maintenance and improvement of the health of all the people through collective or social actions. The programs, services, and institutions involved emphasize the prevention of disease and the health needs of the population as a whole. Public health activities change with changing technology and social values, but the goals remain the same: to reduce the amount of disease, premature death, and disease-produced discomfort and disability in the population. Public health is thus a social institution, a discipline, and a practice.¹ The Acheson Report² offered a more succinct definition: The science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through organized efforts of society.
 

Objectives:

1. Provide a meeting ground for knowledge exchange among public health practitioners, policy makers, and researchers from a range of disciplines (e.g., epidemiology, social sciences, geography, nursing, etc.) and sectors.
2. Showcase innovative population and public health research and its translation to programs, policies and practice.
3. Profile strategies for building capacity for public health at local, pan-Canadian and international levels.
4. Share successes in public health programs, policies and practice.
5. Increase understanding of the organization of public health at local and pan-Canadian levels.
6. Leverage the potential of partnerships and collaboration to advance public health in the new millennium.

References

1. Higher Education for Public Health: A Report of the Milbank Memorial Fund Commission. New York: 1976
2. Public Health in England; The Report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Future Development of the Public Health Education. Cmnd 289. London: HMSO, 1988.