ABSTRACT
However the boundaries of public health responsibility are drawn, and however public health responsibility is allocated, there will always be externalities constraining public health practice. Awareness of these externalities will assist in the formulation of public health objectives and strategies. It would not be possible to include in a definition of public health all of the factors which affect public health, or the definition would read something like a treatise on the meaning of life, and would be for all practical purposes useless. Nevertheless, it is important to identify issues which will influence the public health profile of societies. This chapter will assess these constraints.
