ABSTRACT
The purpose of public health policy should be to prevent disease, to reduce death and disability, and to promote health on a community-wide basis. Public health practice should be grounded in science, in particular knowledge of the multiple aetiologies of various diseases and methods of transmission, as well as methodologies for prevention and for the operation of community health programmes. In essence, public health policy ought to encompass a vast range of concerns for a population’s health and social wellbeing. Its benefits should be improved health status within the national population.
