noun

• 1The health of the population as a whole, especially as the subject of government regulation and support.

  ‘chlorine has been used to disinfect water supplies to protect public health’

  More example sentences

  • ‘a public health risk’
  • ‘With most US residents spending 90 percent of their time indoors, indoor air pollution has a significant impact on public health.’
  • ‘In the area of public health, government spending will actually decrease.’
  • ‘Since 1998, pre-paid water meters have been outlawed in Britain as a threat to public health.’
  • ‘These limited enforcement funds seriously weaken government's ability to enforce laws passed to protect public health and natural resources.’
  • ‘There has been much discussion of the dangers of the anti-MMR campaign to public health.’
  • ‘Air pollution arising from transport and industrial emissions has a major effect on public health.’
  • ‘The threat of a flu epidemic is one of many problems facing scientists and public health authorities.’
  • ‘The cost of living is very high in a state that straddles the Arctic Circle, especially in transportation and public health.’
  • ‘We need a major investment in our public health systems.’
  • ‘She was the first person in the English-speaking world to apply statistics to public health.’
  • ‘We already spend a great deal on public health.’
  • ‘This is a serious public health matter.’
  • ‘One in ten Britons can expect to suffer from diabetes by 2010 as the full impact of the country's soaring levels of obesity takes its toll on public health.’
  • ‘America is one of the few places on the planet where obesity has become a public-health epidemic.’
  • ‘Public-health history has emphasized the importance of efforts to control pathogens.’
  • ‘Outbreaks of yellow fever and cholera increased the role of city government in public-health matters.’

  1. 1.1The branch of medicine dealing with public health, including hygiene, epidemiology, and disease prevention.
     More example sentences

     • ‘these diseases are of great interest in the field of public health’