Background
The goals of public health are to protect and promote health and prevent disease and injury. This is done through a wide range of population-based programs and services offered by federal, state, and local governments. They include preventing disease through immunization programs, monitoring and containing communicable disease outbreaks, ensuring air and water quality, guaranteeing food safety, preventing injuries and violence, protecting the health and safety of workers, collecting data for public health surveillance purposes, and conducting public health research and education.