Allied Health World Home  |  Public Health  |  Georgia Public Health Schools

| | More

Georgia School of Public Health – GA

By allied health world contributing writer
Published:  February 12th, 2010

Here is additional information on specific divisions for public health around which Georgia public health schools design programs:

Environmental Health

The role of environmental health specialists in Georgia is to provide the initial prevention of environmental conditions that negatively affect the health of humans. This is done through education, surveillance, enforcement, and assessment programs that are intended to decipher and prevent these adverse conditions.

Programs include food service, on-site sewage land use, well water, tourist accommodations, chemical hazards, and swimming pool services. http://health.state.ga.us/programs/envservices/index.asp

Epidemiology

Epidemiologists in Georgia assist with things such as injuries, chronic diseases, the health of children and pregnant women, health statistics, influenza surveillance, and notifiable diseases.
http://health.state.ga.us/epi/index.asp.

Emergency Preparedness

Emergency Preparedness programs in Georgia are directed by the Health Alert Network (HAN), which is a division of the Georgia Department of Health, Division of Public Health’s Bioterrorism Preparedness Program. It is funded by the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) in an attempt to form an integrated information and communications network for health professionals on a national scale.

Duties of the HAN include professional workforce training, emergency communications, test reporting for electronic laboratories, epidemiological investigation and disease surveillance, and preparedness planning. The HAN assists health departments in their preparation for response to a bioterrorism problem by offering information and training, and will allow emergency responders and health care providers to communicate with each other efficiently during such an incident. http://health.state.ga.us/programs/emerprep/index.asp

Family Health

In Georgia, the Family Health Branch is dedicated to the health and education of children and their families, which it says is the key to proper individual development and growth that is vital to maintaining communities that are safe and economically sturdy.

Careers in the family health field include children’s medical services, nutrition, school health, women’s health, and health for children and youth with special needs. http://health.state.ga.us/programs/family/index.asp

Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

The mission of Georgia’s Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion department is to create healthy environments, prevent chronic diseases, improve lifestyles for all Georgians, and prevent premature death and disability.

Careers include chronic disease prevention in the areas of arthritis, cancer, and asthma, along with a program in tobacco use prevention. http://health.state.ga.us/programs/chronic/index.asp

Immunization

The goal of the immunization section of the Division of Public Health is to collaborate with advocacy groups, along with private and public providers, to increase the rate of disease immunizations for all Georgians.

Careers include adult and adolescent immunization, travel immunization, and vaccine safety.
http://health.state.ga.us/programs/immunization/index.asp

Vital Records

The State Office of Vital Records preserves the quality and integrity of vital event data for all Georgians and offers policy-related data to its federal and state partners.

Opportunities in the State Office of Vital Records include the areas of birth and death certificates, marriage and divorce records, and putative father registry.  http://health.state.ga.us/programs/vitalrecords/index.asp

Through campus based and online programs, aspiring Public Health Professionals in Atlanta, Augusta, Columbus and Savannah, Georgia may be able to prepare themselves for the possibility of employment in some of the largest hospitals and healthcare facilities in the state including Atlanta Medical Center, Grady Memorial Hospital, WellStar Kennestone Hospital, and DeKalb Medical at North Decatur.