public health

American  

noun

1. health services to improve and protect community health, especially sanitation, immunization, and preventive medicine.

---

Other Word Forms

• public-health
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of public health

First recorded in 1610–20

Example Sentences

WHO and other health authorities say the threat to public health is low.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026

He called for tougher penalties and warned that spills like this may pose a public health risk.

From BBC • May 6, 2026

Hantavirus is fairly rare in the Americas, but its high case fatality rate makes it a disease of major public health concern, the World Health Organization says.

From Los Angeles Times • May 4, 2026

"Conversely, tourism can involve negative experiences that potentially lead to health problems, paralleling the process of promoting entropy increase. A prominent example is the public health crisis of COVID-19."

From Science Daily • May 4, 2026

At the Harvard School of Public Health, Farmer had gotten used to hearing that public health problems should be solved with “appropriate technology.”

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French