Public Health Protection—I’m Thankful for It Each Day

Public health icon Bill Foege once stated, “No one will ever thank you for the disease they didn’t get,” and that’s a truism those in the public health profession encounter each day. This week, the nation commemorates National Public Health Week to honor our professionals who serve in critical frontline and support roles to protect America from infectious and chronic diseases as well as respond to emerging health threats.

 While COVID-19 has been the central story of the past three years, it’s important to remember all the other activities our nation’s public health workers undertake every day in health departments, labs, clinics and communities to protect us all. Among many other responsibilities, these dedicated individuals:

 -         Make sure our food, drinking water and indoor air are safe;

-         Immunize adults and children to prevent the spread of contagious diseases;

-         Work on tobacco control to reduce mortality from the number one preventable cause of death in the United States;

-         Prepare our nation to respond to emergencies and a wide variety of dangerous threats;

-         Collaborate with local organizations to promote the safety and wellbeing of all people in a community; and

-         Work with foreign nations to help detect and contain health threats before they arrive here.

 As a nation, we have unfortunately taken for granted our public health workers and the successes of the public health profession. We have fallen into a pattern of primarily calling them out when something goes wrong versus honoring what goes well. While as a profession it’s appropriate for us to continuously look at past challenges to learn how we can improve, our nation should also elevate and celebrate all that goes right.

 For instance, when we go to a restaurant, most of us take for granted the food is safe to eat. When we get in our car, we don’t think about strapping on our seat belt—a public health measure that has saved 375,000 lives since 1975, a number that is larger than the capitol city populations in 39 of 50 states. The medical and public health marvel of immunizations has saved hundreds of millions of lives from diseases like smallpox, polio, measles, whooping cough and COVID-19, diseases that once caused great suffering and death.

 Globally, progress in treating HIV/AIDS, which less than two decades ago was a death sentence for millions, has seen tremendous improvements. Between 2004 and 2022, those receiving life-saving antiretroviral treatments has increased 300-fold through the public health focused U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR.

 These are just some examples of how public health has made the lives of Americans and people across the globe safer and healthier.

 Of course, there is more we can do as a profession to reach those who are most in need in cities and in rural communities across our nation, and during the COVID-19 pandemic there has been greater recognition of the critical role community-based organizations play in reaching key audiences. The theme for this year’s American Public Health Association National Public Health Week, “centering and celebrating cultures in health,” emphasizes this point.

 As APHA describes, “Our cultures have always shaped our health. We learn from the communities we're born in and that we build together… We celebrate the unique and joyful ways different cultures focus on health. And we look to how we can learn from each other, with humility and openness.” 

 As we commemorate the critical work of America’s public health profession, we must also acknowledge that as a nation we can do much more to ensure we have a robust, effective, diverse and equitable public health system. This includes more funding and support to ensure desperately needed investments in staff, training, technology, partnerships and more.

 Beyond funding, we must also ensure our public health departments have the legal authorities they need to protect us all. Together, we must rally to prevent the weakening of those authorities, which will reduce the profession’s ability to protect us all when the next pandemic inevitably occurs.

 This National Public Health Week, like every week, I’m thankful for our public health workers. And, I hope that as a nation we will take this moment to acknowledge their work, commitment, creativity and sacrifices to protect us all. This is the time to thank the field for all the diseases we didn’t get and come together to provide them the support they need to be successful. 

Judy Monroe, MD, is president and CEO of the CDC Foundation