Programs in public and community health prepare people to work as health officers. Students learn to manage healthcare services. They also study preventive medicine, health policy, and health law enforcement.

When most people think about health or healthcare, they often think about it on an individual level. We think about patients with their individual health concerns and doctors or nurses who see these patients individually.

But sometimes we find ourselves in a situation where it occurs to us to think about healthcare on a larger level. Maybe there was a chicken pox outbreak in your first-grade class. Or maybe everyone in your family suffered from food poisoning after eating at the same restaurant.

Protecting and promoting the health of populations, and not just single individuals, is what public health specialists do. In fact, one prominent public health figure, former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop describes it best: "Healthcare is vital to all of us some of the time, but public health is vital to us all of the time."

As a public health specialist, you monitor the health of communities large and small. You conduct research and analysis to identify potential or actual health problems. To help alleviate these problems and prevent them from recurring, you then plan, develop, and implement public policies and programs.

In order to do these things, you need a solid background in biological, physical, social, and behavioral sciences. You also need to study research methodologies and learn to develop and promote health services and disease prevention programs. You also need to learn principles of effective management and administration.

It is also possible to specialize in this program. The most common areas are international public health, maternal and child public health, and public health education. You can also concentrate on preventing diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Choosing a specialization means you take course work in that area as well. For example, if you want to focus on maternal and child health, you'll take course work in reproduction and pediatric health. Education courses are often offered, and even required.

The field of public and community health is interdisciplinary, which lends itself to many different career opportunities. If you enjoy health sciences and lab research, you could work in a lab and conduct research on the properties of disease. If you're passionate about political activism, you could work in an organization and lobby for public health policy changes. If you have a keen business sense, you could work in a health administration capacity, running a public health organization. These are just a few examples.

Many schools offer public and community health programs where you can earn a bachelor's, a master's, or a doctoral degree. In general, getting a bachelor's degree takes about four years of full-time study after high school. A master's degree usually takes between five and six years and a doctoral degree typically about ten years.