Chapter 10

Population Health

The birth of the public health movement lies in the cradle of industrialization and urbanization. The nineteenth century witnessed an era of devastating cholera epidemics throughout Europe that spurred early health professionals into establishing campaigns to address the growing disease threats and to mobilize public and government action. It witnessed the shift from an ineffective passive and persuasive approach at both data gathering and mobilization of action to an increasingly more effective active and compulsory approach. This active and compulsory approach became a trend that consistently colors the evolution of public health initiatives.

From its inception, public health evidence has been of a numerical nature, relying on the quantification of medicine. Today, public health is fundamentally dependent on the development and implementation of information strategies and technologies. These are in turn dependent on the widespread implementation and interoperability of integrated databases that contain necessary, reliable, and complete data.