Public Health and Medicine: Paradox or Complimentary?

I warmly welcome you to this second issue of the International Journal of Medicine and Public Health. I feel that it is great that the need for Public Health: health promotion and disease prevention, is now being recognized within Medicine. However, at the same time it still is odd that medicine in itself does not imply public health. This is clearly illustrated by the addition of the word ‘and’ between these two important societal issues. The reason for public health and medicine not being integrated may originate from the focus on the individual from the medical point of view, whereas the focus of public health is on groups and society as a whole. So, medicine and public health are not one and the same, even though they strive the same goal: improving health. Nevertheless, improving health at a societal level, may differ from improving health at an individual level. This is where the ‘Prevention paradox of Rose’ comes in. Read more...