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From the Centers for Disease Control and he field of public health aims to improve the health of as many
Prevention, Atlanta. Address reprint re- people as possible as rapidly as possible. Since 1900, the average life span
quests to Dr. Frieden at the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clif- in the United States has increased by more than 30 years; 25 years of this
ton Rd., Atlanta, GA 30333, or at tfrieden@ gain have been attributed to public health advances.1,2 Globally, life expectancy
cdc.gov. doubled during the 20th century,3 largely as a result of reductions in child mortal-
N Engl J Med 2015;373:1748-54. ity attributable to expanded immunization coverage, clean water, sanitation, and
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMsa1511248 other child-survival programs.4
Copyright 2015 Massachusetts Medical Society.
Public health focuses on denominators what proportion of all people who
can benefit from an intervention actually benefit. Maximizing health requires
contributions from many sectors of society, including broad social, economic,
environmental, transportation, and other policies in which government plays key
roles; involvement of civil society; innovation by the public and private sectors; and
health care and public health action. Although there has sometimes been distrust
and disrespect between the health care and public health fields,5 they are inevita-
bly and increasingly interdependent; maximizing potential health gains is a defin-
ing challenge for both fields.
under 5 years of age, although at least another facilities. Such facilities need full-time staff
1.5 million deaths could be averted if current dedicated to monitoring and improving infec-
programs were expanded and new vaccines de- tion control, and facility leadership needs to
veloped.21 fully support these staff.
The Ebola epidemic that began in West Africa
in 2014 revealed once again how a weak link in Chronic Dise a se s in
disease detection and control anywhere can be a the Uni ted S tate s
vulnerability everywhere. In theory, control of
Ebola is simple. Programs must find, isolate, and Tobacco use is still the leading underlying cause
safely care for infected people, track contacts, of death in the United States and worldwide.
and safely bury patients who die. The challenge Smoking prevalence in the United States is de-
in West Africa has been to undertake these tasks clining, albeit slowly. Smoking-cessation coun-
in communities with no electricity or running seling and treatment are effective clinical inter-
water, no Internet or cell-phone coverage, large ventions, but public health interventions, including
segments of society that are nonliterate and raising tobacco taxes, expanding smoke-free
trust neither the government nor modern med- public places, running hard-hitting antitobacco
icine, and a near complete lack of core public advertising campaigns, reducing images of smok-
health infrastructure. ing in movies and television, and increasing the
The Ebola outbreak offers three essential les- purchase age to 21 years, can reduce smoking
sons. First, every country must have the core rates much more. In its first 3 years, the Tips
public health functionality to identify a threat from Former Smokers advertising campaign
when it emerges, stop it promptly, and prevent it from the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
wherever possible. The goal of the Global Health vention helped at least 300,000 smokers quit and
Security Agenda is to strengthen every countrys saved at least 50,000 lives, at a cost of less than
capacity, including trained epidemiologists, high- $500 per smoker who quit, less than $400 per
quality laboratories, timely and accurate disease- year of life saved, and less than $3,000 per life
surveillance systems, and rapid response teams.22,23 saved.29 Regulation of the toxicity and addictive-
Second, when national capacity is over- ness of combustible tobacco holds promise for
whelmed, the world must be able to move imme- reducing the harms of tobacco but faces certain
diately and decisively. Epidemics are global prob- opposition from the tobacco industry.
lems. The World Health Organization (WHO) and Improved cardiovascular care, particularly bet-
its Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network ter blood-pressure control, can save far more
need to strengthen global response capacity in lives than any other clinical intervention but will
epidemiology, laboratory science, clinical care, require substantial improvement at the fourth
logistics, anthropology, and other disciplines level of the pyramid. Better implementation of
essential for disease control. The responses in the ABCS daily aspirin use for people at
individual countries can be quicker, more efficient, high risk, blood-pressure control, cholesterol man-
and more cost-effective than a global effort but agement, and smoking cessation could save
only if systems in daily use can be rapidly scaled 100,000 lives yearly in the United States if rates
up in emergencies. of clinical service utilization increase to those
Third, the lack of effective infection preven- achieved by high-performing systems.7 Every
tion and control in hospitals and other health 10% increase in the number of people effectively
care facilities is a key vulnerability. Because Ebola treated for hypertension would lead to preven-
infections, MERS, and the severe acute respira- tion of an additional 14,000 deaths a greater
tory syndrome (SARS) usually result in severe impact than that of any other intervention stud-
illness or death within weeks after exposure, the ied.7 Nationally, just over half of adults with hy-
presence and spread of these infections are read- pertension have it under control, up from slight-
ily apparent. But tuberculosis,24,25 diseases caused ly over 40% 15 years ago.30,31 But health systems
by drug-resistant organisms,26 Clostridium difficile such as Kaiser Permanente Northern California32
infection,27 measles,28 and many other conditions and communities such as MinneapolisSt. Paul33
are routinely spread in health care facilities. Every have increased control rates to 70 to 80%.
country needs a strong system to support, coor- Some of the highest-performing U.S. health
dinate, and monitor infection control in health systems Geisinger,34 North Shore,35 and oth-
ers examined data from electronic health re- tion is sub-Saharan Africa, although chronic
cords and found that nearly a third of people diseases are increasing there as well. Healthier
with multiple elevated readings were never told populations will increase economic stability and
that they had high blood pressure, much less growth, and effective collaboration to imple-
had it treated. Investigators identified and treat- ment programs that address these diseases can
ed patients with elevated blood-pressure read- provide important lessons on how to tackle the
ings and created automated reminders to find leading causes of preventable disability and pre-
and treat patients who would not otherwise be mature death.
included in the denominator for clinical quality Tobacco use kills more than 6 million people
measures.36 per year more deaths than HIV, tuberculosis,
High sodium intake is a leading contributor and malaria combined, and nearly 80% of these
to hypertension, and Americans consume an deaths occur in low- and middle-income coun-
average of 3500 mg of sodium per day, far more tries.44 Without urgent action, tobacco use will
than recommended. Reducing average sodium kill more than 1 billion people in this century.
intake by a third could save up to half a million Bloomberg Philanthropies, joined by the Bill and
lives and nearly $100 billion in health care costs Melinda Gates Foundation and supporting WHO
over the next 10 years.37,38 Because the sodium and individual countries, have expanded the
content of most processed and restaurant foods WHO-recommended MPOWER strategy in recent
puts reducing intake beyond personal or clinical years (Table1). These efforts are expected to
reach,39 action is needed at the societal level, prevent more than 7 million deaths in the 41
such as working with food manufacturers and countries that fully implemented at least one
restaurants to steadily reduce sodium content. MPOWER policy between 2007 and 2010, and
In the United Kingdom, industry initially re- that impact is expected to increase dramatically
sisted government calls to voluntarily reduce in the future.45 Nevertheless, much more must
sodium content but then reduced sodium levels be done to reduce tobacco use.
in many food categories by 14 to 36% in 2 to Hypertension is the only condition that kills
3years achieving a 20% reduction in bread more people globally than tobacco use more
between 2001 and 2011 and a 57% reduction in than 9 million per year.46 Blood pressure does
breakfast cereals between 2004 and 2011.40 Aver- not necessarily increase with age if sodium in-
age British sodium intake fell by 15% between take, physical activity, and other factors remain
2003 and 2011, and there was a substantial re- in the healthy range.47 However, even with effec-
duction in average blood pressure, a 40% drop tive community-wide interventions, there will be
in the number of deaths from heart attacks, and substantial need for treatment of hypertension.
a 42% decrease in deaths from stroke, with re- Currently, only about one in seven people with
duced sodium intake estimated to account for a hypertension has it under control. Improved
quarter to a third of the mortality reduction.41 functioning at the fourth level of the pyramid,
Although the rapid increases seen in obesity including through standardized protocols that
since the 1970s appear to have leveled off, obe- simplify availability, delivery, and use of core
sity and overweight continue to be serious prob- blood-pressure medications and allow tasks to
lems in the United States.42 Increasing physical be delegated to nursing and nonmedical staff,
activity and improving nutrition are keys to obe- could save a million or more lives worldwide
sity prevention and control, and policies that each year; a reduction of sodium intake in con-
change the environment to make healthful eat- junction with treatment could save even more.46
ing and regular physical activity easier, safer, and In much of the world, motor vehicle crashes
more attractive are likely to be most effective.43 are now the leading cause of death among peo-
ple 15 to 29 years of age. Public health interven-
tions at the lower levels of the pyramid are effec-
Chronic Dise a se s a round
the Wor l d tive, inexpensive, and highly cost-effective. Such
interventions include lowering allowable blood
Even in low-income countries, chronic diseases alcohol levels for drivers and implementing ran-
and injuries now kill twice as many people as dom traffic stops to reduce drunk driving; in-
infectious diseases, and rates are higher than creasing the use of seat belts, child restraints,
those in high-income countries. The only excep- and helmets; promoting increased taxation of
alcohol; and reducing and enforcing speed lim- tecting adulterated food, prohibiting alcohol-
its. Better-engineered roads and vehicles also impaired driving, and protecting workers and
increase safety and reduce crash injuries and the public from second-hand smoke. Legal and
deaths. Policies require effective enforcement, policy changes in this area often both reflect
which is lacking in many parts of the world. and accelerate changes in social norms. The
third is to implement societal interventions
when individuals cannot efficiently or effectively
The Rol e of G ov er nmen t
protect their own health through such policies
A responsive government can maintain that peo- as vaccination mandates, clean air regulations,
ple are responsible for their own health while water fluoridation, micronutrient fortification of
also taking public health action that changes food, and elimination of lead in paint and gaso-
default choices to make it easier for people to line interventions that have all greatly im-
stay healthy.48 Key public health actions do one proved the health of Americans.1,49
of three things, all of which are now well ac-
cepted but were initially controversial. The first The F u t ur e
is to promote free and open information such
as truth-in-advertising laws and nutrition-facts In the future, clinical medicine could see costs
panels. The second is to protect people from increase without substantial improvement in
harm caused by others for example, by de- health outcomes.50 Alternatively, new delivery
models and technology could substantially in- The involvement of many parts of society,
crease healthy life expectancy. The public health including government agencies, health organiza-
field, for its part, may not be able to keep pace tions, nongovernmental organizations, clinicians,
with changing risks and increased opposition to the private sector, and communities, is increas-
core public health actions that promote healthy ingly important for success. Everyone benefits
living or it could expand its past successes to when people are healthier.
further reduce tobacco and alcohol use, control Accountability for outcomes is essential
persistent infectious diseases, increase physical public healths obsession with denominators can
activity, improve nutrition, and reduce harms reduce the number of people missed by interven-
from injuries and other environmental risks. tions that improve health and save lives. Work-
By working more closely together, clinical ing together, clinical medicine and public health
medicine and public health can help each other can ensure that people live active and productive
improve health maximally and emphasize lives far longer than was ever thought possible.
societys responsibility to promote both healthy Presented as the 125th Shattuck Lecture at the annual meet-
environments and consistent, high-quality care. ing of the Massachusetts Medical Society, Boston, May 1, 2015.
Public health organizations can publicize infor- Disclosure forms provided by the author are available with the
full text of this article at NEJM.org.
mation on health outcomes and risks that clari- I thank the Massachusetts Medical Society for the honor of
fies the need for, or achievement of, substantial presenting the 2015 Shattuck Lecture; Richard Garfield, R.N.,
progress. Clinical experts can identify and vali- Ph.D., Sherri Berger, M.S.P.H., Michael Iademarco, M.D., M.P.H.,
and Debra Houry, M.D., M.P.H., for critical review of the manu-
date preventable harms and effective interven- script; and Kathryn Foti and Drew Blakeman for additional re-
tions to protect patients. search and assistance in the preparation of the manuscript.
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