Where Is the Future in Public Health

摘要: Context: Today's societies have far-reaching impacts on future conditions for health. Against this backdrop, article explores how the is represented in contemporary public health, examining both its conceptual base and influential approaches through which evidence generated policy. Methods: Mission statements official reviews provide insight into health's ethical foundations. For research practices, takes examples from epidemiological, intervention, economic research, selecting risk-factor epidemiology, randomized controlled trials, evaluation as exemplars. Findings: Concepts ethics suggest that health policy will be concerned with protecting today's tomorrow's populations threaten their But rather than facilitating sustained engagement exemplary to gathering focus population. Thus, epidemiology pinpoints risks temporal proximity individual; trials track short-term effects of interventions participants’ health; evaluations weigh policies according value current While orientation present near aligns well compressed timescales delivery democratic governments tend work, it makes difficult community direct attention health. Conclusions: This points need perspectives practices that, consistent foundations, represent interests populations.