Public Health Informatics

Abstract

Public health informatics leverages computing and information systems to advance the health and well-being of populations and communities. There exists a long-standing history of computers in governmental public health agencies to support capturing, managing, and processing data on population health. On the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, the field of public health informatics is an evolving, expanding discipline globally that goes well beyond data management and population-level statistics. Computing and information systems support core public health business processes, including surveillance, contact tracing, disease prevention, and community health assessment. As they do in clinical contexts, information systems are making public health business processes more efficient, which leads to a better understanding of population health status and better identification of emerging health threats, which leads to better decision-making for the health of communities. This chapter defines the scope of public health informatics and discusses how the emerging field complements and relates to clinical informatics. Clinical informaticians will likely interact with public health agencies to establish an information exchange for compliance with public health laws and a channel to receive knowledge relevant to the health status and threats facing their populations and communities.