Public Health: Implications of Health Behaviors and Diseases

An important objective of public health practice and policy development is to influence health behavior change in the population. During the pre-COVID-19 era, this core objective of public health was observed in the significant increase of global support for the public health field with increasing attention to preventing exposures to unhealthy behaviors and risk factors while encouraging healthy lifestyle practices through behavioral modifications. The public health practitioners were excited about the positive outcomes of these interventions at private, public and professional levels. However, bridging the disparities gap is still a problem. Globally, there are major health disparity issues concerning healthcare, vaccination, prevention of diseases and treatment of diseases. The disparity gap is also increasing between racial groups and countries. The COVID-19 era significantly exposed the complexities of these disparities within healthcare practices such as access to care, vaccination and treatments for COVID-19 both within and across countries.