Public Health

Public health is concerned with protecting and improving the health of populations rather than treating individual patients. It asks how diseases spread and how they can be prevented, what social and environmental factors determine who gets ill and who stays well, and how health systems and services can be designed and delivered most effectively for communities. It draws on epidemiology, biostatistics, social science, policy analysis and health promotion to produce evidence-based approaches to some of the most consequential questions a society can face.

At Anglia Ruskin University this three-year full-time programme covers the breadth of public health practice, from supporting individuals and communities to improve their health and wellbeing, to preventing the spread of communicable disease, to ensuring the accessibility and suitability of health and care services. You will learn to interpret both real and simulated health data, to propose evidence-based public health measures, and to communicate your findings clearly to different audiences. The programme develops your ability to engage with public health challenges across their scientific, social, political and ethical dimensions, preparing you for work in a field that requires both rigorous analysis and the ability to translate evidence into action.

Public health is increasingly recognised as central to health systems and government policy, and graduates with formal training in the discipline are in growing demand.

Graduates move into roles in public health departments, local authorities, the NHS, national agencies, international health organisations, charities and the voluntary sector. Many pursue postgraduate study in public health, epidemiology, health policy or global health, and some go on to professional registration as public health practitioners. The breadth of the degree also supports entry into related fields including health promotion, health research and environmental health.