• Journal of agricultural medicine and community health
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.195-214
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• 2012

The New Public Health(NPH) is a comprehensive approach to protecting and promoting the health status of each individual member and society as a whole. NHP is not so much a philosophy to broaden the understanding of public health as it is an action plan to address current public health system. This paper's objectives include increasing public and professional awareness of the significant changes in the national public health systems of developed countries and contributing to more effective delivery of public health services in Korea. This paper reviews articles and documents concerning NPH and the public health system, and outlines of the achievements in developed countries since NPH movement began. These include the change in the definition and function of public health, expansion of public health networks, strengthening of public health policy, reorientation of public health delivery systems, promotion of workforce capacity, and the implementation of evidence-based management. To overcome the challenges facing the public health system of Korea, we must prioritize the value of population-based approach, expand the notion of a public health system to encompass all sectors that can influence health, promote a "Health in All Policies" approach, focus on an evidence-based health policy and program, develop core competencies for public health workers, and establish performance standards for public health organizations based on the core functions of public health.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.131-152
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• 2001

Public health system and public health practice have changed over the past decades as the result of social and epidemiologic changes. New public health concept emphasizes leadership, strategical thinking, systematic planning and effective performance to identify and solve complex health problem In Korea, the role of Health Center has been expanded rapidly. However there is strong suspicion that Health Center can achieve their mission. This paper aims at understanding what is the needed functions of Health Center and which of its aspects needs improvement. The main results of this study are summarizes as follows. District Health Law does not address the core functions of Health Center. The staffs of Health Center have difficulties in prioritizing their services. The recent attempt to restructure Health Center and change delivery pattern of public health services ended with only limited success. To effectively confront threats to the public's health, the three major function of Health Center must be ${\circled}1$ modifying individual behavior and lifestyle, ${\circled}2$ improving social and economic conditions, and ${\circled}3$ reforming health policies. Better results do not come from setting new functions only; they come from understanding and improving the processes that will then leads to better outcome. We recommend that policy-makers focus economic evaluation of public health programs, building and spreading of the scientific evidence of programs, linkage of public health research and public health program. The criteria of delegation of public health service to private sector is urgently needed. Making community health information data available on a routine basis to providers, managers and researchers of public health services helps promote the efficiency of the overall operation of public health system.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.277-279
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• 2015

Contact monitoring is an essential component of the public health response to a Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak, and is required for an effective quarantine to contain the epidemic. The timeliness of a quarantine is associated with its effectiveness. This paper provides a conceptual framework to describe the process of contact monitoring, and proposes a new measure called the "timely quarantined proportion" as a tool to assess the adequacy of a public health response.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Rural Health Nursing
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.145-152
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• 2007

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to suggest new directions for public health programs in rural and remote areas. Method: For this purpose, a literature review was done including articles, research reports, and master theses and doctoral dissertations. Results: Public health programs in rural remote areas were found to be very insufficient in terms of professional personnel and program diversity. Especially, there is a lack of adequate manpower and infra-structure in the public health sub-centers at the township and sub county level. Although community health practitioners at the village level are providing public health service beyond medical care, their coverage rate is very low. Conclusion: The results suggest a need to strengthen the function of public health sub-centers to provide comprehensive public health service based on the life-cycle approach. For this new change, legal and political support must be developed.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.349-364
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• 2011

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between new-building of rural public health centers and the outpatient medical utilization. Methods : The study subjects were 141 public health centers in rural area. The data were collected from 1995 to 2001, medical utilization and local population, healthcare resources, and economic characteristics were included. In order to evaluate new-building effects, we performed paired t-tests and multivariate regression analyses. Results : The following variables are significant affecting the medical utilization of rural public health centers: urban side location of public health centers(p<0.05), pre- and post-IMF economic crisis(p<0.001), number of medical aid recipients(p<0.01), number of private clinics(p<0.05), workers of public health centers(p<0.001), financial independent level of local governments(p<0.001). In contrast, the existence of new-building and number of the aged 65 and over were not significant variables. Conclusions : We could not find out the positive relationship between the existence of new-building and the volume of medical utilization in rural public health centers. In particular the medical utilization of rural public health centers is significantly affected by IMF economic recession and number of the poor strata, the economically depressed area.

• Korean Medical Education Review
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.18-34
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• 2022

The purpose of this study is to clarify the background of the controversial attempt to establish a new public medical school linked to compulsory service as a means of strengthening public healthcare in Korea, and to raise anticipated problems with possible solutions. In Korea, healthcare is predominantly provided by the private sector focused on medical care, rather than public healthcare, even under the national health insurance system. The government has been mainly in charge of public health and unmet medical services from a residual perspective, but health inequalities still exist. To resolve this issue, the government created the concept of public health and medical service (PHMS) from a universal perspective and tried to strengthen the infrastructure of public healthcare and to foster core PHMS doctors by establishing a new public medical school linked to compulsory service in medically vulnerable areas. This study investigated the reality and concept of the new public medical school planned by the government, and identified problems such as the possibility of obtaining accreditation and evaluation before its establishment, the side effects of dividing doctors' roles, the waste of huge amounts of resources, and insensitive policies. In conclusion, in order to resolve health inequalities in Korea, we need to train doctors through medical school education that strengthens the social responsibility of doctors along with strengthening public healthcare infrastructure, and to provide a better environment for doctors working in medically vulnerable areas through sophisticated policies.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2024

The purpose of this study is to determine the issues of supplementation and improvement to prepare for the outbreak of new infectious diseases such as new variants of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) to guide work for a strategic new response to infectious disease. Public officials of Jeju Special Self-governing Province and health personnel responding to COVID-19, working at six public health centers in Jeju-do region were administered a survey about additional preparations to be made in the future, based on the period when COVID-19 was treated legally as a first-class infectious disease. Frequency analysis was conducted on the collected data. The Likert 5-point scale and Kruskal-Wallis test were used to compare the scores for effective response to emerging infectious diseases according to demographics. Among the important factors identified for effective response to new infectious diseases, 'facilitation of cooperation with public institutions' and 'facilitation of cooperation with private institutions' had the highest scores. In the future, when a patient presents with a new infectious disease, the step that needs to be supplemented in each phase of the public health center's response is 'immediate response team operation'. Further, public health centers responded that 'expansion of dedicated personnel related to infectious diseases' needs to be improved to respond to new infectious diseases. Along with the results of this study, considering the difficulties experienced by health personnel responding to new infectious diseases in preparation for future outbreaks of new infectious diseases, and to respond effectively, detailed and clear guidelines for responding to quarantine of patients of new infectious diseases will be needed.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.455-458
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• 2010

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law on March 23, 2010 and will fundamentally alter health care in the United States for years to come. The US is currently one of the only industrialized countries without universal health insurance. The new law expands existing public insurance for the poor. It also provides financial credits to low income individuals and some small businesses to purchase health insurance. By government estimates, the law will bring insurance to 30 million people. The law also provides for a significant new investment in prevention and wellness. It appropriates an unprecedented $15 billion in a prevention and public health fund, to be disbursed over 10 years, as well as creates a national prevention council to oversee the government's prevention efforts. This paper discusses 3 major prevention provisions in the legislation: 1) the waiving of cost-sharing for clinical preventive services, 2) new funding for community preventive services, and 3) new funding for workplace wellness programs. The paper examines the scientific evidence behind these provisions as well as provides examples of some model programs. Taken together, these provisions represent a significant advancement for prevention in the US health care system, including a shift towards healthier environments. However, in this turbulent economic and political environment, there is a real threat that much of the law, including the prevention provisions, will not receive adequate funding.

• Health Policy and Management
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.265-270
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• 2016

Public health system for more prevention-oriented health promotion rather than hospital-based curative service, focusing population rather than individual, and comprehensive health management in the local community strongly needs to be constructed to solve major issues on efficiencies and equity problems which Korean healthcare system is facing nowadays. Public health promotes and protects the health of people and the communities where they live, learn, work, and play. Medical care tries to cure those who have diseases, but public health tries not to become ill and not to be injured. Debates on how we build or rebuild public health system, which is contrasted with medical care system, are needed in Korea, focusing how needs for healthy community and right to health are fulfilled. Public health specialists for practising population health at local community level should be systematically recruited, the function of public health centers should be strengthened, and new government organization should be established for place-based health management.

• Korean Journal of Health Education and Promotion
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.19-30
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• 2008

This study has comparatively analyzed the primary success factors in smoking cessation among new enrollees and re-enrollees of a smoking cessation clinic in order to find out how to efficiently operate smoking cessation clinics at public health centers. The study was conducted with 262,837 smokers aged 19 or over who were provided with smoking cessation services for more than 6 months after being registered with the smoking cessation clinic at public health centers(250 clinics nationwide) from July 16, 2006 to July 15, 2007. After dividing smokers into re-enrollees and new enrollees of the smoking cessation clinic, the success rate of and success factors for smoking cessation over 6 months have been investigated. The success factors in smoking cessation have been compared between new enrollees and re-enrollees of smoking cessation clinics. The results can be summarized as follows: First, the success rate of smoking cessation for 6 months at smoking cessation clinics of public health centers was higher in new enrollees (46.3%) than in re-enrollees (41.1%). Second, the common factors that had an influence on the success of smoking cessation of both new enrollees and re-enrollees of the smoking cessation clinic included age, social security, service, frequency of counseling, number of cigarettes per day, and alcoholic problems. Third, compared to new enrollees, re-enrollees had a higher success rate of smoking cessation as they got older. In terms of the success rate of health insurance, on the contrary, new enrollees were better than re-enrollees. Fourth, the study showed a higher success rate in smoking cessation in both new and re-enrollees if they had no alcoholic problems. In particular, a higher success rate was observed in re-enrollees when there were no alcoholic problems. To efficiently operate smoking cessation clinics at public health centers, this study confirmed that counseling should be tailored depending on the types of enrollees in the program.