Linkages between Public Health and Health Demography

The need to embark on the mission of clarifying the confusion in the application of terms such as demography, public health and health demography and setting boundaries among them, and bringing to fore their founding fathers underscored this essay. It is hoped that scholars and practitioners would find this academic essay very useful in adding to their understanding of the different disciplines and especially, in knowing what was originally their own and what was borrowed through association.

As John Graunt is considered by many historians to have founded the science of demography, so also is John Snow noted to be the founder of public health. The relevance of demographic characteristics in public health planning is strongly acknowledged by public health practitioners each time they call for community assessment before any intervention planning takes place. The place of sociology during public health program execution is recognized when mainstreaming science with culture in order to make programs sustainable. This is the significant contribution made by Max Weber. Statistics as a science of numbers has been demonstrated to have a place on public health practice, and each time statistically evidence based advocacy is invoked during program execution, the contribution of Florence Nightingale comes to mind.

The fusion of public health, demography, biostatistics and sociology brought about health demography as a discipline. Hence the founding fathers of all these fields come together to become the fathers of health demography. This is why health demography is described as a child with many fathers.

Just as demographic characteristics affect public health planning, so also public health intervention affects demographic characteristics. When public health affects the life of the people, their demography is also affected. Before any public health intervention takes place in a community, an understanding of their demographic characteristics and culture are necessary. In other words, the Demographer and the Public Health specialist must agree to work together for a good public health intervention program to succeed.  It is therefore a truism that for any good public health intervention program to succeed, the knowledge and skills of demography and public health must be fused and applied in that program.

The interdependence between public health and demography is better understood with the saying; the Demographer lays the foundation upon which the Public Health practitioner builds. Both disciplines require complementing knowledge and skills to operate. For the Public health practitioners, this association is underscored each time a call is made for a baseline assessment to be conducted in a community before any intervention commences, or an end line measurement is suggested to determine the impact of the intervention.

The fusion of public health, demography and sociology gave birth to health demography. A health demographer is that social scientist who has the combined advantage of the knowledge and skills of public health, demography and sociology and applies them in resolving the societal dilemma. He is better described as a public health demographer. As an emerging field, health demographers are rare professionals around the world.