From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia.
Community health is a
discipline that concerns itself
with the study and betterment of
the health characteristics of
communities. While the term
community can be broadly
defined, community health tends to
focus on geographic areas rather
than people with shared
characteristics. The health
characteristics of a community are
often examined using
geographic information system
(GIS) software and
public health datasets. Some
projects, such as InfoShare or
GEOPROJ combine GIS with existing
datasets, allowing the general
public to examine the
characteristics of any given
community in the United States.
Because health (broadly defined
as well-being) is influenced by a
wide array of socio-demographic
characteristics, relevant
variables range from the
proportion of residents of a given
age group to the overall life
expectancy of the neighborhood.
Medical interventions aimed at
improving the health of a
community range from improving
access to medical care to public
health communications campaigns.
Recent research efforts have
focused on how the built
environment and
socio-economic status affect
health.
