Many students enter NCCU with an interest in health-related issues and a desire for a health career, primarily in medicine or nursing. Few are aware of the many other health career options available to them, including public health education.
The COVID pandemic changed the minds of a lot of people about the role of public health in people’s everyday lives. Here are some important facts about our profession:
What Is Health Education?
In health education, we work to prevent the diseases and injuries that doctors and nurses often treat. We plan programs to encourage people to adopt healthy behaviors, and we work to ensure that communities have the resources they need to support the health of their residents, from nutritious food in school cafeterias and adequate parks and recreation facilities for exercise to laws that prohibit smoking in public places and texting while driving. By focusing on prevention, health education saves lives, improves the quality of people’s lives and reduces healthcare costs.
Where Do Health Educators Work?
We work in a wide variety of settings — state and local health departments, schools and universities, small community-based organizations and large non-profits, clinical research institutions, hospitals and other healthcare agencies, and even corporate and business worksites. We work wherever people need help adopting healthy lifestyles and wherever communities need help supporting the health of their citizens.
Health education is one discipline within the larger field of public health. Public health has a special focus on social justice. Public health professionals work to right injustices in health and to create societies where everyone has an equal opportunity to live a long and healthy life. Health disparities still run rampant in our country and around the world. In the U.S., racial and ethnic minorities and low-wealth individuals experience higher rates of just about any health problem you can name — from hypertension to lung cancer to gun violence. In developing countries, children still die of diseases such as measles and pertussis that have largely disappeared in the developed world. Public health is dedicated to resolving these inequities, and health education plays a critical role in accomplishing this mission.
Public health educators are passionate about our work. You will find us passing out health information at local restaurants, knocking on doors, and giving presentations at community centers and churches, sometimes at night and on weekends. Jobs are plentiful for those who are prepared, and you can earn a good living in this profession. Beyond the benefits of a wonderful career option, you will provide a necessary service that is more fulfilling than material rewards.
So, if you are interested in health, we would be happy to talk with you about your future in public health education.
LaHoma S. Romocki, Ph.D.,
Associate Professor and Chair,
Public Health Education Department