Each month, HAI focuses on a different indicator that tells an important story about the state of Anchorage's health and quality of life. Largely unheralded, the public health approach has provided the basis for dramatic improvements in health and life expectancy during the past century. Since the turn of the century, the life expectancy of US citizens has increased from 45 to 75 years-a 30 year increase. Twenty-five of these 30 years of increased life are attributed to public health initiatives that improved the environment in which we live. Examples of health interventions which have increased life expectancy are the creation of safe water and sewage disposal systems, the control of disease-bearing insects and rodents, immunization programs, and improved nutrition.
Studies also show which factors most influence life expectancy.
The primary determinants of human health are environment and personal behavior or lifestyle choices, such as how much we smoke, drink, and exercise. Population-wide public health measures have the potential to help prevent close to 70 percent of preventable deaths through intervention measures that target underlying risks, such as tobacco, drug, and alcohol use, diet and exercise, and environmental factors. The science and practice of protecting and improving the health of a community, as by preventive medicine, health education, control of communicable diseases, application of sanitary measures, and monitoring of environmental hazards . How it strives to achieve that goal is more complicated. Public health, on the other hand, treats populations .