Common types of interventions include screening programs,[1] vaccination,[2] food and water supplementation, and health promotion.
Common issues that are the subject of public health interventions include obesity,[3] drug, tobacco, and alcohol use,[4] and the spread of infectious disease, e.g.
The whole population can be reached via websites, audio/video messages and other mass media, or specific groups can be affected by administrative action, such as increasing the provision of healthy food at schools.
[citation needed] Screening refers to the practice of testing a set of individuals who meet a certain criteria (such as age, sex, or sexual activity) for a disease or disorder.
One such form is health promotion, where education and media may be used to promote healthy behaviours, such as eating healthy foods (to prevent obesity), using condoms (to prevent the transmission of STDs), or stopping open defecation in developing countries (see for example in India the campaign Swachh Bharat Mission).
[20] Evaluating and predicting the efficacy of a public health intervention, as well as calculating cost effectiveness, is essential.