"Social medicine is the science of the phenomenology, social causes, and consequences of changing health problems in populations, as well as the tasks arising in each case in the design of prevention, medical care, rehabilitation, and nursing.
This includes the evaluation of the social effectiveness of corresponding service offers as well as the existing care structures and processes for this purpose and individual programs and measures." (Niehoff JU: Social Medicine Systematic. Unimed 2011).
The Department of Social and Preventive Medicine is concerned with the interaction of social conditions, health and disease; it is also referred to as the teaching for and of health policy.
Social and preventive medicine and its application (public health) make use of epidemiology (public health intelligence) as a source of information and translates the findings of epidemiology into public health programs to contribute to the promotion of public health. It is a distinct discipline of non-clinical medicine and provides services to all areas of public health.
Using terms from the field of business organization, preventive, curative, and rehabilitative medicine would be "line functions" of public health, while social and preventive medicine could be considered "staff functions."
Mission Statement
The objective of the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine is to deal with the interaction of social conditions, health and disease. It is also referred to as the teaching for and of health policy. Social and Preventive Medicine and its Application (Public Health) uses epidemiology (public health intelligence) as a source of information and translates the findings of epidemiology into public health programs to help promote public health. Social medicine is a distinct discipline of non-clinical medicine and provides services to all sectors of the health care system.