353 SpecComm

353 Podiatric public health has been defined as that special area of podiatric medicine that is concerned with preventing, treating, and managing foot and related disorders and the pedal manifestations of systemic disease and promoting foot health through organized community efforts. In effect, it views the community as a whole, rather than the individual, as the “patient.” It focuses on education of the public in podiatric health, applied podiatric research, and the prevention and control of podiatric diseases in the community. Its ultimate goal is to protect, promote, and maintain the health and well-being of individuals and defined populations and to prevent disease and disability, which can cause premature death. Implicit in this definition is the requirement that the specialist in podiatric public health have broad knowledge and skills in public health administration; research methodology; biostatistics; epidemiology; health-services administration; environmental and occupational influences on health; social and behavioral influences on health; measures to prevent the occurrence, progression, and disabling effects of disease and injury; cross-cultural aspects of the delivery of health services; the financing and delivery of podiatric medical care; and the identification and development of resources to accomplish health goals. The field encompasses elements of health policy and public health law and places special emphasis on aging as a major health issue of the future. The health-care delivery system is constantly changing. Consideration must be given to the availPodiatric physicians play an important role in the field of public health. In 1975, the Podiatric Health Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA) formulated an official statement of the roles and responsibilities of podiatrists in the public health field. Entitled Functions and Educational Qualifications of Podiatrists in Public Health, the document was published in the September 1975 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. For more than 2 decades, it remained the primary document defining and delineating the activities of the specialist in podiatric public health. Recently, it was recognized that in this time of rapid change in health-care delivery, a revision of this important statement was needed. A mini-grant from the APHA in 1996-1997 supported the formation of a special commission to update the formal position of the APHA and its Podiatric Health Section with respect to podiatric public health and to provide direction for the future. This article is a shortened version of the report issued by the special commission of the APHA. (J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 88(7): 353-359, 1998)