What are the various public health measures you would suggest as a safeguard against infectious diseases?

Public health measures are preventive measures that are taken to check the spread of various infectious diseases. These measures should be taken to reduce contact with infectious agents. Some of these methods are:

(1) Personal and public hygiene should be maintained: One of the most important methods of preventing infectious diseases is the maintenance of personal and public hygiene. Personal hygiene involves maintaining a clean body, consumption of healthy and nutritious food, drinking clean water, etc. Whereas public hygiene involves proper disposal of waste material, excreta, periodic cleaning, and disinfection of water reservoirs.

(2) Isolation of infected persons: To prevent the spread of air-borne diseases such as pneumonia, chickenpox, tuberculosis, etc., it is essential to keep the infected person in isolation to reduce the chances of spreading these diseases.

(3) Vaccination: The protection of the body from communicable diseases by administering some agent that mimics the microbe inside the body is known as vaccination. It provides both active and passive immunization to the body. Various vaccines are available for the treatment of many diseases such as tetanus, polio, measles, mumps, etc. 

(4) Vector Eradication: Many diseases such as malaria, filariasis, dengue, and chikungunya spread through vectors. By providing a clean environment and preventing the breeding of mosquitoes these diseases can be prevented easily. By not allowing water to stagnate around residential areas, the breeding of mosquitoes can be prevented. To keep our environment healthy, regular cleaning of coolers should be done, also the use of mosquito nets, and insecticides such as malathion in drains, ponds, etc. should be considered. Fish such as Gambusia are introduced in ponds to control the breeding of mosquito larvae in stagnant water.