Public Health Merit Badge

Public Health
Merit badge requirements
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  1. Visit your city, county, or state public health agency. Prepare an outline of the agency's various services and:

    1. Explain them briefly to your counselor.

    2. Explain how these affect you.

    3. Identify the four leading causes of death (mortality) in your community for any one of the past five years. Compare these with the four leading causes of hospital admissions (morbidity) in your community. Find out how the public health agency you visited is involved in trying to reduce both the mortality and morbidity of these leading causes of illness and disability.

    4. Tell about three professions of the people providing these services at the agency.

  2. Explain how the following diseases are contracted: tetanus, influenza, syphilis, hepatitis, emphysema, AIDS, encephalitis, meningitis, salmonellosis, Lyme disease, herpes, and lead poisoning.

  3. Do the following:

    1. Explain the meaning of immunization.
    2. Name five diseases against which a young child should be immunized.
    3. Name two diseases against which you should be reimmunized periodically.

  4. Visit a restaurant or other commercial food service facility and observe food preparation, handling, and storage. Interview a food service inspector and explain:

    1. How foods can become contaminated.
    2. What conditions allow microorganisms to increase in number in food.
    3. How microorganisms in food can be killed.
    4. How dishes and utensils should be washed in camp and at home.

  5. Do the following:

    1. Show two ways of making water safe to drink under camping conditions.
    2. Visit a water treatment facility and describe the steps used in making public drinking water safe; OR visit the drinking-water quality-control agency in your community. Describe how water quality is monitored.

  6. Do the following:

    1. Explain how insects and rodents can be controlled in your home, community, and camp.
    2. Visit a municipal wastewater treatment facility and a solid-waste management operation in your community. Describe how sewage and solid waste disposal is done safely in urban and rural environments, and under wilderness camping conditions.

  7. Do the following:

    1. Describe the health dangers from air, water, and noise pollution.
    2. Describe health dangers from tobacco use and alcohol and drug abuse.

Merit badge requirements courtesy of Troop 586 Farmington