title: [The role of the German public health service in social medicine].
abstract: Although the German public health service is mainly concerned with social medical tasks there is too little awareness of the fact that social medicine forms the scientific basis of most actions. As a matter of fact social medicine in public health departments is often reduced to mere medical insurance and expert reports. This is mainly due to the historical development of social medicine in Germany. Among the numerous important social medical tasks of the public health service, this article mainly concentrates on local coordination, health promotion, health care, and social compensation, including subsidiary medical care of certain groups of the population and aspects of infectious disease control with particular attention to measures against AIDS. The further development of both the public health service and social medicine requires a closer cooperation between them.
authors.affiliation: Gesundheitsamt der Stadt Köln. jan.leidel@stadt-koeln.de
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Leidel
mesh_terms: D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000517:prevention & control; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003140:Communicable Disease Control; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007348:Insurance, Health / Q000639:trends; D008297:Male; D015980:Public Health Practice / Q000592:standards*; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D012936:Social Medicine / Q000639:trends*