Why study public health?

Want to play a leading role in improving health outcomes for people in Australia and around the world?

A degree in public health will give you the skills and knowledge to make it happen. You’ll discover a range of career opportunities to work with passionate health professionals to create healthier communities. 

What is public health?

Public health focuses on improving health outcomes and tackling health challenges among populations on a global scale. Unlike clinical practitioners, whose focus is on treating illness and disease in individuals, public health focuses on preventing illness and disease altogether.

Public health is a multidisciplinary field that considers the economic, social and environmental factors that influence public health outcomes. It encompasses epidemiology, biostatistics, health promotion, quantitative and qualitative research methods, health policy and health services management. 

A career in public health can include everything from stopping the spread of infectious diseases and preventing future pandemics, to improving health policies and ensuring everyone has fair and adequate access to healthcare.

Starting your career in public health

The career opportunities in public health are wide-ranging, reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of this field. A rewarding, purposeful career in this field begins with a leading degree. UNSW’s Bachelor of Public Health arms you with an understanding of core public health topics including global health, health promotion, Indigenous health and human biology – essential skills for any role within the public health sector. 

You’ll learn about the most pressing public health challenges, including ageing populations, unhealthy lifestyles, spread of infectious pathogens, and the impacts of climate change. You’ll gain essential skills in epidemiology, policy development and advocacy, surveillance, data analysis and leadership in public health, so you can help tackle these challenges, no matter what career path you choose to pursue. 

“The Bachelor of Public Health armed me with some invaluable tools that I use in my current role day to day, including hard skills such as epidemiology and data surveillance, and soft skills such as public health leadership,” says UNSW alumnus Damian Garozzo-Vaglio.

Since graduating, Damian has secured a position with Queensland Health in the mental health field, in the Cape York and Torres Strait Island regions. 

Studying public health opens up a range of career opportunities, including public health education, research, and services. Public health graduates work in government departments, ministries of health, public health networks, local area health services, universities, research institutes, international health policy and funding institutions, non-governmental agencies, mental health services and Indigenous health organisations.

The Program Director for the Bachelor of Public Health, Associate Professor Holly Seale, shares her experiences stepping into the world of public health:

“When I started working in public health, I never realised that I would have the chance to contribute to reducing the risk and spread of disease during a pandemic," Holly says.

"My work has led to invitations to provide expert input to the World Health Organisation’s Behavioural and Social Sciences working group, which developed global measures for assessing the causes of under-vaccination for COVID-19. This led the NSW Government to fund the development of a tool to enhance the translation of COVID-19 vaccine-related information.” 

Career opportunities in public health

The health of our communities is a global priority. That means the specialised, interdisciplinary skills you’ll gain from studying public health are in high demand in Australia and around the world.

“Events like the Covid-19 pandemic highlighted how important it is to have public health professionals with the capacity to design and develop public health strategies to reduce the risk and spread,” says Holly. 

Holly also mentions that a large part of public health goes beyond simply managing the threat of infectious diseases. It extends to addressing disparities in health outcomes among different populations across the world. Understanding the causes of health disparities and implementing targeted strategies to mitigate them is a key focus of public health research and practice.

Damian agrees, reflecting on the multidisciplinary nature of his professional work since graduating:

“Translating the theoretical knowledge of public health into practice has been a humbling experience. Especially in the mental health field where, unlike some other fields, the content matter is highly sensitive and therefore requires very finely attuned interpersonal skills.”

Graduates can explore roles, such as:

• Health Worker
• Public Health Research Officer
• Health Adviser
• Health Promotion Officer
• Epidemiologist
• Community Health Worker
• International Aid Worker
• Health Coordinator
• Data analyst
• Community Development Officer

Salaries in public health

Salaries in public health vary according to which career path you decide to pursue, and where in the world you want to work. In Australia, the average salaries for jobs in public health according to data from Seek and Indeed include:

• Health Officer - $80,000
• Health Adviser - $125,000
• Epidemiologist - $110,525 
• Community Health Worker - $74,595
• Health Coordinator - $105,000
• Health Promotion Officer - $88,000

Note: We aim to keep this information up to date, however, salary data may change at any time.

Why study public health at UNSW?

UNSW’s Bachelor of Public Health is delivered by the School of Population Health, which is ranked #28 globally for public health research*. You’ll learn from academics who have experience developing and delivering public health programs and policies that are improving health outcomes in Australia and around the world, working for the World Health Organisation (WHO), governments, and NGOs.

As part of your degree, your Public Health Capstone course gives you the opportunity to gain real-world experience in international public health, through a research project, internship or public health study tour. Research and collaboration opportunities are available for students in our research centres and institutes, like the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre (NDARC) and the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA).

You’ll graduate with a professionally recognised qualification, with UNSW’s Bachelor of International Public Health consistent with recommendations of the Council of Academic Public Health Institutions Australasia (CAPHIA). 

^{* ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2023.}

Interested in studying public health at UNSW?