Public health measures are essential for the prevention and control of infectious diseases. The various measures that serve as safeguards include:

Maintenance of Personal and Public Hygiene: Personal hygiene includes keeping the body clean and consumption of clean drinking water, food, vegetables, and fruits. Public hygiene involves proper disposal of waste and excreta, periodic cleaning and disinfection of water reservoirs, pools, cesspools and tanks, and observing standard practices of hygiene in public catering. These measures are particularly important for diseases transmitted through food and water such as typhoid, amoebiasis and ascariasis.

Prevention of Air-borne Diseases: For diseases like pneumonia and common cold, close contact with infected persons or their belongings should be avoided in addition to general hygiene measures.

Control of Vector-borne Diseases: For diseases like malaria and filariasis transmitted through insect vectors, the most important measure is to control or eliminate vectors and their breeding places. This includes: avoiding stagnation of water in and around residential areas; regular cleaning of household coolers; use of mosquito nets; introducing fishes like Gambusia in ponds that feed on mosquito larvae; spraying of insecticides in ditches, drainage areas and swamps; and providing doors and windows with wire mesh to prevent entry of mosquitoes.

Immunisation: The use of vaccines and immunisation programmes have enabled us to completely eradicate deadly diseases like smallpox and control many other infectious diseases like polio, diphtheria, pneumonia and tetanus.