After 150 years of public health research and intervention, there will surely be many lessons to draw from to guide public health professionals and institutions in designing and implementing specific strategies, policies and measures to increase global resilience to “complex health emergencies”. Identifying both changes to public health systems and looking closely at the history of management of environmental and other threats to the public health sector increases the world's adaptive capacity to more effectively address and manage public health emergencies. Over the past decade, major progress has been made in how the international community responds to the challenges posed by complex emergencies. The public health and clinical response to diseases of acute epidemiological potential has improved significantly based on prior knowledge of successes and failures. New public health campaigns are launched every year in an attempt to change health outcomes and improve health behavior, but we must understand that public health is constantly evolving and we must use what we have learned over the years to fight the world of health constantly evolving. Throughout the history of public health we have witnessed success stories and unfortunately failed initiatives. One way to better understand how to address any public health crisis is to look at the experience gained in addressing other public health problems, particularly those where progress has been made. From the eradication of smallpox and potentially the most important public health achievement in American history, the chlorination of drinking water, to the current crises of malaria, obesity, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, we see the realization of what is a real problem. ...half of the document ...certainly calls into question the credibility of the public health profession, as was the case with the failure of the disastrous malaria eradication effort. Works Cited 1) "Obesity Statistics." The obesity society. The obesity society, 2010. Web. 12 December 2010. .2) Henderson, Donald. “Eradication: Lessons from the Past.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (1999): 16-22. Network. 12 December 2010.3) Hung, Less Shiu. “The SARS Outbreak in Hong Kong: What Lessons Have We Learned?” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine 96.8 (August 2003): 374-378. Network. December 12, 2010. .4) Ruger, Jennifer. “Global Tobacco Control: An Integrated Approach to Global Health Policy.” Palgrave MacMillan (2005): 65-69. Network. December 12 2010. .