68 Public Health Trivia Questions (Ranked from Easiest to Hardest)

Public health is a crucial field that focuses on improving the health and wellbeing of populations through various means, including disease prevention, health promotion, and health education. It is a multidisciplinary field that encompasses many different areas of study, including epidemiology, environmental health, and health services administration. In this list of public health trivia questions, we will cover a range of topics related to this important field.

The first set of questions will cover the basics of public health, including its history, key players, and important concepts. We will also explore the role of public health in addressing major health issues, such as infectious diseases, chronic diseases, and environmental health hazards. Additionally, we will delve into the various programs and initiatives that are aimed at improving public health, such as immunization programs, health promotion campaigns, and disease surveillance systems.

The second set of questions will focus on the challenges faced by public health professionals and the ways in which they work to overcome these challenges. These questions will cover topics such as funding, staffing, and political will, as well as the role of technology and innovation in advancing public health. Finally, we will explore the future of public health, including emerging trends, new technologies, and evolving approaches to addressing public health issues. Whether you're a public health professional, student, or just someone who is interested in this field, this list of public health trivia questions is sure to provide a fun and engaging way to learn more about this critical area of study.

‍

68 Public Health Trivia Questions Ranked From Easiest to Hardest (Updated for 2024)

1. Before serving as Chief Medical Advisor to the President, what physician showed he was a Nationals' fan by wearing a team-branded face mask while testifying before Congress in June 2020?
   
   Answer: Dr. Anthony Fauci
   
   
2. What group, responsible for global medical wellbeing, was formed by the United Nations after World War II, combining the efforts of groups like the International Sanitary Conferences? Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, their three-letter acronym looks like a question.
   
   Answer: World Health Organization
   
   
3. Established in 1871 and first held by John M. Woodworth, what federal government official is the leading spokesperson for public health matters in the United States?
   
   Answer: Surgeon General
   
   
4. On the crest of the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is a caduceus crossed with what nautical symbol?
   
   Answer: Anchor
   
   
5. In February 2021, it was revleaed that what governor had lied about the number of COVID-19 deaths in New York nursing homes, not long after publishing a book subtitled "Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic?"
   
   Answer: Andrew Cuomo
   
   
6. An epidemic of what Aedes mosquito-borne virus was reported in the Americas in 2015 and 2016, leading the CDC to issue an advisory on travel to certain areas in Central and South America?
   
   Answer: Zika
   
   
7. The varicella-zoster virus causes skin outbreaks in children, and in 1995, the FDA approved a vaccine to prevents its infection. What's the common name for the disease this virus causes?
   
   Answer: Chicken pox
   
   
8. HaMagen, Hebrew for "The shield," is a voluntary COVID-19 contact tracing app developed by the Ministry of Health of what nation?
   
   Answer: Israel
   
   
9. In 1796, Edward Jenner created the modern vaccine for what disease, now considered eradicated?
   
   Answer: Smallpox
   
   
10. "Prevalence" means the number of people who have a disease at a given point in time; what is the corresponding "I" term for the number of people who develop a disease over a period of time?
    
    Answer: Incidence
    
    
11. Ervebo is the brand name of a vaccine for prevention of which viral hemorrhagic fever that affects humans and other primates?
    
    Answer: Ebola
    
    
12. Which term describes a pathogen that spreads disease by infecting a host through close contact? (Hint: Its also the title of a 2011 thriller starring Kate Winslet)
    
    Answer: Contagion
    
    
13. The flu shot is recommended by the WHO and CDC for yearly vaccination for nearly all people over the age of six months. What animal's eggs are often used to produce this vaccine each year?
    
    Answer: Hen / Chicken
    
    
14. An attempt to improve public health by creating a cancer-curing virus instead wiped out most of mankind prior to the events of what 2007 post-apocalyptic Will Smith film?
    
    Answer: I Am Legend
    
    
15. In December 2021, the Associate Health Minister of which Southern Hemisphere island nation confirmed that the government would introduce legislation that would ban anyone under the age of 14 from ever legally purchasing tobacco?
    
    Answer: New Zealand
    
    
16. Growing a mustache in the 11th month of the year to raise awareness of men's health issues such as prostate cancer is referred to by what eight-letter portmanteau word?
    
    Answer: Movember
    
    
17. Which term represents the incidence or prevalence of a disease in a population (often heard alongside mortality, which refers to how many deaths have occurred in a population)?
    
    Answer: Morbidity
    
    
18. A nephrologist is a doctor who specializes in the treatment and diagnosis of diseases affecting what organ?
    
    Answer: Kidneys
    
    
19. Later referred to by its Harvard public health namesake as "that damn machine," the polio-fighting respirator known as the Drinker machine is better known by what more elemental nickname?
    
    Answer: Iron lung
    
    
20. What life saving medical screening, which uses ionizing radiation, can be traced back to 1913, when German surgeon Albert Salomon performed x-rays on 3,000 mastectomies?
    
    Answer: Mammogram
    
    
21. In 1982, seven deaths in Chicago were attributed to an over-the-counter medication that had been laced with potassium cyanide. The murders spurred a public health investigation that brought about the “tamper-proof” packaging pill bottles have today. Which OTC pain reliever/fever-reducer was implicated in the poisonings?
    
    Answer: Tylenol
    
    
22. After controversially having herself and her son Paul inoculated in 1768, Catherine the Great supported the idea of a widespread inoculation campaign throughout the Russian Empire against which disease?
    
    Answer: Smallpox
    
    
23. The immunization for measles prevention is often called the MMR vaccine because it also prevents the mumps and what other disease?
    
    Answer: Rubella
    
    
24. The global awareness day for which liver condition that has several types (each with its own letter of the alphabet) is observed on July 28 each year?
    
    Answer: Hepatitis
    
    
25. Developed at MIT and at Boston Dynamics, Spot is a contact-free robot who helps with basic patient care and is mounted on a body with what guessable number of legs?
    
    Answer: Four
    
    
26. COVID-19 revived the near obsolete Drinker Tank, popular polio-era negative pressure ventilators better known by what metallic name?
    
    Answer: Iron Lung
    
    
27. On April 5, 2022, the Chinese government ordered a total lockdown of what city of 25 million people as a COVID prevention measure, causing literal screams of protest that went viral?
    
    Answer: Shanghai
    
    
28. Which E-term means that efforts (like vaccination) to get rid of a disease have been so successful that it is no longer in the population and the methods no longer need to be used?
    
    Answer: Eradication
    
    
29. What is a branch of civil and environmental engineering beginning with S that deals with issues affecting public health, such as safe drinking water and sewage disposal?
    
    Answer: Sanitary Engineering
    
    
30. If the star of the "Mission: Impossible" movies takes a nasty spill, he might get a CT scan. The C stands for "Computed," and what does the T stand for?
    
    Answer: Tomography
    
    
31. Both the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross are headquartered in what Swiss city?
    
    Answer: Geneva
    
    
32. Blood-forming stem cells are important in cancer treatments because they form red blood cells, white blood cells, and what clotty things?
    
    Answer: Platelets
    
    
33. What U.S. government agency, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, "leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation," according to its website?
    
    Answer: SAMHSA
    
    
34. Marketed as salves to poor posture and long-term health issues, Flexispot, Vivo, Fezibo, and SHW are four of the companies selling the most popular version of what piece of home office equipment?
    
    Answer: Standing desk
    
    
35. What non-profit foundation founded in 2000 by a tech giant and his now ex-wife has funded a variety of public health initiatives around the world? Looking for two names. They're headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
    
    Answer: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
    
    
36. "Earkeckers" are an outdated term for what body part, which is typically only discussed when the site of swelling and a removal procedure?
    
    Answer: Tonsils
    
    
37. Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital was in the news in January 2022 for refusing to perform a transplant of what vital organ on a patient who was unvaccinated against COVID-19?
    
    Answer: Heart
    
    
38. According to an iconic 1989 political poster to raise awareness of the public health menace of AIDS, "Silence = " WHAT?
    
    Answer: Death
    
    
39. Hoping to avoid the lockdowns used in Shanghai, what world capital city rolled out mass COVID testing for 20 million of its residents in late April 2022?
    
    Answer: Beijing
    
    
40. What British medical organization, abbreviated HTA, was founded in 1844 in response to reports of unsanitary conditions in major English cities by Sir Edwin Chadwick? It successfully campaigned for the passage of the Public Health Act of 1848.
    
    Answer: Health Of Towns Association
    
    
41. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus currently holds what leadership position at the World Health Organization?
    
    Answer: Director-General
    
    
42. What colorful two-word plague occurred in Afro-Eurasia from 1346 to 1353? The mass graves inspired people to take more preventative measures to prevent disease casualties.
    
    Answer: Black Death
    
    
43. In 1701, Massachusetts passed laws for ship quarantine and patient isolation for the management of what disease, a now eradicated virus also known as variola?
    
    Answer: Smallpox
    
    
44. Through the Public Health Service Act, the FDA is responsible for regulating things outside of food and drugs, such as what lights that are optically amplified by radiation?
    
    Answer: Lasers
    
    
45. What American virologist created one of the earliest successful vaccines for polio, which was officially released in 1955? In 1963, he started his namesake Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA.
    
    Answer: Jonas Salk
    
    
46. Named for its founder, what private research university in Baltimore, Maryland has the number-one ranked public health program in America, according to U.S. News?
    
    Answer: Johns Hopkins
    
    
47. President Joe Biden's Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board included what surgeon and author of popular nonfiction books such as "The Checklist Manifesto," "Complications," and "Being Mortal?"
    
    Answer: Atul Gawande
    
    
48. The Tdap vaccine protects against Tetanus, Whooping Cough (Pertussis), and what other disease?
    
    Answer: Diphtheria
    
    
49. Among the airlines that quickly dropped mask mandates following a federal judge's ruling in April 2022 was what Atlanta-based carrier whose name is a Greek letter?
    
    Answer: Delta
    
    
50. In 1993, an E. coli outbreak infected more than 700 people and killed four children in California, Idaho, Washington, and Nevada after they ate “so good it’s scary!” Monster Burgers from which chain restaurant?
    
    Answer: Jack in the Box
    
    
51. On May 24, 2022, WHO announced that three African countries had eliminated trypanosomiasis, also known as "sleeping sickness," as a public health problem: Benin, Uganda, and what country whose capital is Kigali?
    
    Answer: Rwanda
    
    
52. On July 18, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the first outbreak of which viral hemorrhagic fever in Ghana?
    
    Answer: Marburg virus
    
    
53. Which infectious disease paralyzed Franklin D. Roosevelt, likely after he picked it up in the water while on a trip to Campobello?
    
    Answer: Polio
    
    
54. What "J" brand is the CDC's preferred vaccine for protection against monkeypox?
    
    Answer: Jynneos
    
    
55. Most Americans didn’t learn the name Anthony Fauci until the COVID-19 pandemic, but in 2015, he played a major role in responding to cases of which hemorrhagic fever in the U.S.?
    
    Answer: Ebola
    
    
56. On August 31, 2022, FDA approved bivalent booster versions of Moderna's and Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccines that protect against the BA.4 and BA.5 lineages of what COVID-19 variant?
    
    Answer: Omicron
    
    
57. Hansen’s disease is more commonly known by which name that’s associated with the places (“colonies”) where people were once sent to live if they were infected with the illness?
    
    Answer: Leprosy
    
    
58. Americans can't get cute teensy boxes of Camels like in England because the Tobacco Control Act places what minimum number of cigarettes in a pack?
    
    Answer: 20
    
    
59. Microbiologists were hired by Warner Bros. Pictures Canada to create a billboard made of growing bacteria in Petri dishes, which spelled the name of what 2011 pandemic-themed movie directed by Steven Soderbergh?
    
    Answer: Contagion
    
    
60. Green biotechnology refers to biotechnology used in the environmental sector, whereas what color is used to describe biotechnology used in the medical and pharma field?
    
    Answer: Red
    
    
61. On May 8, 1980, the World Health Organization officially declared that "the world and all its peoples have won freedom from" what deadly infectious disease?
    
    Answer: smallpox
    
    
62. Named after its inventors Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin, the Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine is primarily used to prevent which infectious disease?
    
    Answer: Tuberculosis
    
    
63. What physician and public health expert became the 19th director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on January 20, 2021?
    
    Answer: Walensky
    
    
64. What Caribbean country has the highest adolescent pregnancy rate of all the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean? Public health data shows 20.5 percent of girls and young women ages 15 to 19 in this country become pregnant in their teens.
    
    Answer: Dominican Republic
    
    
65. The Department of Health and Human Services was previously combined with what other federal department before the two split into separate groups in 1979?
    
    Answer: Department of Education
    
    
66. What health-related word evolved from a Middle English term describing the venom of a snake which came from a Latin word meaning "slimy liquid or poison?"
    
    Answer: Virus
    
    
67. Created in 1946 by the Public Health Service Act, what agency, part of the Program Support Center of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, delivers job-oriented health support to governmental employees? This three letter “F” acronym also offers general stress advice.
    
    Answer: Federal Occupational Health
    
    
68. What Scottish woman received the Order of the British Empire in 1964 for her work in developing ante-natal care in Glasgow, Scotland, predating the creation of the NHS?
    
    Answer: Nora Wattie
    
    

Play Public Health Trivia with Water Cooler Trivia

Water Cooler Trivia is well-equipped to provide you with exciting and engaging trivia quizzes.

So, how does it work?

Each week, our team will deliver original trivia quizzes straight to your inbox.

All you have to do is pick the categories.

You can leave the rest of the heavy lifting to us.

Take Water Cooler Trivia for a test run with our four-week free trial.