Public health is about keeping whole communities healthy, from clean water to vaccines to safe food. You'll learn how diseases spread and how people work together to stop them. It's a field full of real heroes you may never hear about.
Why it's worth it
Public health is why most kids today never catch measles, why you can drink from a faucet without getting sick, and why restaurants get inspected. Its workers rarely make the news, but they save more lives than almost anyone. This badge shows you how diseases travel and how communities stop them, from mosquito control to clean water to tracking an outbreak. You'll start noticing the invisible systems that keep your town healthy and learn about careers that protect thousands of people at once.
Start this week
- Find your local health department's website and write down three things it does that you didn't know about.
- Ask your Scoutmaster for the name of a Public Health counselor, and send them a short message with a parent copied to set up a first meeting.
- Ask a parent to help you find your immunization record and look up what each vaccine on it protects against.
- Walk around your home and yard with a parent and look for standing water where mosquitoes could breed.
Stay safe
- On facility tours, stay with your group, wear any gear they hand out, and don't touch equipment or water unless staff say it's okay.
Requirements · 8
Every official requirement and part, numbered to match Scouting America, in plain language. Sign off against the official wording (opens in a new tab) (updated 2025).
- Requirement 1
Diseases and how they spread
Tips for this section: Make a chart showing how each disease spreads, like through air, water, food, or insects.
Example for this section: Make a chart with columns for how each disease spreads: through the air (COVID-19, influenza), food (E. coli, salmonellosis, botulism), ticks or mosquitoes (Lyme disease, West Nile virus), wounds (tetanus), and blood or body fluids (AIDS, hepatitis). Add one way to prevent each.
- Requirement 1a
Explain what public health means
- Requirement 1b
Explain how each of these is caught: E. coli, Lyme disease, tetanus, coronavirus (COVID-19), AIDS, salmonellosis, and encephalitis
- Requirement 1c
Choose four of these and explain how each one is caught and how it might be prevented: influenza, hepatitis, West Nile virus, syphilis, botulism, meningitis, gonorrhea, emphysema, lead poisoning, herpes
- Requirement 1d
For all 10 diseases listed in 1c (not just your four), explain the type (viral, bacterial, environmental, toxin), possible vectors, ways to prevent exposure or spread, and available treatments
- Requirement 2
Immunization
Tips for this section: Ask a parent or doctor which vaccines you've had and what each one protects against.
- Requirement 2a
Explain what immunization means
- Requirement 2b
Name eight diseases young children should be immunized against, two that everyone needs booster shots for from time to time, and one vaccine everyone should get every year
- Requirement 2c
Discuss with your counselor which diseases and conditions from 1b have no vaccine available today
- Requirement 3
Discuss how unsafe drinking water spreads disease. Demonstrate two ways to make water safe at camp, and explain how to wash, dry, and keep dishes and utensils clean at home and in camp
Tip: Talk about where your drinking water comes from, and try two safe methods with your counselor or an adult.
For example: Explain where your town's water comes from and how it's treated. Then show two ways to make water safe at camp with an adult, like a rolling boil and an approved filter or chemical treatment, and why cloudy water should be strained first.
- Requirement 4
Explain what a vector is and how to control insects and rodents at home, in your community, and at camp, and why it matters. Include which vectors one person can control and which need long-term community action
Tip: Look around your home and yard for places pests could breed, like standing water.
For example: Pick mosquitoes and ticks. Explain what diseases they can carry, then list prevention steps like emptying flowerpot saucers, using repellent, wearing long pants on trails, and doing tick checks after a hike.
- Requirement 5
Facility visit. Choose 1 of 2
Tips for this section: Ask your counselor or the local health department to help arrange a visit.
Example for this section: On a wastewater plant tour with your troop, note each stage: screens, settling tanks, bacteria breaking down waste, and disinfection. Afterward, explain how each step protects people downstream.
- Requirement 5a
With your parent's and counselor's OK, tour a city wastewater treatment plant or a place in your community that manages solid waste
- Requirement 5a1
Describe how the facility treats and gets rid of sewage or solid waste safely
- Requirement 5a2
Talk with your counselor about your visit and what you learned
- Requirement 5a3
Describe how to dispose of sewage and solid waste when camping in the wilderness
- Requirement 5b
With your parent's and counselor's OK, tour a place that serves food, like a restaurant or a school cafeteria
- Requirement 5b1
Watch how food is prepared, handled, and stored, and learn how the facility keeps it from being contaminated
- Requirement 5b2
Find out what conditions let microorganisms multiply in food, how to stop them from growing or spreading, and how to kill them
- Requirement 5b3
Discuss why a thermometer should be used to check food temperatures
- Requirement 5b4
Talk with your counselor about your visit and what you learned
- Requirement 6
Health dangers
Tips for this section: Talk with your counselor about how pollution, tobacco, and drugs harm people and communities.
- Requirement 6a
Describe how air, water, and noise pollution can harm health
- Requirement 6b
Describe how tobacco use and alcohol and drug abuse can harm health
- Requirement 6c
Describe how misusing illegal drugs and prescription drugs can harm health
- Requirement 7
Public health agency
Tips for this section: Check your local health department's website to learn what they do and what health trends they track.
Example for this section: On your health department's website, find your community's four leading causes of death and four leading causes of disease for a recent year. Explain what the department is doing about them and what it would do if a disease outbreak started in your area.
- Requirement 7a
Learn about a health agency. Choose 1 of 2
- Requirement 7a1
With your parent's and counselor's OK, visit a public health agency for your city, county, or state, or a federal one
- Requirement 7a2
With your parent's and counselor's OK, get to know the website of a city, county, state, or federal health agency
- Requirement 7b
Agency study (after finishing 7a)
- Requirement 7b1
Compare your community's four leading causes of death with its four leading causes of disease for any of the last five years, and explain how the agency is working to lower both
- Requirement 7b2
Explain what your health agency does when there is a disease outbreak
- Requirement 7b3
Discuss the help the agency can give after disasters like floods, storms, tornadoes, and earthquakes; you may include cleanup
- Requirement 8
Pick a public health job you're interested in, learn what schooling, training, and experience it takes, and talk it over with your counselor
Tip: Pick a job like nurse, inspector, or epidemiologist and find out what they do each day.
Places to visit
Ask an adult to set it up, and go with your family, den, patrol, or crew.
A wastewater or drinking water treatment plant
You'll see each step that turns dirty water clean, and operators can explain what happens when something goes wrong.
How: A leader can call the city or utility and ask for a group tour. Many plants give them to schools and Scout troops.
A recycling or solid-waste facility
You'll see how trash is handled to keep pests and pollution away from people.
How: A leader can check the city or county website for tour dates or call the education office to schedule a troop visit.
A restaurant or school cafeteria kitchen
A manager can show you the hand sinks, thermometers, and storage rules that health inspectors check.
How: A parent or leader can ask a manager they know whether a small group could visit before or after the busy hours.
Where it can lead
- EpidemiologistTracks diseases to find out how they spread and how to stop them; usually needs a graduate degree.
- Environmental health inspectorInspects restaurants, pools, and water systems to keep the public safe.
- Public health nurseGives vaccines, visits families, and teaches healthy habits in the community.
- Water treatment operatorRuns the plants that make water safe; often trained on the job with a state license.
- Community health workerConnects neighbors with health services and information.
Ask yourself
- What public health system do you rely on every day without noticing it?
- Which disease surprised you most when you learned how it spreads?
- How did your facility visit change what you think happens after you flush or throw something away?
- What's one health habit you could change that would protect people around you?
- If you worked in public health, which problem would you want to tackle first?
Good questions to ask someone who works at your local health department
- What does your department do on a normal day that most people never see?
- How do you find out an outbreak is starting, and what do you do first?
- What health problem in our community worries you most right now?
- How do you get people to trust health advice when there's a lot of misinformation?
- What path led you to public health work?
Helpful reads
- Earning a merit badge, step by step, From picking a badge to getting the final signature: how to find a counselor, set up meetings safely, work the requirements, and keep your progress., Youth · Families · 6 min read
- Contacting counselors, experts, and organizations, Email and phone scripts, who to ask for, how to follow up, and how to say thanks, with a parent copied every time., Youth · Families · 7 min read
- Choosing your next merit badge, How to pick a badge you'll actually finish: start with what you care about, balance Eagle-required and just-for-fun badges, and make the most of camp., Youth · Families · 6 min read
For leaders & parents
- Invite someone from the local health department to speak to the troop.
- Help arrange a group tour of a water treatment plant or similar facility.
People & places that can help
- Merit badge counselor — Talk with them early; they can explain what's expected.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (opens in a new tab) — Clear info on diseases and prevention.
- Local health department — Learn what public health looks like in your area.
- Public library — Books, videos, and a librarian who can help you dig deeper.
- World Health Organization (opens in a new tab) — How countries work together to fight disease around the world.
- Vaccines.gov (opens in a new tab) — What each vaccine protects against and when people usually get it.
- EPA Mosquito Control (opens in a new tab) — How communities control mosquitoes and what you can do at home.
- American Public Health Association (opens in a new tab) — What public health workers do and the issues they're working on.
Pairs well with
- Health Care Professions, Merit Badge · Careers · 9 requirements
- Environmental Science, Eagle-required, Merit Badge · Nature · 11 requirements
- First Aid, Eagle-required, Merit Badge · Health & Safety · 15 requirements
- Emergency Preparedness, Eagle-required, Merit Badge · Health & Safety · 10 requirements
Into this? Explore more
Tips, examples, and questions are ideas from experienced leaders, not extra requirements. Your unit leader or counselor decides when a requirement is complete.