Naomi Wolf Quotes

A lot of people have misconceptions about what the surgeon general does.

I am enormously honored to be one of the spokesmen of the New Age Womens Health Campaign, so you'll be seeing me in public service announcements and public appearances supporting the campaign.

For years, many public health campaigns that aimed at changing habits have been failures.

As surgeon general I always seemed to be issuing a "Surgeon General's Warning" about one thing after another that threatened the health of the American people: cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, AIDS, Reye's syndrome, violence, and a host of others. In each case I had to be certain that the science behind the health warning was impeccable and able to withstand the critics who sought to dismiss the warnings. But I also needed to ensure that the science made sense on a personal level. I had to listen to the American people as well as to talk (sternly) to them.

We must form public-private partnerships to collectively improve children's health.

I partnered with AstraZeneca to help launch the 'Mom Nose Best' campaign, where I provide tips for flu season.

The surgeon general is responsible for sharing scientifically-based information with the public so that they can improve their health. But I will say personally that my goal as surgeon general is to help build a culture of prevention in America so that we are a nation that is as good at preventing illness as we are at treating it.

No good is ever done to society by the pictorial representation of its diseases.

When Mrs. Bush was First Lady, she went all over the Mideast talking about breast cancer awareness and the need for early screening. She did this in places where the cultures prohibit such discussion or even detection efforts.

When I jump into something, I really do it to the fullest extent that my time and energy will allow me. I'm from Texas, and to see so many people that are obese and with disorders that are preventable. They haven't been shown or told. I'm really passionate about making sure my fellow countrymen are healthy. It's a shame.

And so to those who suggest that we are somehow 'harming' young women by encouraging them to take charge of their health we say this: We are not harming young women by educating them. We are arming them with information that they will carry with them throughout their lives.

The overarching issue, really, is our surgeon general should be able to communicate transparently and honestly with the American public on all issues.

Do you remember campaigns like 'Keep America beautiful'? What about 'Buckle up'? I believe we need an approach like this to attack obesity. Let's be a good industry that does 100% of what it possibly can - not grudgingly, but willingly.

The job of the government - and my responsibility - is to help people live healthier lives. The framework is about giving local authorities the ability to focus on the most effective ways to improve the public's health and reduce health inequalities, long-term, from cradle to grave.

Comforts and syphilis are the greatest enemies of mankind.

The Surgeon General's job is a bully pulpit and not much else.

Health is more than the absence of disease…It is also education….We have a health illiterate society.

Washington has dedicated past global health initiatives to delivering food, drugs, and other health technologies to the world’s poor. In doing so, it has been able to achieve progress even in countries with dysfunctional governments. But it cannot enforce the regulations on smoke-free public places, food and drug safety, urban sanitation, and road traffic that are now needed in such settings. Accordingly, the fundamental challenge in this new area of global health is not necessarily new medicine but better governance.

As director of the CDC, one of the best parts of my job is announcing good news.

CDC is supporting community efforts by establishing competitive grants to support local programs to help individuals and families to get healthy and stay healthy.

I loved clinical practice, but in public health, you can impact more than one person at a time. The whole society is your patient.

By the way, what happened to our surgeon general who warned us about AIDS and smoking? That position has been completely stripped of power.

I think we need more community health programs and we need to develop programs that are low-cost.

As Miss World 2017, and even later in life, I'd like to take health and hygiene to everybody.

I worked for a company called Population Services International, a social marketing company advocating healthy behaviors. We had a big branding campaign with celebrities to help educate about the proper use of mosquito nets, for example, to help prevent malaria.