Public Health at the Crossroads
Achievements and Prospects

This book is an introduction to public health as a discipline and a critique of its recent development.

Robert Beaglehole (Author), Ruth Bonita (Author)

9780521540476, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 22 April 2004

318 pages, 18 b/w illus. 13 tables
22.7 x 15.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.43 kg

'In summary, this is an impressive book, and is recommended as a reference for public health practitioners and as an introduction for managers, health professionals and students.' Health Service Journal

This book is an introduction to public health as a discipline and a critique of its recent development. Identifying poverty as the greatest continuing threat to health worldwide, the authors, both of them prominent public health authorities, review epidemiological, demographic and public health trends internationally, and argue that the prospects for public health will improve only if health in a broad sense becomes a central concern of the policy-making process. This extensively revised edition reviews major health trends, the current state of the world's health, and the latest estimates of the global burden of disease. With examples drawn widely from rich and poor countries, the authors argue for an inclusive vision of public health based on the application in public policy of improved epidemiological understanding of the causes of disease. Of interest to all health professionals, it will be essential reading for those in public health and related fields.

Preface
Part I. Global Health: 1. Health, disease and the health transition
2. Global health: past trends and present challenges
3. Contemporary global health issues
Part II. Epidemiology: 4. Evolution of epidemiology: ideas and methods
5. The current state of epidemiology: achievements and limitations
6. Challenges for epidemiology
Part III. Public Health: 7. Public health themes: historical and contemporary
8. Public health organisation and practice in wealthy countries
9. Public health organisation and practice in poor countries
10. Public health at the crossroads
Index.

Subject Areas: Epidemiology & medical statistics [MBNS], Public health & preventive medicine [MBN]