Statistics and the Language of Global Health
Institutions and Experts in China, Taiwan, and the World, 1917–1960

Presents the historical process by which statistics became the language for health institutions working in China, Taiwan, and the World.

Yi-Tang Lin (Author)

9781108845922, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 3 November 2022

320 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2.1 cm, 0.55 kg

'Today, statistics and the language of numbers dominates global health thinking and practice. Yi-Tang Lin's ground-breaking study provides a much-needed history of how this came to be. Wide ranging, well researched and clearly written, Lin's book traces the emergence of statistics in global health over the course of the 20th century.' Randall Packard, John Hopkins University

Yi-Tang Lin presents the historical process by which statistics became the language of global health for local and international health organizations. Drawing on archival material from three continents, this study investigates efforts by public health schools, philanthropic foundations, and international organizations to turn numbers into an international language for public health. Lin shows how these initiatives produced an international network of public health experts who, across various socioeconomic and political contexts, opted for different strategies when it came to setting global standards and translating local realities into numbers. Focusing on China and Taiwan between 1917 and 1960, Lin examines the reception, adaptation, and appropriation of international health statistics. She presents the dynamic interplay between numbers, experts, and policy-making in international health organizations and administrations in China and Taiwan. This title is also available as Open Access.

Introduction
1. The call for a language of public health: Philanthropic foundations, bacteriologists, and health administrators
2. The language and dialect of health science: Public health schools and their statistical practices
3. The language of health administrations: The League of Nations Epidemiological Intelligence Service
4. The language of policy-making: Research and advocacy through health demonstrations
5. Popularization at a global scale: The WHO and the postwar health statistics reporting system
6. The art of rhetoric: Statistical standards at work, from fieldwork to world policy-making
7. Another way of speaking? Public health statistics in the People's Republic of China
Conclusion: Numbers, experts, and policy-making.

Subject Areas: History of medicine [MBX], Asian history [HBJF], General & world history [HBG]