"The Nation has lost sight of its public health goals and has allowed the system of public health to fall into 'disarray'," from The Future of Public Health. This startling book contains proposals for ensuring that public health service programs are efficient and effective enough to deal not only with the topics of today, but also with those of tomorrow. In addition, the authors make recommendations for core functions in public health assessment, policy development, and service assurances, and identify the level of government--federal, state, and local--at which these functions would best be handled.
The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.
Bioterrorism, drug-resistant disease, transmission of disease by global travel . . . there's no shortage of challenges facing America's public health officials. Men and women preparing to enter the field require state-of-the-art training to meet these increasing threats to the public health. But are the programs they rely on provide the high caliber professional training they require? Who Will Keep the Public Healthy? provides an overview of the past, present, and future of public health education, assessing its readiness to provide the training and education needed to prepare men and women to face 21st century challenges. Advocating an ecological approach to public health, the Institute of Medicine examines the role of public health schools and degree-granting programs, medical schools, nursing schools, and government agencies, as well as other institutions that foster public health education and leadership. Specific recommendations address the content of public health education, qualifications for faculty, availability of supervised practice, opportunities for cross-disciplinary research and education, cooperation with government agencies, and government funding for education. Eight areas of critical importance to public health education in the 21st century are examined in depth: informatics, genomics, communication, cultural competence, community-based participatory research, global health, policy and law, and public health ethics. The book also includes a discussion of the policy implications of its ecological framework.
"For those who seek to improve health through policy change, this book is intended to be your companion. It is written by practitioners, elected officials, and other policymakers who have firsthand experience with the complex dynamics of policymaking through their professional careers. Its chapters share perspectives on the power of policy from the federal, state, and local levels; demonstrate several evidence-based policy packages developed by leading public health organizations; provide perspectives not only on legislative policy but on the roles of litigation and regulation; and reveal the existing threats to using policy to impact health. We hope that this book will inspire current and future public health practitioners and pMolicymakers to use policy to achieve optimal and equitable health for all"--
The New Public Health has established itself as a solid textbook throughout the world. Translated into 7 languages, this work distinguishes itself from other public health textbooks, which are either highly locally oriented or, if international, lack the specificity of local issues relevant to students' understanding of applied public health in their own setting. This 3e provides a unified approach to public health appropriate for all masters' level students and practitioners—specifically for courses in MPH programs, community health and preventive medicine programs, community health education programs, and community health nursing programs, as well as programs for other medical professionals such as pharmacy, physiotherapy, and other public health courses. Changes in infectious and chronic disease epidemiology including vaccines, health promotion, human resources for health and health technology Lessons from H1N1, pandemic threats, disease eradication, nutritional health Trends of health systems and reforms and consequences of current economic crisis for health Public health law, ethics, scientific d health technology advances and assessment Global Health environment, Millennium Development Goals and international NGOs
There are at least three ways in which a public health program or policy may not reach stated goals for success: 1) Choosing an intervention approach whose effectiveness is not established in the scientific literature; 2) Selecting a potentially effective program or policy yet achieving only weak, incomplete implementation or "reach," thereby failing to attain objectives; 3) Conducting an inadequate or incorrect evaluation that results in a lack of generalizable knowledge on the effectiveness of a program or policy; and 4) Paying inadequate attention to adapting an intervention to the population and context of interest To enhance evidence-based practice, this book addresses all four possibilities and attempts to provide practical guidance on how to choose, carry out, and evaluate evidence-based programs and policies in public health settings. It also begins to address a fifth, overarching need for a highly trained public health workforce. This book deals not only with finding and using scientific evidence, but also with implementation and evaluation of interventions that generate new evidence on effectiveness. Because all these topics are broad and require multi-disciplinary skills and perspectives, each chapter covers the basic issues and provides multiple examples to illustrate important concepts. In addition, each chapter provides links to the diverse literature and selected websites for readers wanting more detailed information. An indispensable volume for professionals, students, and researchers in the public health sciences and preventative medicine, this new and updated edition of Evidence-Based Public Health aims to bridge research and evidence with policies and the practice of public health.
Public health refers to the management and prevention of disease within a population by promoting healthy behaviors and environments in an effort to create a higher standard of living. In this comprehensive volume, editor James W. Holsinger Jr. and an esteemed group of scholars and practitioners offer a concise overview of this burgeoning field, emphasizing that the need for effective services has never been greater. Designed as a supplemental text for introductory courses in public health practice at the undergraduate and graduate levels, Contemporary Public Health provides historical background that contextualizes the current state of the field and explores the major issues practitioners face today. It addresses essential topics such as the social and ecological determinants of health and their impact on practice, marginalized populations, the role of community-oriented primary care, the importance of services and systems research, accreditation, and the organizational landscape of the American public health system. Finally, it examines international public health and explores the potential of systems based on multilevel partnerships of government, academic, and nonprofit organizations. With fresh historical and methodological analyses conducted by an impressive group of distinguished authors, this text is an essential resource for practitioners, health advocates, and students.
This second edition of Social Injustice and Public Health is a comprehensive, up-to-date, evidence-based resource on the relationship of social injustice to many aspects of public health. With contributions from leading experts in public health, medicine, health, social sciences, and other fields, this integrated book documents the adverse effects of social injustice on health and makes recommendations on what needs to be done to reduce social injustice and thereby improve the public's health. Social Injustice and Public Health is divided into four parts: · The nature of social injustice and its impact on public health · How the health of specific population groups is affected by social injustice · How social injustice adversely affects medical care, infectious and chronic non-communicable disease, nutrition, mental health, violence, environmental and occupational health, oral health, and aspects of international health · What needs to be done, such as addressing social injustice in a human rights context, promoting social justice through public health policies and programs, strengthening communities, and promoting equitable and sustainable human development With 78 contributors who are experts in their respective subject areas, this textbook is ideal for students and practitioners in public health, medicine, nursing, and other health sciences. It is the definitive resource for anyone seeking to better understand the social determinants of health and how to address them to reduce social injustice and improve the public's health.
Combining analytical introductory chapters, edited versions of influential articles from the journal Critical Public Health and specially commissioned review articles, this volume examines the contemporary roles of ‘critical voices’ in public health research and practice from a range of disciplines and contexts.
