The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.
During the last 25 years, life expectancy at age 50 in the United States has been rising, but at a slower pace than in many other high-income countries, such as Japan and Australia. This difference is particularly notable given that the United States spends more on health care than any other nation. Concerned about this divergence, the National Institute on Aging asked the National Research Council to examine evidence on its possible causes. According to Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries, the nation's history of heavy smoking is a major reason why lifespans in the United States fall short of those in many other high-income nations. Evidence suggests that current obesity levels play a substantial part as well. The book reports that lack of universal access to health care in the U.S. also has increased mortality and reduced life expectancy, though this is a less significant factor for those over age 65 because of Medicare access. For the main causes of death at older ages-cancer and cardiovascular disease-available indicators do not suggest that the U.S. health care system is failing to prevent deaths that would be averted elsewhere. In fact, cancer detection and survival appear to be better in the U.S. than in most other high-income nations, and survival rates following a heart attack also are favorable. Explaining Divergent Levels of Longevity in High-Income Countries identifies many gaps in research. For instance, while lung cancer deaths are a reliable marker of the damage from smoking, no clear-cut marker exists for obesity, physical inactivity, social integration, or other risks considered in this book. Moreover, evaluation of these risk factors is based on observational studies, which-unlike randomized controlled trials-are subject to many biases.
This popular textbook provides a comprehensive but accessible coverage of health economic principles and applications. It provides an introduction for those with no previous knowledge of economics, but also more advanced material suitable for those with a background in economics. Now into its second edition, Barbara McPake and Charles Normand have incorporated developments in economic evaluation and economics of health systems from recent research and experience while retaining an accessible approach and style. The book starts with a section on basic economic principles as applied to health and health care, and goes on to discuss economic evaluation in health care, the economics of health systems and health care finance. Examples and illustrations are taken from a wide range of settings and world regions, reflecting the authors¿ belief that the same principles apply, and that it is useful to have some understanding of how different countries organise the health system. It provides an understanding of the performance of different health systems from the insurance based approaches in the United States to government funding that is common in Canada and most countries in Europe, and the mixed systems that operate in most low-income countries. This book is ideal for students in public health and related courses, for health care professionals and those studying health economics at a more advanced level.
While the health effects of many aspects of life, from diet to marital status, have been extensively explored, little study has been made of the health effects of work. Covering such topics as on-the-job dangers, the role of unions in worker protection, and occupational health in both developed and developing countries, this collection of articles conclusively demonstrates the negative impact that neglect of citizens' working lives has on pubic health. With more Americans dying each year from job-related causes than were killed in a decade of combat in Vietnam, "Health and Work Under Capitalism" is a long-overdue and unusually significant book.
This collection compares Russian and Soviet medical workers – physicians, psychiatrists and nurses, and examines them within an international framework that challenges traditional Western conceptions of professionalism and professionalization through exploring how these ideas developed amongst medical workers in Russia and the Soviet Union. Ideology and everyday life are examined through analyses of medical practice while gender is assessed through the experience of women medical professionals and patients. Cross national and entangled history is explored through the prism of health care, with medical professionals crossing borders for a number of reasons: to promote the principles and advancements of science and medicine internationally; to serve altruistic purposes and support international health care initiatives; and to escape persecution. Chapters in this volume highlight the diversity of experiences of health care, but also draw attention to the shared concerns and issues that make science and medicine the subject of international discussion.
In 2015, building on the advances of the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals that include an explicit commitment to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. However, enormous gaps remain between what is achievable in human health and where global health stands today, and progress has been both incomplete and unevenly distributed. In order to meet this goal, a deliberate and comprehensive effort is needed to improve the quality of health care services globally. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm: Improving Health Care Worldwide focuses on one particular shortfall in health care affecting global populations: defects in the quality of care. This study reviews the available evidence on the quality of care worldwide and makes recommendations to improve health care quality globally while expanding access to preventive and therapeutic services, with a focus in low-resource areas. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm emphasizes the organization and delivery of safe and effective care at the patient/provider interface. This study explores issues of access to services and commodities, effectiveness, safety, efficiency, and equity. Focusing on front line service delivery that can directly impact health outcomes for individuals and populations, this book will be an essential guide for key stakeholders, governments, donors, health systems, and others involved in health care.
This book provides a broad international perspective on the psychological trauma faced by children and adolescents exposed to major disasters, and on the local public health response to their needs. An outstanding quality of the book is that it draws upon the experience of local researchers, clinicians, and public mental health practitioners who dedicated themselves to these children in the wake of overwhelming events. The chapters address exemplary responses to a wide variety of trauma types, including severe weather, war, industrial catastrophes, earthquakes, and terrorism. Because disasters do not recognize geographic, economic, or political boundaries, the chapters have been selected to reflect the diverse global community’s attempt to respond to vulnerable children in the most challenging times. The book, thus, examines a diverse range of healthcare systems, cultural settings, mental health infrastructure, government policies, and the economic factors that have played an important role in responses to traumatic events. The ultimate goal of this book is to stimulate future international collaborations and interventions that will promote children’s mental health in the face of disaster.
This book has it all - written by national and international experts and edited by world authorities, it is the first book on sport psychiatry in over a decade. Dealing with psychopathology, mental health problems and clinical management, it differs markedly from sports psychology books that focus on performance issues. Eating disorders, exercise addiction, drug abuse are all problems that are seen in 'everyday' athletes, not just elite performers. This book shows how to help. This text covers the most important topics in contemporary sports psychiatry/psychology from an international perspective. Chapter authors are experts in the field and global leaders in the related professional organizations, including current and past Presidents/Chairs of the International Society for Sports Psychiatry and of the World Psychiatric Association Section on Exercise and Sports Psychiatry. Authors are mainly psychiatrists: the rest are PhD sport psychologists. The book comprises representative chapter authors from around the world, to an extent unprecedented in this topic. The authors and editors are well-informed in global perspectives, e.g., having served as consultants to numerous Olympic teams, in addition to service on the International Society for Sports Psychiatry's Board of Directors. Specifically, this book covers four main categories of topics: 1) mental health challenges faced by athletes (including substance use disorders, exercise addiction, eating disorders, depression, suicide, and concussion), 2) treatment approaches and therapeutic issues with athletes (including different types of psychotherapy for psychiatric disorders, psychotherapeutic performance enhancement approaches, transference and countertransference issues, achievement by proxy, psychotherapeutic issues as applied to a couple of sports that are played around the world, and use of psychiatric medications in athletes), 3) psychosocial issues affecting athletes (including sexual harassment and abuse, cultural issues, and ethics issues), and 4) the field of sports psychiatry (including work within one common sports psychiatry practice setting, and current status of and challenges in the field of sports psychiatry). There is a growing need for this book. Performance-enhancing drugs, use of psychotropics in impaired athletes, head trauma, sexual abuse, eating disorders, ethics, and depression and suicide in athletes, are just a few of the timely subjects addressed in this text. This is the only comprehensive reference available for those working in the field (or merely interested in it) to consult for current information on these topics. The existing sports psychology texts all focus on performance issues, with little, if any, attention paid to these areas of clinical significance. The book addresses the core differences between sports psychiatry and sports psychology, as well as the areas of overlap. Emphasis is placed on how the disciplines should work together in diagnosing and treating athletes dealing with emotional stress and psychopathology. Chapters include case examples and specific goals listed at the beginning, along with tables and graphs to highlight key concepts.
Racial and ethnic disparities in health care are known to reflect access to care and other issues that arise from differing socioeconomic conditions. There is, however, increasing evidence that even after such differences are accounted for, race and ethnicity remain significant predictors of the quality of health care received. In Unequal Treatment, a panel of experts documents this evidence and explores how persons of color experience the health care environment. The book examines how disparities in treatment may arise in health care systems and looks at aspects of the clinical encounter that may contribute to such disparities. Patients' and providers' attitudes, expectations, and behavior are analyzed. How to intervene? Unequal Treatment offers recommendations for improvements in medical care financing, allocation of care, availability of language translation, community-based care, and other arenas. The committee highlights the potential of cross-cultural education to improve provider-patient communication and offers a detailed look at how to integrate cross-cultural learning within the health professions. The book concludes with recommendations for data collection and research initiatives. Unequal Treatment will be vitally important to health care policymakers, administrators, providers, educators, and students as well as advocates for people of color.
