| Title | : | Textbook of Global Health |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0199392285 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780199392285 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 712 |
| Publication | : | Published February 23, 2017 |
"This book compels us to better understand the contexts in which health problems emerge and the forces that underlie and propel them." -Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Mpilo Tutu
H1N1. Diabetes. Ebola. Zika. Each of these health problems is rooted in a confluence of social, political, economic, and biomedical factors that together inform our understanding of global health. The imperative for those who study global health is to understand these factors individually and, especially, synergistically.
Fully revised and updated, this fourth edition of Oxford's Textbook of Global Health offers a critical examination of the array of societal factors that shape health within and across countries, including how health inequities create consequences that must be addressed by public health, international aid, and social and economic policymaking.
The text equips students, activists, and health professionals with the building blocks for a contextualized understanding of global health, including essential threads that are combined in no other
· historical dynamics of the field
· the political economy of health and development
· analysis of the current global health structure, including its actors, agencies, and activities
· societal determinants of health, from global trade and investment treaties to social policies to living and working conditions
· the role of health data and measuring health inequities
· major causes of global illness and death, including under crises, from a political economy of health vantage point that goes beyond communicable vs. non-communicable diseases to incorporate contexts of social and economic deprivation, work, and globalization
· the role of trade/investment and financial liberalization, precarious work, and environmental degradation and contamination
· principles of health systems and the politics of health financing
· community, national, and transnational social justice approaches to building healthy societies and practicing global health ethically and equitably
Through this approach the Textbook of Global Health encourages the reader -- be it student, professional, or advocate -- to embrace a wider view of the global health paradigm, one that draws from political economy considerations at community, national, and transnational levels. It is essential and current reading for anyone working in or around global health.
Textbook of Global Health Reviews
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This may be the best textbook I've read. Dealing with global health from a political economy and social justice perspective, this book covers the historical origins of modern global health; global health actors and epidemiological profiles of diseases; health equity and the social determinants of health; humanitarian health care and the impacts of globalization; health and the environment; and health systems and financing. The book ends with a call to action for individuals and organizations to be more humble and aware of power dynamics, more appreciative of how global health actors can unintentionally harm health care systems, and more focused on activism for broader structural change to improve health rather than on technical interventions alone.
The only weaknesses I saw were the too brief treatment of mental health and the (to my mind) insufficient discussion of public and private sector health. The authors make a strong case for public sector health strengthening being fundamentally more important than improving health outcomes through the private sector, with a private sector focus resulting in a more fragmented system, inequitable outcomes, and waste (through fragmentation and profit-making). And yet the difficulties in strengthening the public health sector of some countries (especially failed states, states with low capacity or commitment to health, and states with high levels of corruption) mean that private sector efforts, even if theoretically second best, will still be necessary and helpful. I did not come away from the book with a strong sense of the optimal public/private balance in different scenarios beyond the ideal. In my opinion the book would have been even stronger with an additional chapter discussing this balance in further depth and with more nuance.
