Main description:

Perhaps no other public policy issue has greater potential to affect some of the most significant economic, political, social, and ethical changes of the 21st century than global health. In this book, a scholar/physician team authors a comprehensive introduction to global health issues and emphasises the potential of public health intervention to improve the longevity and quality of human life across the globe. The authors have lived and worked in Africa as well as in medically underserved areas of the United States, so they write with firsthand experience and authority. Using themes of interconnectedness, globalisation, and united concern from citizens, this book encourages readers to consider the role that they might play as engaged citizens in taking on the global public health challenges of the 21st century including everything from AIDs and flu to tobacco, obesity, and threats in conflict zones.

Contents:

List of Tables, Figures, and Boxes Preface Acknowledgments Part I Foundations of Global Health 1 Introduction to Global Health Introduction What Is Global Health? Why Should We Care About Global Health? Major Global Health Challenges in the 21st Century Under the Microscope: Millions of Lives at Stake in Global Health Global Governance and Health Conclusion Discussion Questions Web Resources 2 Key Concepts in Global Health Introduction Determinants of Health Under the Microscope: Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease Population Health Assessment Demographic and Epidemiological Transitions Conclusion Discussion Questions Web Resources 3 The Ecological Foundations of Global Health Introduction Environmental Health Ecological Balance and Global Health Drinking Water, the Environment, and Global Health Under the Microscope: Corn-fed Agriculture and the Diseases of Globalization Under the Microscope: The Negative Health Consequences of Bottled Water Climate Change and Global Health Conclusion Discussion Questions Web Resources Part II Medical Aspects of Global Health 4 Global Health and Communicable Diseases Introduction Introduction to Microbiology Under the Microscope: Public Resistance to Vaccination Campaigns Global Burden of Communicable Diseases Antimicrobial Resistance HIV/AIDS Tuberculosis Influenza Conclusion Discussion Questions Web Resources 5 Global Health and Noncommunicable Illnesses Introduction Global Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases Cardiovascular Disease Obesity and Overweight Under the Microscope: Obesity and Excise Taxes on Sugar-sweetened Beverages Tobacco Abuse Conclusion Discussion Questions Web Resources Part III The International Relations of Global Health 6 Economic, Ethnic, and Gender Inequities in Global Health Introduction Economic Development and Territorially Based Inequities in Global Health Under the Microscope: The Inequitable Effects of Natural Disasters Poverty and Economic Inequities Across and Within States Under the Microscope: Reflections on Global Health Aid to Developing Countries Racial and Ethnic Inequities in Global Health Under the Microscope: Reflections on Patient-Physician Language Discordance Gender Inequities in Global Health Conclusion Discussion Questions Web Resources 7 Global Health and Security Introduction Global Health Challenges as Potential National Security Threats Biological Warfare and Bioterrorism The Health Costs of Intrastate and Interstate War Under the Microscope: Disease and Death in the Shadow of War Human Security and Health The Securitization Debate in Global Health Conclusion Discussion Questions Web Resources 8 Global Health and Human Rights Introduction The Right to Health Under International Human Rights Law Gendering the Human Right to Health: The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women Health Rights Under International Humanitarian Law Professional Codes of Ethics and the Human Right to Health Conceptual and Cultural Challenges to the Human Right to Health Under the Microscope: Intellectual Property Rights and Access to Medicine Under the Microscope: Intercultural Communication in Global Health Conclusion Discussion Questions Web Resources Part IV Promoting Global Health 9 Promoting Global Health from the Top Down: International Organizations Introduction Range, Functions, and Powers of International Organizations in the Promotion of Global Health World Health Organization Under the Microscope: The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control A Success Story: The Global Eradication of Smallpox Millennium Development Goals Global Health Promotion from the Top Down: Possibilities and Challenges Under the Microscope: Women's Health Initiatives in the UN System Conclusion Discussion Questions Web Resources 10 Promoting Global Health from the Top Down: States Introduction States and the Promotion of Global Health Health Care Systems Comparing National Approaches to Health and Health Care Under the Microscope: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in the United States Comparing Expenditures and Outcomes Across National Health Care Systems Conclusion Discussion Questions Web Resources 11 Promoting Global Health from the Bottom Up: Non- state Actors Introduction Categories of Non- state Actors Circumventing the State: Health Governance Without Government Under the Microscope: Providing Clean Water to the Poor in Developing Countries Non-governmental Organizations and Global Health Advocacy Conclusion Discussion Questions Web Resources Conclusion Notes Index About the Authors