Description
Book SynopsisIntroducing Global Health: Practice, Policy, and Solutions is a contemporary overview of the major issues in global public health. The book explores how population health might be maximized with the right blend of health system, education, antipoverty, infectious disease, urban development, governance, and incentive-based policies. It covers topics critical for understanding the state of the world today, including wars for natural resources, the missing women phenomenon, and whether global aid really works. The book''s case studies focus on developing economies, mixed economies, and new emerging superpowers. Thematic chapters are interwoven with running motifs, such as the health risks and benefits associated with different totalitarian, capitalist, and market socialist economies. Moving beyond statistics, the book represents a major innovation in the teaching of global health by presenting technical concepts including the incidence and prevalence of disease within the contex
Table of Contents
Figures and Tables ix
The Authors xiii
Introduction: An Overview of Global Health xv
Part 1 The Basics of Global Health 1
1 A Very Brief History of Global Health Policy 3
Key Ideas 3
Health and Public Policy Through the Twentieth Century 4
The Age of Global Health Policy 11
The Fall of Global Governance 16
The Millennium Development Goals 19
An Alternative History 21
Love and Health in Modern Times 25
Summary 27
Key Terms 27
Discussion Questions 27
Further Reading 28
References 28
2 Case Studies in Development and Health 31
Key Ideas 31
The Puzzle of “Good” Development for Health 33
The Next Superpowers? Taking a Closer Look at Middle-Income Countries 37
Growth-Mediated Models 40
Support-Led Models 41
Toward a Happy Medium? 43
China’s Explosive Growth 45
Kerala’s Quality of Life 49
Chile Aims for a Balancing Act 52
Summary 56
Key Terms 56
Discussion Questions 56
Further Reading 57
References 57
Part 2 Global Health and the Art of Policy Making 61
3 The Global Burden of Disease 63
Key Ideas 63
Who Dies Where? 64
Counting Global Deaths (with an Eye Toward Saving Lives) 69
Dead Children Make for Bad Statistics 73
The Health Effects of Evil Genies 74
Quantifying the Global Burden of Disease 77
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis 81
Summary 83
Key Terms 84
Discussion Questions 84
Further Reading 84
References 84
4 Aid 87
Key Ideas 87
Different Types of Aid 88
The Aid Controversy 91
Models of Global Aid for Public Health 92
Argument: Aid Is Harmful 95
Argument: Aid Is Poorly Managed 97
Argument: Aid Is Misused 99
Argument: “Aid” Further Consolidates Power for the Powerful 101
Argument: All Is Well, Just Send More 102
Argument: We Are Making Progress, But the Hurdles Are High 102
Summary 104
Key Terms 105
Discussion Questions 105
Further Reading 106
References 106
5 Health Systems 109
Key Ideas 109
Health Care Delivery Systems 111
Health Care Payments 114
Health Care Markets 116
Health Care Delivery Systems in High-Income Countries 117
Health Care Delivery Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries 124
Pharmaceutical Spending 132
What Makes Us Healthy? 134
Summary 138
Key Terms 138
Discussion Questions 139
Further Reading 139
References 139
6 Social Policy and Global Health 143
Key Ideas 143
How Policies Are Made 144
Political Economy and Health 151
Lessons for Health-Optimizing Social Policies 164
Summary 165
Key Terms 166
Discussion Questions 166
Further Reading 166
References 166
7 A Closer Look at Three Political Economies: China, Kerala, and Chile 169
Key Ideas 169
China: Sustainable State of Development? 170
Kerala: Experiments with Radical Decentralization 176
Chile: A Precarious Third Way 181
Summary 190
Discussion Questions 190
Further Reading 191
References 191
8 Global Governance and Health 193
Key Ideas 193
The World Health Organization 194
The World Trade Organization 197
An Evolution of Global Governance 200
Summary 208
Key Terms 209
Discussion Questions 209
Further Reading 209
References 210
Part 3 Key Challenges in Global Health 213
9 Poverty 215
Key Ideas 215
Income and Health Across Nations 216
Definitions of Poverty 218
Why Do We Worry About Poverty in Public Health? 222
Poverty in Less-Developed Nations 228
Poverty and Health Among Wealthy Nations 232
The Complexities of Poverty 240
Summary 240
Key Terms 241
Discussion Questions 241
Further Reading 241
References 241
10 The Physical Environment and Disease 245
Key Ideas 245
Infectious Disease and Development 246
Malaria and Other Mosquito-Borne Illnesses 251
Air Pollution and Health 255
Outer-Ring Development and Health259
Climate Change and Health 262
Summary 267
Key Terms 267
Discussion Questions 267
Further Reading 268
References 268
11 The Social Environment and Disease 271
Key Ideas 271
The Ultimate Trifecta: Race, Class, and Gender 272
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) 282
Tuberculosis 286
Social Networks and Chronic Disease 289
Individual Risk Behaviors, Urban Planning, and Health 292
Summary 297
Key Terms 297
Discussion Questions 298
Further Reading 298
References 298
12 Globalization, Internal Conflict, and the Resource Curse 303
Key Ideas 303
Globalization and Health 303
Spillover Effects of Poor Global Governance 307
Civil Conflict as a Public Health Problem 308
Resource Curses and Civil Conflict 310
Natural Resources and Civil War 316
Summary 319
Key Terms 320
Discussion Questions 320
Further Reading 321
References 321
13 Frontiers in Global Health 325
Key Ideas 325
The Many Levels of Health 328
Tidings, Good or Bad, Come in Clusters 331
Working with the System 333
A Rise in Targeted Social Policy Interventions 338
Innovations in Administration and Governance 347
Lessons on Social Policy Interventions 349
Summary 349
Key Terms 350
Discussion Questions 350
Further Reading 350
References 351
Index 357
