Description
Book SynopsisWhile New Jersey now frequently appears near the top in listings of America’s healthiest states, this has not always been the case. The fluctuations in the state’s overall levels of health have less to do with the lifestyle choices of individual residents and more to do with broader structural issues, ranging from pollution to urban design to the consolidation of the health care industry.
This book uses the past fifty years of New Jersey history as a case study to illustrate just how much public policy decisions and other upstream factors can affect the health of a state’s citizens. It reveals how economic and racial disparities in health care were exacerbated by bad policies regarding everything from zoning to education to environmental regulation. The study further chronicles how New Jersey struggled to deal with public health crises like the AIDS epidemic and the crack epidemic. Yet it also explores how the state has developed some of the nation’s most innovative responses to public health challenges, and then provides policy suggestions for how we might build an even healthier New Jersey.
Trade Review“Toward a Healthier Garden State is a wonderful resource for decision makers and educators, and an entertaining read for everyone who loves the Garden State. This book should be required reading for all elected and appointed officials throughout the state–a truly unique read.”
-- Thomas A. Burke * Department of Health Policy and Management, Johns Hopkins University *
Table of Contents Preface
1 Defining, Measuring, and Improving Health
2 The Winding Path to Better Health in New Jersey
3 Transportation Drives Population Shifts
4 Fixing Environmental Inequities: Cancer Alley
5 Health Disparities and the COVID-19 Pandemic
6 Housing and Education Interventions
7 Acute Natural and Man-Made Hazard Events
8 Reshuffling Health Care
Epilogue: Confronting Challenges to a Healthier New Jersey—The Next 25 Years
Acknowledgments
Index
