Search results for ""Author Alfred Sommer""
Johns Hopkins University Press Getting What We Deserve: Health and Medical Care in America
One of America's leading public health experts finds a host of ills in this country's health care system: * The United States spends nearly twice as much on health care as the rest of the developed world, yet has higher infant mortality rates and shorter longevity than most nations.* We have access to many different drugs that accomplish the same end at varying costs, and nearly all are cheaper abroad.* Our life span had doubled over the past century before we developed effective drugs to treat most diseases or even considered altering the human genome.* The benefits of almost all newly developed treatments are marginal, while their costs are high. In his blunt assessment of the state of public health in America, Alfred Sommer argues that human behavior has a stronger effect on wellness than almost any other factor. Despite exciting advances in genomic research and cutting-edge medicine, Sommer explains, most illness can be avoided or managed with simple, low-tech habits such as proper hand washing, regular exercise, a balanced diet, and not smoking. But, as he also shows, this is easier said than done. Sommer finds that our fascination with medical advances sometimes keeps us from taking responsibility for our individual well-being. Instead of focusing on prevention, we wait for medical science to cure us once we become sick. Humorous, sometimes acerbic, and always well informed, Sommer's thought-provoking book will change the way you look at health care in America.
£26.14
Johns Hopkins University Press Ten Lessons in Public Health: Inspiration for Tomorrow's Leaders
There are occasions when a story told from a personal viewpoint can illuminate a profession. Alfred Sommer's epidemiological memoir is such a book. Adventurous, illuminating, and thought provoking, "Ten Lessons in Public Health" is more than the story of one man's work. It tells the tale of how epidemiology grew into global health. The book is organized around ten lessons Sommer learned as his career took him around the world, and within these lessons he explains how the modern era of public health research was born. Three themes emerge from Sommer's story: the duty to help your fellow human beings by traveling to places where there are problems; the knowledge that data-driven research is the key to improving public health; and the need to persevere with sensitivity and strength when science and cultural or sociological forces clash. Nothing in this compelling, sometimes controversial, history is glossed over, as the book's goal is to explain when and why public health efforts triumph or fail. Readers will travel to Bangladesh, Iran, Indonesia, South America, and the Caribbean, where they will learn about spreading epidemics, the aftermath of storms, and vexing epidemiological problems. Sommer reveals the inner politics of world health decisions and how difficult it can be to garner support for new solutions. Triumph, tragedy, frustration, and elation await those who set off on careers in public health, and "Ten Lessons in Public Health" is destined to become a classic book that puts the field into perspective.
£24.86
