Introduction To Public Health In China

This book introduces China’s public health work in detail, including its scope and characteristics, its history and evolution, its achievements and experience, the guiding principles for health development, health service system, public health education as well as science and technology of public health. In this book, opportunities and challenges of China’s public health are also presented, along with the prospects of future development. Over the sixty years, China has made remarkable achievements in the areas such as the national immunization program, maternal and child health, disease surveillance, the establishment of a public health information system and its application, as well as the improvement of people’s health, with tremendous experience and best practices being accumulated. In the new era, China starts a new journey towards building Healthy China, which is of great significance for the country’s public health development. The international community will have a better understanding of the history and current situation of China’s public health, as well as its achievements and contributions made to date, from reading this book.

The Asia-Pacific region has not only the greatest concentration of population but is, arguably, the future economic centre of the world. Epidemiological transition in the region is occurring much faster than it did in the West and many countries face the emerging problem of chronic diseases at the same time as they continue to grapple with communicable diseases. This book explores how disease patterns and health problems in Asia and the Pacific, and collective responses to them, have been shaped over time by cultural, economic, social, demographic, environmental and political factors. With fourteen chapters, each devoted to a country in the region, the authors take a comparative and historical approach to the evolution of public health and preventive medicine, and offer a broader understanding of the links in a globalizing world between health on the one hand and culture, economy, polity and society on the other. Public Health in Asia and the Pacific presents the importance of the non-medical context in the history of human disease, as well as the significance of disease in the larger histories of the region. It will appeal to scholars and policy makers in the fields of public health, the history of medicine, and those with a wider interest in the Asia-Pacific region.

New to the Third Edition: New or expanded sections covering: Pandemic Flu Response to Hurricane Katrina FDA Regulation of Tobacco Promoting Physical Activity Poisoning (now the #2 cause of injury death) Nonfatal Traumatic Brain Injuries National Children's Study Coal Ash and other unregulated waste from power plants Medical errors Information Technology New information/discussion on: H1N1 swine flu Conflicts of interest in drug trials Problems in planning for the 2010 census Genomic medicine Cell phones/texting while driving National birth defects prevention study The new HPV vaccine controversy Lead paint in toys imported from china Bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates The recent Salmonella outbreak in Peanut Butter Contaminated drug imports from China Managed care efforts to control medical costs Evaluation of Healthy People 2010 and planning for Healthy People 2020 New examples including: Andrew Speaker/Extremely Drug Resistant (XDR) Tuberculosis Football players and increased risk for dementia later in life.

This book, based on extensive original research, traces the development of China’s public health system, showing how advances in public health have been an integral part of China’s rise. It outlines the phenomenal improvements in public health, for example the increase in life expectancy from 38 in 1949 to 73 in 2010; relates developments in public health to prevailing political ideologies; and discusses how the drivers of health improvements were, unlike in the West, modern medical professionals and intellectuals who understood that, whatever the prevailing ideology, China needs to be a strong country. The book explores how public health concepts, policies, programmes, institutions and practices changed and developed through social and political upheavals, war, and famine, and argues that this perspective of China’s development is refreshingly different from China’s development viewed purely in political terms.

“Rich insights into how one country has dealt with perhaps the most central issue for any human society: the health and wellbeing of its citizens.” —The Lancet This volume examines important aspects of China’s century-long search to provide appropriate and effective health care for its people. Four subjects—disease and healing, encounters and accommodations, institutions and professions, and people’s health—organize discussions across case studies of schistosomiasis, tuberculosis, mental health, and tobacco and health. Among the book’s significant conclusions are the importance of barefoot doctors in disseminating western medicine; the improvements in medical health and services during the long Sino-Japanese war; and the important role of the Chinese consumer. This is a thought-provoking read for health practitioners, historians, and others interested in the history of medicine and health in China.

For seasoned professionals as well as students, A History of Public Health is visionary and essential reading.

Introduction to Public Health Sixth Edition offers a thorough, accessible overview of the expanding field of public health for students new to its concepts and actors. Written in engaging, nontechnical language, this text explains in clear terms the multi-disciplinary strategies and methods used for measuring, assessing, and promoting public health.