Many public-health books are either focused on one specific topic or introduce the entire field to a reader. The latter mainly appeal to those taking public health in academic settings. This book, however, consists of an anthology of various public health experts writing about America’s public healthcare system. It seeks to bring readers of introductions to a knowledge level more congruent with the contemporary landscape, as the title suggests.
What is public health? Public health deals not with individual medical care but with the healthcare of communities. Unfortunately, the topic has been and continues to be highly politicized. Because healthcare interventions tend to intersect with economic concerns, public health has won many enemies throughout the years. For some reason, people would rather blame public health experts than their favorite politicians – or themselves – for problems.
This book contains 13 essays about the contemporary landscape of public health. Topics include history, organization, education, primary care, and international comparisons. Authors tend to be from a variety of academic posts. Honestly, as someone who works in healthcare but not directly in public health, I found it very interesting.
With editors at the University of Kentucky, the book definitely has a bias towards issues involving the state of Kentucky, like Appalachia. However, underserved communities like Appalachia tend not to be discussed in public health circles as much as racial or ethnic identity groups. Thus, while other groups are discussed, too, I found it enlightening to look at this group’s issues with more repetition.
Overall, I learned a lot from this book and encourage anyone who has a broad public-health interest to peruse it, too. It fills a needed gap between topical books and introductory books. It doesn’t redefine terms as much as bring that knowledge into current practice, at least up to 2021 (the middle of the COVID pandemic). Those who claim “well read” status in public health should definitely have this book on their shelves.
Contemporary Public Health: Principles, Practice, and Policy
Edited by James W. Holsinger Jr. & F. Douglas Scutchfield
2nd Edition
Copyright (c) 2021
The University Press of Kentucky
ISBN13 9780813180779
Page Count: 301
Genre: Public Health
www.amazon.com