Public Health

The author of this concise and informative book is director of the Centre for History in Public Health in the University of London. As such, she has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of developments in public health as well as of current trends. The book begins by defining public health, drawing on some recent reports, and provides some useful diagrams illustrating the various aspects ranging from culture, environment and individual lifestyle factors to social and community issues including inequality. Economic advances have brought up new issues such as obesity and implications of increased mobility while the profile of other issues such as tobacco and alcohol as well as sugar is changing depending on location. There is a fascinating chapter on the history of public health from the Greeks and Romans onwards and describing the devastation of the Black Death. The 1800s saw considerable progress in sanitation and the development of the germ theory of disease. In the 20th century, the focus in the West was the rise of lifestyle factors and epidemiological transition towards the so-called diseases of civilisation. After a chapter on tropical and international public health, the author returns to current issues, which include and ageing population and the role of self-diagnosis on the Internet. For anyone looking for a concise overview of the field, this book cannot be bettered.