Provides a detailed look at how war affects human life and health far beyond the battlefield Since 2010, a team of activists, social scientists, and physicians have monitored the lives lost as a result of the US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan through an initiative called the Costs of War Project. Unlike most studies of war casualties, this research looks beyond lives lost in violence to consider those who have died as a result of illness, injuries, and malnutrition that would not have occurred had the war not taken place. Incredibly, the Cost of War Project has found that, of the more than 1,000,000 lives lost in the recent US wars, a minimum of 800,000 died not from violence, but from indirect causes. War and Health offers a critical examination of these indirect casualties, examining health outcomes on the battlefield and elsewhere-in hospitals, homes, and refugee camps-both during combat and in the years following, as communities struggle to live normal lives despite decimated social services, lack of access to medical care, ongoing illness and disability, malnutrition, loss of infrastructure, and increased substance abuse. The volume considers the effect of the war on both civilians and on US service members, in war zones-where healthcare systems have been destroyed by long-term conflict-and in the United States, where healthcare is highly developed. Ultimately, it draws much-needed attention to the far-reaching health consequences of the recent US wars, and argues that we cannot go to war-and remain at war-without understanding the catastrophic effect war has on the entire ecosystem of human health.

The COVID-19 Disruption and the Global Health Dilemma provides an historical accounting of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic through the eyes of the largest pubic health system in the United States, one that served the hardest hit neighborhoods in New York City. The book offers a roadmap to guide healthcare systems and their providers in the event of future pandemics. Readers will learn from healthcare providers at the epicenter of the pandemic in New York City about surge staffing and level loading, along with tips from the ED and ICUs on how to respond to an unprecedented influx of inpatients.

Winner of the 2021 Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award In A History of Population Health Johan P. Mackenbach offers a broad-sweeping study of the spectacular changes in people's health in Europe since the early 18th century. Most of the 40 specific diseases covered in this book show a fascinating pattern of 'rise-and-fall', with large differences in timing between countries. Using a unique collection of historical data and bringing together insights from demography, economics, sociology, political science, medicine, epidemiology and general history, it shows that these changes and variations did not occur spontaneously, but were mostly man-made. Throughout European history, changes in health and longevity were therefore closely related to economic, social, and political conditions, with public health and medical care both making important contributions to population health improvement. Readers who would like to have a closer look at the quantitative data used in the trend graphs included in the book can find these it here.