Public health refers to the management and prevention of disease within a population by promoting healthy behaviors and environments in an effort to create a higher standard of living. In this comprehensive volume, editor James W. Holsinger Jr. and an esteemed group of scholars and practitioners offer a concise overview of this burgeoning field, emphasizing that the need for effective services has never been greater. Designed as a supplemental text for introductory courses in public health practice at the undergraduate and graduate levels, Contemporary Public Health provides historical background that contextualizes the current state of the field and explores the major issues practitioners face today. It addresses essential topics such as the social and ecological determinants of health and their impact on practice, marginalized populations, the role of community-oriented primary care, the importance of services and systems research, accreditation, and the organizational landscape of the American public health system. Finally, it examines international public health and explores the potential of systems based on multilevel partnerships of government, academic, and nonprofit organizations. With fresh historical and methodological analyses conducted by an impressive group of distinguished authors, this text is an essential resource for practitioners, health advocates, and students.

A growing body of knowledge has revealed the profound impact of the social determinants of health—the social, political, and economic factors apart from health care that influence health. The question is no longer if social factors are important influences on health, but rather how social factors operate and how to address them most effectively, efficiently, and equitably. Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities is a comprehensive resource for students and educators to understand the wide-ranging effects of social and political factors, including racism, on individual health. Drawing on Paula Braveman's seminal work in health equity, this volume explains how upstream drivers like law and policy are at the beginning of causal chains influencing health, and in particular how systemic issues like racism are core drivers of health outcomes. Each chapter examines how different social determinants of health—such as income, education, stress, work, and racism—are impacted by upstream social factors and how those factors influence health and health disparities through complex pathways. Chapters also include approaches for future practitioners and policymakers to most effectively activate health-promoting pathways while interrupting health-damaging ones. Complete with chapter summaries and discussion questions, Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities is the definitive classroom guide to understanding and addressing social disparities in health, particularly racial and socioeconomic disparities.