Over the past century, hundreds of billions of dollars have been invested in programs aimed at improving health on a global scale. Given the enormous scale and complexity of these lifesaving operations, why do millions of people in low-income countries continue to live without access to basic health services, sanitation, or clean water? And why are deadly diseases like Ebola able to spread so quickly among populations? In A History of Global Health, Randall M. Packard argues that global-health initiatives have saved millions of lives but have had limited impact on the overall health of people living in underdeveloped areas, where health-care workers are poorly paid, infrastructure and basic supplies such as disposable gloves, syringes, and bandages are lacking, and little effort has been made to address the underlying social and economic determinants of ill health. Global-health campaigns have relied on the application of biomedical technologies-vaccines, insecticide-treated nets, vitamin A capsules-to attack specific health problems but have failed to invest in building lasting infrastructure for managing the ongoing health problems of local populations. Designed to be read and taught, the book offers a critical historical view, providing historians, policy makers, researchers, program managers, and students with an essential new perspective on the formation and implementation of global-health policies and practices.

A global history of malaria that traces the natural and social forces that have shaped its spread and made it deadly, while limiting efforts to eliminate it. Malaria sickens hundreds of millions of people-and kills nearly a half a million-each year. Despite massive efforts to eradicate the disease, it remains a major public health problem in poorer tropical regions. But malaria has not always been concentrated in tropical areas. How did malaria disappear from other regions, and why does it persist in the tropics? From Russia to Bengal to Palm Beach, Randall M. Packard's far-ranging narrative shows how the history of malaria has been driven by the interplay of social, biological, economic, and environmental forces. The shifting alignment of these forces has largely determined the social and geographical distribution of the disease, including its initial global expansion, its subsequent retreat to the tropics, and its current persistence. Packard argues that efforts to control and eliminate malaria have often ignored this reality, relying on the use of biotechnologies to fight the disease. Failure to address the forces driving malaria transmission have undermined past control efforts. Describing major changes in both the epidemiology of malaria and efforts to control the disease, the revised edition of this acclaimed history, which was chosen as the 2008 End Malaria Awards Book of the Year in its original printing, * examines recent efforts to eradicate malaria following massive increases in funding and political commitment; * discusses the development of new malaria-fighting biotechnologies, including long-lasting insecticide-treated nets, rapid diagnostic tests, combination artemisinin therapies, and genetically modified mosquitoes; * explores the efficacy of newly developed vaccines; and * explains why eliminating malaria will also require addressing the social forces that drive the disease and building health infrastructures that can identify and treat the last cases of malaria. Authoritative, fascinating, and eye-opening, this short history of malaria concludes with policy recommendations for improving control strategies and saving lives.

How do new diseases become part of the public health agenda? "Emerging Illnesses and Society" brings together historians, sociologists, epidemiologists, public health experts, and others to explore this vital issue. Contributors describe the processes by which patients' groups interact with medical researchers, public health institutions, and the media to identify and address previously unknown illnesses, including multiple sclerosis, Tourette syndrome, AIDS, lead poisoning, Lyme disease, and hepatitis C. The introductory chapter develops a general theoretical model of the social process of "emerging"illness, identifying critical epidemiologic, social and political factors that shape different trajectories toward the construction of public health priorities. Through case studies of individual diseases and analyses of public awareness campaigns and institutional responses, this timely volume provides important insights into the medical, social, and economic factors that determine why some illnesses receive more attention and funding than others.

Contributors: Deborah Barrett, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Steven Epstein, University of California, San Diego; Phyllis Freeman, University of Massachusetts, Boston; Diane E. Goldstein, Memorial University of Newfoundland; Peter J. Krause, University of Connecticut School of Medicine; Howard I. Kushner, Emory University; Lawrence D. Mass, Beth Israel Medical Center, New York; Michelle Murphy, University of Toronto; Lydia Ogden, Global AIDS Program, CDCR; Sandy Smith-Nonini, Elon University; Ellen Griffith Spears, Southern Regional Council; Andrew Spielman, Harvard School of Public Health; Colin Talley, University of California San Francisco; Sam R. Telford III, Harvard School of Public Health; Christian Warren, New York Academy of Medicine.

Malaria sickens hundreds of millions of people--and kills one to three million--each year. Despite massive efforts to eradicate the disease, it remains a major public health problem in poorer tropical regions. But malaria has not always been concentrated in tropical areas. How did other regions control malaria and why does the disease still flourish in some parts of the globe?

From Russia to Bengal to Palm Beach, Randall Packard's far-ranging narrative traces the natural and social forces that help malaria spread and make it deadly. He finds that war, land development, crumbling health systems, and globalization--coupled with climate change and changes in the distribution and flow of water--create conditions in which malaria's carrier mosquitoes thrive. The combination of these forces, Packard contends, makes the tropical regions today a perfect home for the disease.

Authoritative, fascinating, and eye-opening, this short history of malaria concludes with policy recommendations for improving control strategies and saving lives.

"After reading this book, no one should fail to see tuberculosis in South Africa in the light of social policies and interests which have prevented its control. In turn, it shows tuberculosis to be one measure of the cost in suffering of the emergence of a modern capitalist society in South Africa."--Rodney Ehrlich, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York

"At almost every point, the author has something fresh to say about previous analyses of the origins, nature and spread of the disease. His subtle exposition of the ideological interpretations of the medical profession--from their adherence to a 'virgin soil' theory to more recent notions of relating to the social and biological aetiology of the disease--is particularly original and thought-provoking. . . . Well researched, effectively organised, and wholly readable."--Shula Marks, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London

During the past 50 years, colonial empires around the world have collapsed and vast areas that were once known as "colonies" have become known as "less developed countries" or "the third world." The idea of development - and the relationship it implies between industrialized, affluent nations and poor, emerging nations - has become the key to a new conceptual framework. Development has also become a vast industry, involving billions of dollars, and a worldwide community of experts. These essays - written by scholars in many fields - examine the production, transmission, and implementation of ideas about development within historical, political and intellectual contexts, emphasizing the changing meanings of development over the past 50 years. The concept of development has come under attack in recent years both from those who see development as the imperialism of knowledge, imposing on the world a modernity that it does not neccessarily want, and those who see development efforts as a distortion of the world market. These essays look beyond the polemics and focus on the diverse, contested, and changing meanings of development among social movements, national governments, internation

Malaria sickens hundreds of millions of people--and kills one to three million--each year. Despite massive efforts to eradicate the disease, it remains a major public health problem in poorer tropical regions. But malaria has not always been concentrated in tropical areas. How did other regions control malaria and why does the disease still flourish in some parts of the globe?

From Russia to Bengal to Palm Beach, Randall Packard's far-ranging narrative traces the natural and social forces that help malaria spread and make it deadly. He finds that war, land development, crumbling health systems, and globalization--coupled with climate change and changes in the distribution and flow of water--create conditions in which malaria's carrier mosquitoes thrive. The combination of these forces, Packard contends, makes the tropical regions today a perfect home for the disease.

Authoritative, fascinating, and eye-opening, this short history of malaria concludes with policy recommendations for improving control strategies and saving lives.