The future of the public's health in the 21st century /

This book builds on the important 1988 report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) entitled The Future of Public Health. (CH, Jul'89). Like the 1988 book, the 2003 update reports on the status and direction of public health in the United States based on the deliberations and conclusions of a prestigious IOM committee composed of academics, practitioners, policy makers, and advocates. The committee has synthesized recent advances in knowledge about the multiple determinants of health and racial and socioeconomic disparities in health outcomes. It links these findings with a call for a population-based approach to public health practice, research, and policy and a shift away from the individual-based medical paradigm of health and disease. The panel incorporates an ecological model to inform its recommendations on the role of government, communities, the health care delivery system, business, the media, and academia in ensuring the public's health. The well-organized chapters are punctuated with useful charts and boxes that provide case studies and examples describing the recommended ecological paradigm, the core functions of public health, community-based practice, and government agency infrastructure. This book will be useful for public health students, practitioners, policy makers, educators, and researchers. ^BSumming Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above. A. B. Wallis University of Iowa