The Public Health Primer

By William H. Wiese, Jo Fairbanks, William H. Wiese

Authored by two highly experienced public health professors at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, The Public Health Primer offers the reader a cogent glimpse into the broad-ranging and often complex arena of public health. Drs. Jo Fairbanks and William H. Wiese provide not only an orientation to public health practice, but also a review of the basic terminology used by public health officials. This timely volume begins with a brief overview of the history and development of public health and then examines the current public health system in the United States in terms of its structure, funding, and policy development. In the second part, the book covers the fundamentals of how disease and disease patterns across populations are defined, observed, and measured through the application of epidemiological and statistical tools and concepts. In the final part, the authors turn their attention to health promotion, prevention, health planning, and global health issues. The book provides a useful glossary of terms, acronyms, and abbreviations. The Public Health Primer makes the fundamentals of public health immediately accessible, providing an excellent platform for further study and professional development.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761906533
• ISBN13: 9780761906537
• Release Date: October 1997
• Publisher: SAGE Publications, Inc
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.5" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Introducing public health to mature students

The Public Health Primer was used in a class with mature students. It served the purpose well. Except for updating for the 21st century, it is well rounded to include all aspects of public health. The book is short and to the point. It provided a backdrop for bringing mature students up to date with public health and the broad array of topics, health services, and multifaceted aspects of public health. In this era of climate change there are newer and more challenging concerns affecting public health in the US and globally. The book clearly showed where we stood in the 80's and 90's pointing toward the differences we face in the 2000's. Hurricane Ike clearly points out public health issues along with the floods in the midwest, and the need for preparedness re terrorism. Updating could be valuable as public health faces more challenges in this century.