Public health: Books

EU Health Systems and Distributive Justice uses theories of distributive justice to examine tensions created by the application of the Internal Market rules to the provision of health care services within the European Union. Using the concepts and principles embedded in the theories of egalitarianism and libertarianism, this book analyses the impact of the Internal Market rules on common values and principles shared by European health systems, such as universality, accessibility, equity and solidarity.

The steady expansion of the European Union's involvement in health over the past 20 years has been accelerated by recent events. This Handbook offers an up-to-date analytical overview of the most important topics in EU health law and policy. It outlines, as far as possible, the direction of travel for each topic and suggests research agendas for the future.Split into five parts, this book brings together international, interdisciplinary contributions to consider the past, present and future of EU health law and policy.

This volume contains EU-related health legislation relevant to legal training programs on EU law and healthcare. Despite the availability of numerous handbooks, a collection of EU legislation on health has been missing. The book includes relevant treaty law provisions and secondary legislation (abridged) on health or health-related norms, clustered as: EU treaty law * human rights and health * public health * patient safety * consumer protection * patient mobility * mobility of health professionals * pharmaceuticals * medical devices * data protection * insurance * competition law.

The aim of the present volume is to explore the consequences of the impact of the EU rules for the internal market (including the proposed Directive on patients' rights) and competition on national health care systems. It will also address how related areas, such as EU public procurement law and WTO law, influence national healthcare organisation and Member State autonomy.

L'UE et le Conseil de l'Europe se positionnent sur les enjeux de santé; le droit européen est abondant en la matière. L'ouvrage propose une analyse d'ensemble actualisée et l'étude de ses influences de ce droit sur plusieurs droits nationaux de la santé.

Ranging from influence over world trade laws affecting health to population health issues such as obesity to the use of comparative data to affect policy, the EU's public health policies are increasingly important, visible, expensive and effective. They also provide an invaluable case study for those who want to understand the growth and impact of the EU as well as how states can affect their populations' lives and health. European Union Public Health Policy capitalizes on extensive new research, providing an introduction to the topic and indicating new intellectual directions surrounding the topic.

The 2020 edition of Health at a Glance: Europe focuses on the impact of the COVID‑19 crisis. Chapter 1 provides an initial assessment of the resilience of European health systems to the COVID-19 pandemic and their ability to contain and respond to the worst pandemic in the past century. Chapter 2 reviews the huge health and welfare burden of air pollution as another major public health issue in European countries, and highlights the need for sustained efforts to reduce air pollution to mitigate its impact on health and mortality. The five other chapters provide an overview of key indicators of health and health systems across the 27 EU member states, 5 EU candidate countries, 3 European Free Trade Association countries and the United Kingdom. Health at a Glance: Europe is the first step in the State of Health in the EU cycle.

Quality improvement initiatives take many forms, from the creation of standards for health professionals, health technologies and health facilities, to audit and feedback, and from fostering a patient safety culture to public reporting and paying for quality. For policymakers who struggle to decide which initiatives to prioritise for investment, understanding the potential of different quality strategies in their unique settings is key. This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care.

Growing levels of obesity (including among children), continued harmful consumption of alcohol, and the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are some of the greatest contemporary challenges to the health of European populations. While their magnitude varies from country to country, all are looking for policy options to contain these threats to population health. It is clear that public health organizations must play a part in any response, and that intersectoral action beyond the health system is needed. What is less clear, however, is what role public health organizations currently play in addressing these problems.

The rapid spread of COVID-19 added urgency to the need to address long-standing pressures on health systems, linked to growing citizens’ expectations, population ageing and more complex and costly health care needs. As the first point of contact, primary health care that provides comprehensive, continuous, and co-ordinated care is key to boosting preventive care, treating those who need care, and helping people become more active in managing their own health. It has the potential to improve health system efficiency and health outcomes for people across socio-economic levels, and make health systems people-centred. This report examines primary health care across OECD countries before the COVID-19 pandemic, and draws attention to how primary health care is not living up to its full potential.

How are public health services in Europe organized and financed? With European health systems facing a plethora of challenges that can be addressed through public health interventions, there is renewed interest in strengthening public health services. Yet, there are enormous gaps in our knowledge. How many people work in public health? How much money is spent on public health? What does it actually achieve? None of these questions can be answered easily.

Comparing and Contrasting the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the European Union challenges the use of uncontextualised comparisons of COVID-19 cases and deaths in member states during the period when Europe was the epicentre of the pandemic. This timely study looks behind the headlines and the statistics to demonstrate the value for knowledge exchange and policy learning of comparisons that are founded on an in-depth understanding of key socio-demographic and public health indicators within their policy settings.

The Psychology of Covid-19 explores how the coronavirus pandemic is giving rise to a new order in our personal lives, societies, and politics. Rooted in systematic research on Covid-19 and previous pandemics, this book describes how people perceive and respond to Covid-19, and how it has impacted a broad range of domains, including lifestyle, politics, science, mental health, media, and meaning in life. Building on this, the book then sets out how we can improve our psychological and social resilience, to safeguard ourselves against the psychological effects of future pandemics.

Obesity is a global ticking time bomb with huge potential negative economic and health impacts, especially for the poor. As of 2016, an estimated 44 percent of adults (more than two billion) worldwide are overweight or obese, and over 70 percent of them live in low- or middle-income countries, dispelling the myth that obesity is a problem only in high-income countries.The global obesity epidemic presents a formidable challenge to human capital acquisition, national wealth accumulation, and the goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.

Since the 1980s, there has been an alarming increase in the prevalence of obesity in virtually every country in the world. As obesity is known to lead to both chronic and severe medical problems, it imposes a cost not only on affected individuals and their families, but also on society as a whole. In Europe, the Obesity Prevention White Paper of May 2007 - followed by the adoption of an EU School Fruit Scheme, the acknowledgement that food advertising to children should be limited, and proposed legislation to make nutrition labeling compulsory - has firmly placed obesity on the EU agenda by laying down a multi-sectoral strategy and a basis for future action.

In Bioethics in Perspective Scott Mann demonstrates the importance of issues of corporate power, global inequality and sustainability in shaping health outcomes around the world. The text develops a comprehensive ethical and practical critique of the neoliberal economic ideas which have guided policy in the English-speaking world. It explores the consequences of such policies for health and healthcare around the world, in terms of increasing health inequalities, serious food and water shortages, inadequate health care provision and the marketing of dangerous and unnecessary drugs. With clear proposals for political and economic reform to effectively address these problems, Bioethics in Perspective provides an important counterbalance to much conventional commentary on bioethics.

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, The New York Times Book Review, NPR, and Chicago Tribune, now in paperback with a new reading group guide Medicine has triumphed in modern times, transforming the dangers of childbirth, injury, and disease from harrowing to manageable. But when it comes to the inescapable realities of aging and death, what medicine can do often runs counter to what it should. Through eye-opening research and gripping stories of his own patients and family, Gawande reveals the suffering this dynamic has produced.

Medical concepts and terminology can be very confusing for the uninitiated interpreter or translator. This book will allow interpreters and translators to quickly read up on healthcare settings, familiarizing themselves with anatomy, physiology, medical terminology and frequently encountered conditions, investigations and treatment options. Health translators working on medical reports will be able to find commonly used abbreviations.