Infections, Chronic Disease, and the Epidemiological Transition


Book Description

In 1949 the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Canadian Department of National Health and Welfare (DNHW) commissioned a film, eventually called Challenge. Science Against Cancer, as part of a major effort to recruit young scientists into cancer research. Both organizations feared that poor recruitment would stifle the development of the field at a time when funding for research was growing dramatically. The fear was that there would not be enough new young scientists to meet the demand, and that the shortfall would undermine cancer research and the hopes invested in it. Challenge aimed to persuade young scientists to think of cancer research as a career. This book is the story of that forgotten film and what it tells us about mid-twentieth century American and Canadian cancer research, educational filmmaking, and health education campaigns. It explores why Canadian and American health agencies turned to film to address the problem of scientist recruitment; how filmmakers turned such recruitment concerns into something they thought would work as a film; and how information officers at the NCI and DNHW sought to shape the impact of Challenge by embedding it in a broader educational and propaganda program. It is, in short, an account of the important, but hitherto undocumented, roles of filmmakers and information officers in the promotion of post-Second World War cancer research.




Epidemiological Change and Chronic Disease in Sub-Saharan Africa


Book Description

Epidemiological Change and Chronic Disease in Sub-Saharan Africa offers new and critical perspectives on the causes and consequences of recent epidemiological changes in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly on the increasing incidence of so-called ‘non-communicable’ and chronic conditions. Historians, social anthropologists, public health experts and social epidemiologists present important insights from a number of African perspectives and locations to present an incisive critique of ‘epidemiological transition’ theory and suggest alternative understandings of the epidemiological change on the continent. Arranged in three parts, ‘Temporalities: Beyond Transition’, ‘Numbers and Categories’ and ‘Local Biologies and Knowledge Systems’, the chapters cover a broad range of subjects and themes, including the trajectory of maternal mortality in East Africa, the African smoking epidemic, the history of sugar consumption in South Africa, causality between infectious and non-communicable diseases in Ghana and Belize, the complex relationships between adult hypertension and paediatric HIV in Botswana, and stories of cancer patients and their families as they pursue treatment and care in Kenya. In all, the volume provides insights drawn from historical perspectives and from the African social and clinical experience to offer new perspectives on the changing epidemiology of sub-Saharan Africa that go beyond theories of ‘transition’. It will be of value to students and researchers in Global Health, Medical Anthropology and Public Health, and to readers with an interest in African Studies.




The Epidemiological Transition


Book Description

This book examines issues concerning how developing countries will have to prepare for demographic and epidemiologic change. Much of the current literature focuses on the prevalence of specific diseases and their economic consequences, but a need exists to consider the consequences of the epidemiological transition: the change in mortality patterns from infectious and parasitic diseases to chronic and degenerative ones. Among the topics covered are the association between the health of children and adults, the strong orientation of many international health organizations toward infant and child health, and how the public and private sectors will need to address and confront the large-scale shifts in disease and demographic characteristics of populations in developing countries.




Diet and Health


Book Description

Diet and Health examines the many complex issues concerning diet and its role in increasing or decreasing the risk of chronic disease. It proposes dietary recommendations for reducing the risk of the major diseases and causes of death today: atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (including heart attack and stroke), cancer, high blood pressure, obesity, osteoporosis, diabetes mellitus, liver disease, and dental caries.




A Life Course Approach to Chronic Disease Epidemiology


Book Description

From reviews of the previous edition:'We still have much to learn if disease patterns are to be explained by taking a life course approach... this book provides strong arguments for this approach... the book is a highly qualified starting point for the debate... it will remain a useful summary of pioneer research of huge potential importance for public health.' -Epidemiology'This is not just another epidemiology textbook. It is essential reading for anyone with an active mind who is interested in public health.' -Journal of Public Health Medicine'A truly exciting and extremely informative endeavour for anyone interested in the determinants of human health and disease. This discussion is at the core of current public health issues.' -European Journal of Public Health'The conclusion is of major importance to public health policy. It reinforces the need for a life course strategy, with attention being paid to the mother, baby, child adolescent, and elderly person.' -BMJ'Provokes thought about the origins of chronic diseases, suggests new approaches to identifying particular susceptible individuals and encourages the identification of optimal points in the life course for possible preventive interventions.' -Chronic Diseases in CanadaThe first edition in 1997 of A life course approach to chronic disease epidemiology became a classic text for epidemiological and public health researchers interested in the childhood origins of adult chronic disease. Since then the new field of life course epidemiology has expanded rapidly, attracting the interest not only of academics across the health and social sciences but also policy makers, funding bodies, and the general public. Its purpose is to study how biological and social factors during gestation, childhood, adolescence and earlier adult life independently, cumulatively and interactively influence later life health and disease.Contributors to this fully revised second edition capture the excitement of the developing field and assess the latest evidence regarding sources of risk to health across the life course and across generations. The original chapters on life course influences on cardiovascular disease, diabetes, blood pressure, respiratory disease and cancer have been updated and extended. New chapters on life course influences on obesity, biological ageing and neuropsychiatric disorders have been added. Life course explanations for disease trends and for socioeconomic differentials in disease risk are given more attention in this new edition, reflecting recent developments in the field. The section on policy implications has been expanded, assessing the role of interventions to improve childhood social circumstances, as well as interventions to improve early growth. Emerging new research themes and the theoretical and methodological challenges facing life course epidemiology are highlighted.Readership: Epidemiologists, public health researchers, public health policy makers for developed and developing countries, sociologists and biologists, psychiatrists and social and chronic disease epidemiologists




Public Health Ethics: Cases Spanning the Globe


Book Description

This Open Access book highlights the ethical issues and dilemmas that arise in the practice of public health. It is also a tool to support instruction, debate, and dialogue regarding public health ethics. Although the practice of public health has always included consideration of ethical issues, the field of public health ethics as a discipline is a relatively new and emerging area. There are few practical training resources for public health practitioners, especially resources which include discussion of realistic cases which are likely to arise in the practice of public health. This work discusses these issues on a case to case basis and helps create awareness and understanding of the ethics of public health care. The main audience for the casebook is public health practitioners, including front-line workers, field epidemiology trainers and trainees, managers, planners, and decision makers who have an interest in learning about how to integrate ethical analysis into their day to day public health practice. The casebook is also useful to schools of public health and public health students as well as to academic ethicists who can use the book to teach public health ethics and distinguish it from clinical and research ethics.







Preventing Chronic Diseases


Book Description

The major causes of premature adult deaths in all regions of the world, due to chronic diseases such as heart disease, strokes, diabetes and cancer, have been generally neglected on the international health and development agenda. Four out of every five chronic disease-related deaths in the world occur in low and middle income countries, where people tend to develop these diseases at a younger age and to die sooner. The death toll is projected to rise by a further 17 per cent in the next 10 years, whilst child obesity rates are increasing worldwide. This report examines the actual scale and severity of the problem using the most recent data available, considers the major risk factors and associated trends, and discusses the public health policy actions required to implement effective integrated chronic disease prevention and control measures.




The Infectious Etiology of Chronic Diseases


Book Description

In recent years, a number of chronic diseases have been linked, in some cases definitively, to an infectious etiology: peptic ulcer disease with Helicobacter pylori, cervical cancer with several human papillomaviruses, Lyme arthritis and neuroborreliosis with Borrelia burgdorferi, AIDS with the human immunodeficiency virus, liver cancer and cirrhosis with hepatitis B and C viruses, to name a few. The proven and suspected roles of microbes does not stop with physical ailments; infections are increasingly being examined as associated causes of or possible contributors to a variety of serious, chronic neuropsychiatric disorders and to developmental problems, especially in children. The Infectious Etiology of Chronic Diseases: Defining the Relationship, Enhancing the Research, and Mitigating the Effects, summarizes a two-day workshop held by the Institute of Medicine's Forum on Microbial Threats to address this rapidly evolving field. Participants explored factors driving infectious etiologies of chronic diseases of prominence, identified difficulties in linking infectious agents with chronic outcomes, and discussed broad-based strategies and research programs to advance the field.