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COVID-19 is the biggest public health and economic disaster of our time. It has posed the same threat across the globe, yet countries have responded very differently and some have clearly fared much better than others. Peter Baldwin uncovers the reasons why in this definitive account of the global politics of pandemic. He shows that how nations responded depended above all on the political tools available - how firmly could the authorities order citizens'lives and how willingly would they be obeyed? In Asia, nations quarantined the infected and their contacts. In the Americas and Europe they shut down their economies, hoping to squelch the virus's spread. Others, above all Sweden, responded with a light touch, putting their faith in social consensus over coercion. Whether citizens would follow their leaders'requests and how soon they would tire of their demands were crucial to hopes of taming the pandemic.

A broad-ranging introduction to the provision, funding and governance of health care across a variety of systems. This revised fifth edition incorporates additional material on low/middle income countries, as well as broadened coverage relating to healthcare outside of hospitals and the ever-increasing diversity of the healthcare workforce today.

As globalisation gains momentum, international migration continues to divide opinion and polarise policy makers, politicians, and advocates. This polarisation has been reflected in research and publications, with pro-globalisation being pitched against anti-globalisation on the one hand, and an explosion of research on migration on the other. This book examines the interaction between the two and their impact on health for the first time, highlighting the myths and realities from an international, multi-disciplinary perspective.The book starts with an examination of the complex and multifaceted aspects of the globalisation phenomenon and its impact on population displacement and health, and concludes with a regional level analysis supported by country-specific examples. By highlighting common issues and differences across the globe, this book shows policy makers, political leaders, and international committees on migration the specificities of global migration and good practice across the world. Particular attention is paid to practical policy responses and governance as well as legal frameworks to manage the dynamics of migration, engage international institutions, and to maximise the benefits that internal and international migration bring.

A broad-ranging introduction to the provision, funding and governance of health care across a variety of health systems. The fully revised fourth edition incorporates additional material on global health issues and expanded coverage of the role and functions of international organizations in relation to the provision and management of health care.

This concise reference provides a one-stop point of research that examines major aspects of health care systems for over 190 countries worldwide. In a consistent format, ten major health care categories are systematically examined for each country: 1. Emergency Health Services; 2. Costs of Hospitalization; 3. Costs of Drugs; 4. Major Health Issues; 5. Government Role in Health Care; 6. Insurance; 7. Access to Health Care; 8. Health Care Facilities; 9. Health Care Personnel (doctor level of training, etc.); and 10. Public Health Programs. The volume is organized in alphabetical order of country names. Each country is presented on a two- or three-page spread with the same descriptive and statistical content, allowing readers to compare health care systems from country to country. For example, a reader may compare costs of drugs in France versus the United States versus Canada. Each country spread will feature short entries on the ten health care categories accompanied by charts, table, and photos as appropriate. The work culminates as a unique and essential resource for pre-med and medical students, as well as researchers in sociology, economics, and the health management fields.

From mad-cow disease and E. coli-tainted spinach in the food supply to anthrax scares and fears of a bird flu pandemic, national health threats are a perennial fact of American life. Yet not all crises receive the level of attention they seem to merit. The marked contrast between the U.S. government's rapid response to the anthrax outbreak of 2001 and years of federal inaction on the spread of AIDS among gay men and intravenous drug users underscores the influence of politics and public attitudes in shaping the nation's response to health threats. In Disease Prevention as Social Change, sociologist Constance Nathanson argues that public health is inherently political, and explores the social struggles behind public health interventions by the governments of four industrialized democracies. Nathanson shows how public health policies emerge out of battles over power and ideology, in which social reformers clash with powerful interests, from dairy farmers to tobacco lobbyists to the Catholic Church. Comparing the history of four public health dilemmas—tuberculosis and infant mortality at the turn of the last century, and more recently smoking and AIDS—in the United States, France, Britain, and Canada, Nathanson examines the cultural and institutional factors that shaped reform movements and led each government to respond differently to the same health challenges. She finds that concentrated political power is no guarantee of government intervention in the public health domain. France, an archetypical strong state, has consistently been decades behind other industrialized countries in implementing public health measures, in part because political centralization has afforded little opportunity for the development of grassroots health reform movements. In contrast, less government centralization in America has led to unusually active citizen-based social movements that campaigned effectively to reduce infant mortality and restrict smoking. Public perceptions of health risks are also shaped by politics, not just science. Infant mortality crusades took off in the late nineteenth century not because of any sudden rise in infant mortality rates, but because of elite anxieties about the quantity and quality of working-class populations. Disease Prevention as Social Change also documents how culture and hierarchies of race, class, and gender have affected governmental action—and inaction—against particular diseases. Informed by extensive historical research and contemporary fieldwork, Disease Prevention as Social Change weaves compelling narratives of the political and social movements behind modern public health policies. By comparing the vastly different outcomes of these movements in different historical and cultural contexts, this path-breaking book advances our knowledge of the conditions in which social activists can succeed in battles over public health.

Across Europe and the world, countries are attempting to develop their health and social policies and practices to address the global challenge of increasing demand and pressurized supply, created by ageing populations, emerging technologies and finite resources (financial and human). This text provides examples of attempts to develop HRD practices in health and social care contexts within France, Ireland, The Netherlands, Romania, Russia, the UK and the USA. Thus, the book is European and international in both scope and appeal.