T. Sundararaman

This book presents public health as a method-driven integrative discipline, a dynamic field of science and practice, shaped by the interplay of knowledge, power and ideology. Global in scope and written from the perspective of those engaged in public health policy and implementation, it draws its deepest lessons from diverse, resource-poor settings to generate grounded insights and innovative analytical frameworks for understanding common and complex challenges. Part one of the book unpacks the definitions and theoretical approaches to public health, including the bio-medical, social, behavioural and questions of political economy as they relate to each other in the era of globalization. The second part takes up disease control programs, illustrating how knowledge of epidemiology, health systems and political context come together to shape the programs and their outcomes. Part three then focuses on the cross-cutting puzzles and problematics of organizing health care and strengthening health systems, including financing, governance, informatics and building learning-adaptive systems in the 21st century. The book will be useful to students, researchers, and teachers of Public Health, Public Policy, Sociology, Social Work, and Development Studies. This will also be an invaluable companion to policy makers, general administrators, activists in civil society, media persons, and agencies like WHO and other global health institutions as the book will provide a critical understanding of a wide variety of contemporary debates and issues in health policy.

This book presents public health as a method-driven integrative discipline, a dynamic field of science and practice, shaped by the interplay of knowledge, power and ideology. Global in scope and written from the perspective of those engaged in public health policy and implementation, it draws its deepest lessons from diverse, resource-poor settings to generate grounded insights and innovative analytical frameworks for understanding common and complex challenges. Part one of the book unpacks the definitions and theoretical approaches to public health, including the bio-medical, social, behavioural and questions of political economy as they relate to each other in the era of globalization. The second part takes up disease control programs, illustrating how knowledge of epidemiology, health systems and political context come together to shape the programs and their outcomes. Part three then focuses on the cross-cutting puzzles and problematics of organizing health care and strengthening health systems, including financing, governance, informatics and building learning-adaptive systems in the 21st century. The book will be useful to students, researchers, and teachers of Public Health, Public Policy, Sociology, Social Work, and Development Studies. This will also be an invaluable companion to policy makers, general administrators, activists in civil society, media persons, and agencies like WHO and other global health institutions as the book will provide a critical understanding of a wide variety of contemporary debates and issues in health policy.

Over the last three decades enormous effort has gone into strengthening public health information systems (HIS). They are now a key element of health sector reform initiatives, but are growing in complexity. This is driven by the increasing diversity of technology platforms, increasing demands for information, the multitude of actors involved, and the need for data security and privacy. Initiatives like Universal Health Coverage and Prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases are expected to place further burdens on all health systems. However, they will pose particular challenges in resource-constrained settings, such as low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where health systems have struggled to provide quality care. Public Health Informatics discusses the challenges that exist in the design, development, and implementation of HIS. Key problem areas, such as sub-adequate data and problems of inter-operability, are analysed in detail and the book looks at possible approaches to addressing these challenges in LMICs. Case studies critically appraise the experiences of countries and health programmes in the building of HISs, to determine the successes and failures of varying approaches. Finally, the book explores how future systems in developing countries can be shaped. The expert author team has two decades experience in over 30 LMICs, and includes researchers and practitioners from the fields of informatics, public health, and medicine. This uniquely comprehensive account of information systems in the public health setting will be of use to the wide range of people working in this broad cross-disciplinary field, from software developers to public health practitioners and researchers.