Understanding Global Health, edited by William H. Markle, Melanie A. Fisher, and Raymond A. Smego Jr. New York: McGraw Hill Medical; 2007. 362 pages, $34.95 (paperback).
Understanding Global Health is an introductory text developed for medical and other healthcare professional students, to describe the major domains of global health known to be essential to health and healthcare systems. The book contains 17 chapters with learning objectives, case studies, and study questions. The data presented are evidence-based. The writing emphasizes the interconnectedness of our world and disease and brings to light the global need for a "bias-free framework" in healthcare.
The book chapters cover topics pertinent to global health, including global burden of disease, environmental health, nutrition, tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus related infections/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, war and terrorism, antimicrobial resistance, and education and careers in global health. Case studies are effectively used to highlight teaching points with real-world examples. The authors excel at showing the connections among poverty, public health, and global health.
The chapters are well-referenced and written by experts in the field. The tables are easy to interpret and add to the written content. The writing is clear, accurate, concise, and evidence-based. At 362 pages including the index, the book is not lengthy. Other chapters that could have been included in this book are drug abuse (including tobacco use), malaria, vaccine use and vaccine-preventable disease, or sexually transmitted diseases.
The book is an important contribution about global health to the education of medical and other healthcare professionals. The text is well-written and provocative. It seeks to enlighten readers on the need to equalize healthcare disparities around the world and educate future generations about the interconnectedness of communicable and noncommunicable diseases.
-Beatriz M. Mitrzyk, PharmD, BCPS
Freelance Medical Writer, University of Michigan, College of Pharmacy, Northville, Michigan