Prevention, Policy, and Public Health

The greatest public health victories of the last century -- public sanitation, vehicle safety measures, limits on smoking and tobacco use -- have all been facilitated by public policies. While policy is an unparalleled tool for effecting change in public health, most professionals are unprepared to plan, apply, or study policy in a consequential way. Prevention, Policy, and Public Health provides a basic foundation for students, professionals, and researchers to be more effective in the policy arena. It offers information on the dynamics of the policymaking process, theoretical frameworks, analysis, and policy applications. It also offers tools for advocacy and communication, two integral aspects of shaping policies for public health. Organized around the leading risk factors for premature death and supplemented with illustrative case study examples, this book will help professionals and researchers understand the dimensions of policy, which can in turn inform the conduct of research and evaluation. These skills, combined with an understanding of opportunities and limitations within governments, can be highly applicable to designing effective policies and programs. With current pressures to implement broad and sustainable public health improvements, policies are more important than ever for anyone in the study and practice of public health. This book can be considered a primer to truly understanding the connection between prevention, policy, and public health.