The new edition of Public Health Practice in Australia has been written as the impact and effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are starting to be fully understood.
The book takes a systems approach to public health, examining the impact of historical, social, economic, environmental and political factors on the health of individuals, communities and populations. Linking theoretical issues to contemporary practice, it highlights common threads that underlie seemingly disparate activities, ideas and entities that comprise the organised effort of public health practice. As well as the Covid-19 pandemic, and the health inequalities that it has highlighted, the new edition also emphasizes the importance of ecological health and the impact of climate change on public health.
Timely and comprehensive, and including case studies throughout to bring key concepts to life, this is an invaluable resource for students and professionals across the health sciences including public health, medicine, environmental health, health promotion, health information management and health administration.
The new edition of Public Health Practice in Australia has been written as the impact and effects of the Covid-19 pandemic are starting to be fully understood.
Introduction. Part I Background: The basics. 1.What is public health?
Definitions and applications. 2.The historical development of public health:
Landmarks in the field. 3.Health and wellbeing in Australia today: Health
status, the healthcare system, and the place of public health. Part II
Conceptual and analytical toolkit: key concepts and frameworks.
4.Distribution of health and its determinants: Changing concepts and models.
5.Explaining differences and determinants: environment, society, and
behaviour. 6.Public health interventions: From quarantine to the rise of
evidence-based practice. 7.Health systems and policy: Making sense of the
complex mosaic. 8.Ethical foundations for public health practice. Part III
Public health infrastructure: building blocks and the system of delivery.
9.Who delivers public health? Contemporary policies and players.
10.Legislative authority for public health action: How governments and
societal expectations intersect. 11.Public health intelligence: Its
production and use for action. 12.Human and financial resources: Essential
foundations for action. Part IV Public health action: Key interventions from
past to present. 13.Disease control: from surveillance to interventions.
14.Health protection: From the physical environment to ecological health.
15.Preventive services: Linking public health and personal health care.
16.Health promotion: From lifestyles to societal, commercial, and
environmental determinants of health. 17.Health maintenance and improvement
for vulnerable populations: From needs to rights. Part V Public health
challenges: Emerging issues and responses18.Public health governance:
Politics of participation, decision-making, and accountability. 19.Futures of
public health: Where to now for the organised effort?
Vivian Lin is Adjunct Professor of Public Health at La Trobe University and Honorary Professor at LKS Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong (HKU). She was Executive Associate Dean and Professor of Public Health at HKU from 2019 to 2024, Director of Health Systems at the Regional Office for the Western Pacific of the World Health Organization from 2013 to 2018, and previously Chair of Public Health at La Trobe.
James Smith has been a community-based public health practitioner and risk management consultant for over 40 years. This has involved him working actively alongside and supporting practitioners in health protection and applied environmental health service delivery and planning, and in public health emergency management preparedness and response planning. He is Professor, Environmental Health (Practice) in the College of Science & Engineering, Flinders University, where he teaches in the postgraduate environmental health program and researches public health regulatory policy, local state public health policy implementation, and environmental health practice.
Sally Fawkes is Independent Consultant and Researcher in public health fields spanning foresight/futures studies, urban health and healthy cities, health promoting, health systems and services, and leadership development. She has been a technical advisor/consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1995. She held academic leadership and teaching roles at La Trobe University from 2010 to 2021 before taking up a Adjunct Senior Academic role. Governance appointments have included Deputy Chair, Victorian Health Promotion Foundation Board, and Vice Chair, International Network of Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services Governance Board.
