Over the past century, hundreds of billions of dollars have been invested in programs aimed at improving health on a global scale. Given the enormous scale and complexity of these lifesaving operations, why do millions of people in low-income countries continue to live without access to basic health services, sanitation, or clean water? And why are deadly diseases like Ebola able to spread so quickly among populations?
In A History of Global Health, Randall M. Packard argues that global-health initiatives have saved millions of lives but have had limited impact on the overall health of people living in underdeveloped areas, where health-care workers are poorly paid, infrastructure and basic supplies such as disposable gloves, syringes, and bandages are lacking, and little effort has been made to address the underlying social and economic determinants of ill health. Global-health campaigns have relied on the application of biomedical technologiesvaccines, insecticide-treated nets, vitamin A capsulesto attack specific health problems but have failed to invest in building lasting infrastructure for managing the ongoing health problems of local populations.
Designed to be read and taught, the book offers a critical historical view, providing historians, policy makers, researchers, program managers, and students with an essential new perspective on the formation and implementation of global-health policies and practices.
List of Abbreviations List of Illustrations and Tables Introduction Part One 1. Colonial Training Grounds 2. From Colonial to International Health Part Two 3. The League of Nations Health Organization 4. Internationalizing Rural Hygiene and Nutrition Part Three 5. Planning for a Postwar World 6. A Narrowing Vision Part Four 7. Uncertain Beginnings 8. The Good and the Bad Campaigns Part Five 9. The Birth of the Population Crisis 10. Accelerating International Family-Planning Programs 11. Rethinking Family Planning Part Six 12. Rethinking Health 2.0 13. Challenges to Primary Health Care Part Seven 14. AIDS and the Birth of Global Health 15. The Global Fund, PEPFAR, and the Transformation of Global Health 16. Medicalizing Global Health Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Index
""Meanwhile, Packard's exceptional History of Global Health comes very close to this ideal. It is by far the best clear and profound panorama of global health to date. It will be an inspiration and a tool for policy makers, public health scholars, and historians of medicine.""
