Asthma, Health and Society A Public Health Perspective
Asthma, Health, and Society A Public Health Perspective Edited by Andrew Harver, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte Harry Kotses, Ohio University, Athens Asthma, Health, and Society is a comprehensive, current resource on this com
- PDF / 7,303,339 Bytes
- 347 Pages / 547.087 x 737.008 pts Page_size
- 84 Downloads / 191 Views
Andrew Harver · Harry Kotses Editors
Asthma, Health and Society A Public Health Perspective
Editors Andrew Harver Department of Public Health Sciences UNC Charlotte Charlotte, NC USA
Harry Kotses Department of Psychology Ohio University Athens, OH USA
ISBN 978-0-387-78284-3 e-ISBN 978-0-387-78285-0 DOI 10.1007/978-0-387-78285-0 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2009939996 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
More is spent per person on health care in the United States than in any other nation in the world.1 Healthcare spending is twice as great in the United Sates as compared to any other country on the planet, and accounts for roughly 15% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. Despite the reach and tangle of healthcare expenditures, the United States far from leads the world on key health-related indicators such as life expectancy, infant mortality, or breast cancer mortality. Debate has raged for decades over the access, efficiency, and quality purchased by the high sums spent. For example, the World Health Organization in 2000 ranked the US healthcare system first in both responsiveness and expenditure, but 37th in overall performance and 72nd by overall level of health (among 191 member nations included in the study).2 Although the leading causes of death have shifted dramatically from the infectious diseases to the chronic diseases in the last 100 years, prevention and health promotion efforts account for less than 5% of all healthcare spending. Achieving the goals of Healthy People 2010 – to help individuals of all ages increase life expectancy and improve their quality of life; and to eliminate health disparities among different segments of the population – will require that individuals, communities, and policy makers take coordinated steps to ensure that good health, as well as long life, is enjoyed by all.3 In other words, an integrated approach to the health of the population – one guided by an increased understanding of the health of individuals as well as the health of subgroups (minorities, ethnic groups, sexes), communities (neighborhoods, cities, regions), and functions (occupational groups, special groups, etc.)
Data Loading...
