A History of Population Health

Johan P. Mackenbach is Professor of Public Health at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. He is a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences and the Academia Europaea, and has published widely on contemporary and historical health issues.

Preface

List of illustrations



Chapter 1. Introduction

 Utopia come true?

   Rising life expectancy

   The rise and fall of disease

 The epidemiologic transition theory

   The McKeown debate and the Preston-curve

   The role of human agency

  &;How to read this book

   Concepts, sources, data and methods



PART I. LONG-TERM TRENDS: A BIRD’S EYE VIEW



Chapter 2. Long-term trends in population health

 Changes in over-all population health

   Declining mortality

   Young and old, men and women

   Regional and social inequalities

   Rising height

   More years in good health, more years in bad health?

 Changes in disease patterns

   Shifting causes of death

   Shifts in the burden of disease

   Diseases rise, diseases fall

 Epidemiologic transition 2.0

   A theory in need of repair

   How: characterizing change

   When: staging change

   Where: locating change



Chapter 3. Understanding trends in population health

  Theories of population health

   An ‘ecological-evolutionary theory’ of the origins of disease

   Explaining long-term change

 Economic, political and sociocultural conditions

   Economic history: improvements in living standards

   Political history: the rise of the modern state

   Sociocultural history: the lights go on

 Public health and medical care

   A short history of public health

   The impact of public health

   A short history of medical care

   The Role of Medicine



PART II. ZOOMING IN: THE RISE AND FALL OF DISEASES



Chapter 4. Health problems of pre-industrial societies

 Violence and hunger

   War

   Homicide

   Famine

 Great epidemics

   Plague

   Smallpox

   Typhus

   Malaria



Chapter 5. Health problems of industrializing societies

 Communicable diseases

   Cholera, dysentery, typhoid

   Tuberculosis

   Syphilis

   Scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria

   Pneumonia, influenza

 Maternal, infant and perinatal mortality

   Maternal mortality

   Infant mortality

   Still-births

  Other health problems of industrializing societies

   Pellagra, rickets, goitre

   Peptic ulcer, appendicitis

   Lung diseases caused by occupational and environmental exposures



Chapter 6. Health problems of affluent societies

  Chronic diseases

   Ischaemic heart disease

   Cerebrovascular disease

   Diabetes mellitus

   Stomach, colorectal, breast, prostate cancer

   Lung cancer

   Liver cirrhosis

   Dementia

   Depression

  Injuries

   Road traffic injuries

   Suicide

  A new plague

   AIDS



PART III: SYNTHESIS AND OUTLOOK



Chapter 7. Why?

  Why did European population health improve?

   The rise and fall of disease

   The role of human agency

   The role of public health and medical care

   The Rise of the West: was there a ‘prime mover’?

  Why did some countries rush ahead or lag behind?

   Northern lights: the Swedish advantage

   Dutch comfort: we were the champions

   Southern miracles: from rear-guard to forefront

   Balkan troubles: the weight of the past

   Russian roulette: the value of life



Chapter 8. Outlook

  Feathers of Icarus

   Geopolitical instability

   Increasing inequality

   Global environmental change

  The way ahead

   The public health paradigm

   An expanding circle of concern

   Re-thinking Utopia

  By way of conclusion

   Through the telescope of history

   The European experience

   The role of politics

   The future



Appendices

Bibliography

Index