The United States is among the wealthiest nations in the world, but it is far from the healthiest. Although life expectancy and survival rates in the United States have improved dramatically over the past century, Americans live shorter lives and experience more injuries and illnesses than people in other high-income countries. The U.S. health disadvantage cannot be attributed solely to the adverse health status of racial or ethnic minorities or poor people: even highly advantaged Americans are in worse health than their counterparts in other, "peer" countries. In light of the new and growing evidence about the U.S. health disadvantage, the National Institutes of Health asked the National Research Council (NRC) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to convene a panel of experts to study the issue. The Panel on Understanding Cross-National Health Differences Among High-Income Countries examined whether the U.S. health disadvantage exists across the life span, considered potential explanations, and assessed the larger implications of the findings. U.S. Health in International Perspective presents detailed evidence on the issue, explores the possible explanations for the shorter and less healthy lives of Americans than those of people in comparable countries, and recommends actions by both government and nongovernment agencies and organizations to address the U.S. health disadvantage.

Europe's "Black Death" contributed to the rise of nation states, mercantile economies, and even the Reformation. Will the AIDS epidemic have similar dramatic effects on the social and political landscape of the twenty-first century? This readable volume looks at the impact of AIDS since its emergence and suggests its effects in the next decade, when a million or more Americans will likely die of the disease. The Social Impact of AIDS in the United States addresses some of the most sensitive and controversial issues in the public debate over AIDS. This landmark book explores how AIDS has affected fundamental policies and practices in our major institutions, examining: How America's major religious organizations have dealt with sometimes conflicting values: the imperative of care for the sick versus traditional views of homosexuality and drug use. Hotly debated public health measures, such as HIV antibody testing and screening, tracing of sexual contacts, and quarantine. The potential risk of HIV infection to and from health care workers. How AIDS activists have brought about major change in the way new drugs are brought to the marketplace. The impact of AIDS on community-based organizations, from volunteers caring for individuals to the highly political ACT-UP organization. Coping with HIV infection in prisons. Two case studies shed light on HIV and the family relationship. One reports on some efforts to gain legal recognition for nonmarital relationships, and the other examines foster care programs for newborns with the HIV virus. A case study of New York City details how selected institutions interact to give what may be a picture of AIDS in the future. This clear and comprehensive presentation will be of interest to anyone concerned about AIDS and its impact on the country: health professionals, sociologists, psychologists, advocates for at-risk populations, and interested individuals.

Given the context and prevalence of HIV/AIDS worldwide, this volume presents information, policy case studies, and empirical research for use by educators, policymakers, and organizations about the relationship between HIV/AIDS and education, including how HIV/AIDS has impacted education systems and the potential impact education has on HIV/AIDS.

"Human health is shaped by the interactions between social and ecological systems. States of Disease advances a social ecology of health framework to demonstrate how historical spatial formations contribute to contemporary vulnerabilities to disease and the possibilities for health justice. The book examines how managed HIV in South Africa is being transformed with expanded access to antiretroviral therapy, and how environmental health in northern Botswana is shifting due to global climate change and flooding variability. These cases demonstrate how the political environmental context shapes the ways in which health is embodied, experienced, and managed"--Provided by publisher.

AIDS, like Pandora's box, has unleashed and focused issues upon our twentieth century society that have caused apprehension and anticipation. This text presents realistic approaches to the prevention of HIV infection by looking at health and behavior from an environmental perspective. The text demonstrates that health cannot be separated from the total environment if we are to be effective in planning for health and HIV prevention. The view of AIDS as simply a bio-medical problem is challenged, and individual responsibility for health is enlarged. Those making decisions about HIV prevention need to respond to and attempt to understand complex social and cultural issues like sexuality, drug use, and alternative lifestyles to be effective. The Environmental Contexts of AIDS begins with the history of AIDS, focusing on North America. Behavior change is viewed as essential, so precepts of health promotion and health belief models used to predict motivation and risk behavior are discussed. Particular environments are examined with chapters on the general public, homosexuals/bisexuals, drug users, adolescents/street youths, and women/minorities/special needs groups. Finally, the implications of an environmental perspective are reviewed. This book is essential reading for AIDS researchers, public health administrators and policymakers, health care practitioners, and sociologists.

This is a practical rather than theoretical book about the relationship between public health and human rights in HIV/AIDS. Using a human rights impact assessment method, the authors provide a critical evaluation of public health policies on many troublesome issues like testing, partner notification, isolation, and criminalization.

Environmental toxicology is the study of the action of chemicals upon ecosystems. Understanding the effects of exogenous chemicals upon the inhabitants of an ecosystem may enable us to predict and possibly prevent their deleterious effects. This textbook provides a good general introduction to all the major areas of environmental toxicology, including the fate of chemicals in the environment, environmental toxicity testing, risk assessment, radioactivity in the environment, legislation, environmental monitoring and the future impact of industrial development on the environment. It is written in an informal, accessible style with many examples of environmental issues taken from the author's personal experience and will provide students and other interested individuals with a broad overview of the science of environmental toxicology.