Health and Modernity : The Role of Theory in Health Promotion

Pandemics, substance abuse, natural disasters, obesity, and warfare: the line that once separated health crisis from social crisis no longer exists. Yet while social theories are implied in today’s public health arena, they are rarely acknowledged. Now an international panel of leaders in world health explores this vital but understudied aspect of health promotion.

Health and Modernity proceeds from the thesis that contemporary health promotion is, by definition, inextricably linked to its social context. The authors discuss global challenges in terms of cultural capital, risk and causality, systems theory, and the dynamic between individual and community. In the process, they define an entity that:
- Understands the centrality of health to all areas of human life
- Is committed to equity in access to health-promoting resources
- Applies a multidisciplinary approach to public concerns
- Looks beyond quick fixes and simple answers to complex issues
- Employs a variety of political and social agents to accomplish health objectives
- Is dedicated to empowerment, facilitation, and inclusiveness

The insights found in Health and Modernity are certain to raise the level of debate among professionals, researchers, and the academic community in the global/public health and health promotion fields. This visionary volume guides readers from the immediacy of doing toward the deeper meaning that makes such doing possible.

David V. McQueen is the Associate Director for Global Health Promotion at the CDC, and the Program Leader for the IUHPE-WHO Global Programme on Health Promotion Effectiveness. He is on the editorial board of the Birkhauser journal Social and Preventive Medicine, and he has co-edited the book Global Behavioural Risk Surveillance for Springer. He is also co-editing Global Perspectives on Health Promotion Effectiveness (to be published in June 2007). His current research interests include: the theoretical foundations of health promotion, nature of evidence and evaluation in health promotion, analytical methods for risk factor surveillance data, new applications of surveillance, and the health implications of urbanization and urban sprawl.

Ilona Kickbusch is a private health consultant, and formerly Head of the Division of Global Health at Yale University School of Medicine, in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. She joined Yale after a long career with the World Health Organization where she initiated the OTTAWA Charter for Health Promotion and headed a range of innovative programs. She has published widely on the new public health and is the founder and chair of the editorial board of the journal Health Promotion International. She continues to act as an adviser to the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization and a range of foundations, NGOs and the private sector on matters of global health and the development of health promotion. Presently she acts as the senior health advisor to the United Nations Association of the USA’s global health campaign. She has also been designated the distinguished Fulbright New Century Scholars Leader on "Challenges of Health in a Borderless World." She received her Ph.D. in political science at the University of Konstanz, Germany.