A comprehensive introduction to public health through a social justice and equity lens.

Understanding Health introduces foundational knowledge for a broad range of contemporary health subjects. It explains the various factors that influence health, and what we can do as a society to improve people’s health and wellbeing. This book encourages students to analyse the complex range of interactions that influence health at individual, community and global levels through a social justice and health equity lens.

Relevant to many fields of study, this new edition will help students deeply engage with the perspectives of different sectors and industries to broaden their understanding and expand how they think about health. It has been comprehensively updated to align with contemporary public health topics including epidemiological concepts and COVID-19 discussions.

A new, flexible structure provides an accessible text with rich pedagogical features and learning tools to assist students in developing the knowledge and skills they need for the many varied health challenges they will experience throughout their career.

NEW TO THIS EDITION

• Nine new chapters address the most relevant and important challenges for, and changes in, public health: Chapter 6: Measuring health status of Australians
  Chapter 8: Primary health care systems in Australia
  Chapter 9: Primary health care in practice
  Chapter 13: Working with indigenous communities
  Chapter 14: Gender matters
  Chapter 15: Migration and Australia: attitudes, health and politics
  Chapter 16: Food, food systems and health
  Chapter 18: Anti-science and public health
  Chapter 19: Public health in the post-truth world
• New case studies on topics including COVID-19, global migration, climate change, anti-science and public health misinformation equip students with real-world examples and questions.
• New Pause for Reflection questions encourage students to reflect on key learnings as they read each chapter.
• New Review your Learning questions test student’s comprehension on the content they have learnt.
• Revised Discussion Questions promote deeper thinking, knowledge and skill development.