Op-ed written by Philippe Leducdoctor and health journalist, originally published on the Les Echos-Le Parisien website.
The Covid will have put public health in the forefront. With its moments of hope and doubt. Uncertainty and strong opinions. Everyone has become aware of the reality of public health. But confusion has often reigned, due to a lack of knowledge or reflection, modesty and hindsight. The time has now come to attempt to clarify the situation. The 2th fully revised and expanded edition of Public Health Manual is a real chance.
In 742 pages, all public health issues are addressed. In clear and educational language. The Handbook is certainly aimed at candidates for health competitions and students, but also at curious minds who see that the world of health has changed and who want to rely on solid foundations.
Public health has entered everyone’s life with a bang and has become an eminently political subject because if this discipline is traditionally interested in the collective and a population, the health crisis has clearly shown that the collective and the individual are closely intertwined. and that every citizen is concerned. The objective of Public Health is therefore to improve the state of health of the populations in their territory. The collective and the individual mingle.
Actions aimed at changing individual behavior are important but they are clearly not enough. What needs to be strengthened are favorable environments, it is recalled, for example a Healthy eatingthe air qualitythe conditions facilitating thephysical exercise and the active mobility. Huge construction site.
The “fundamentals” and “the challenges”
The Handbook is divided into two parts: “the fundamentals” and “the issues” and in fact encompasses and describes the wholehealth system organization. The story of the Public health is told in an exciting way, from the Black Death to the Pasteurian revolution and the development of social protection systems. The mantra of public health – the determinants of health – is revisited, as well as epidemiological methods and health data, thestate of health of the French and thehealth economics.
The second part addresses the issues, the principles of action and the flaws, which are numerous. The well-known current challenges call for a global overhaul of the health system and management by re-examining the respective roles of the State and the operators. Covid, One Health, Health-environmentet Planning are widely discussed. Public Health is also financing and all its components, including “the improbable prospect of a Great Security”. We can see that public health is not just about health promotion and prevention. It is also medicine and sovereignty, new technologies.
At a time when the Minister of Health and Prevention, François Braun, calls during his Wishes to the Forces vives de la santé on January 30 to “find together the means to get out of the infernal chain of crises and break this depressive spiral which affects all the actors and all the components of our system” this work sets the record straight and opens with the knowledge of new and exciting perspectives.
It remains to keep public health alive!
Public Health Manual. 2th fully revised edition. 742 Pages. 40 € EHESP press
Philippe Leduc hosts and directs the Health Economics Think Tankdeveloped by Les Echos Le Parisien Evénements.