This is a truly prophetic warning from the acclaimed author of "The Coming Plague", which itself was an eloquent best-seller warning of the approaching debacle of increasing microbial threat based on human arrogance, rapid increases in virulence, multiple drug resistance (MDR), and the appearance of entirely new viral entities, comes this articulate, literate, and extremely well researched investigation into the woeful state of the world's public health organizations. School of Hygiene and Public Health John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, You can also search for this author in Clearly figuring out how to obtain clean water should be one of your top priorities. Check out the nearly 150 waterborne diseases that water and sewage infrastructure protects you from in the Center for Disease Control "A-Z Index of Water-related topics". Garrett provides a history of public health in the US and documents contributions to improved life expectancy during the first half of the 20th century. Garrett takes us to India, where an outbreak of bubonic plague created international hysteria and to Zaire, where the deadly Ebola virus broke out in a filthy and completely unequipped hospital. There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Sadly, however, this lengthy tome (585 pages with 153 pages of notes), is often poorly or hastily written and badly in need of editorial discipline. Wearing masks in public, practicing social distancing, cleaning our hands, and reasonable self-isolation as needed can prevent unnecessary suffering, save lives, and minimize economic cost. Since 2004, Laurie Garrett has been a Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Public health is a bond between a government and its people and if either side betrays that trust the system is likely to collapse like a house of cards. Thus, Garret's examples of the responses of the Indian and Zairian authorities illustrates what can go wrong rather than what can be done right, even in resource poor settings. Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2016. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and Amazon Prime. Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. Ms. Garrett is clearly knowledgeable, but she presents a flurry of statistical and anecdotal “factoids”, which overwhelm the thrust of her arguments, and many notes refer to her previous writings rather than primary or authoritative sources. Good book for the doctors who really wants to understand how the public health system fails. We are facing a persisting national threat and lots of the blame comes from both our lack of scientific knowledge and failures to learn what books like this one have been reporting. A chilling account of the collapse of public health throughout the world, and the potential ramifications for the future of the human race. Health authorities in the US have repeatedly set health targets in reports such as Healthy People 1990 and 2000 (from the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion), without defining the strategies needed to achieve the laudatory goals, and the debate has been how to pay for medical care rather than how to promote health. Top subscription boxes – right to your door, America's Most Sustainable Cities and Regions: Surviving the 21st Century Megatrends, © 1996-2020, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates. Without such agencies the public is left literally to the mercies of fate. We need federal, state, and local government officials who base their understanding on science rather than short-term quests that put profit above the sacrifice of human well-being and life. The central argument of her book is that public health is a “public good”, providing community-level protection from infectious diseases and environmental hazards, and access to medical for the poor. The book covers many contries, developed and undeveloped and documents the total breakdown in public health infrastructures and power in these countries. Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations, Select the department you want to search in, Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health. the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in