Background In this paper, we describe the development process of the first undergraduate public health baccalaureate program, in the Ashkelon Academic College in Israel. Expansion of degree-granting colleges in Israel is part of the democratization of higher education providing access to and increasing educational opportunities for groups underrepresented in universities. The main objectives of...

CONTENT Six policy tools for building health education and preventive counseling into managed care are presented, and the opportunities and barriers to implementing each are described based largely on managed care plans operating in California in 1998. The six policy tools include (1) covering health education and preventive counseling as defined benefits, (2) increasing access to and use of he...

OBJECTIVES This study examined the continuing-education needs of the currently employed public health education workforce. METHODS A national consensus panel of leading health educators from public health agencies, academic institutions, and professional organizations was convened to examine the forces creating the context for the work of public health educators and the competencies they need...

OBJECTIVE We quantified the public health benefit of fruits and vegetables on the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular disease (CVD), using currently available human data. DESIGN We reviewed over 250 observational studies on cancer and CVD. Relative risks (RRs) for high versus low intake of fruits and vegetables were obtained. The preventable proportion of chronic diseases, i.e. the per ce...

BACKGROUND Today Iraq suffers from severe shortages of food, medicine, clean water and adequate sanitation. Malnutrition and communicable diseases are major factors in the rising morbidity and mortality rates. However, supplies and equipment are insufficient or outmoded, and public health training is outdated. The Universities have been unable to help because under-funding and isolation from th...

BACKGROUND It is important for clinicians, researchers, and others who shape public health policy to understand the demographic correlates and psychologic factors that drive health behaviors, such as screening for early detection of cancer, particularly among individuals at high risk for developing the disease. METHODS One-hundred eleven men whose brothers were diagnosed with prostate carcino...

BACKGROUND In China, there was a pressing need to establish a governmental agency to oversee the organizations that provide public health and medical services. The Chinese Health Inspection Authority (HIA), a relatively independent organization functioning at each administrative level (provincial, municipal, and county), was mandated to conduct 11 health inspection functions to maintain efficie...

After six years' medical reform, about 7.8 billion person-times of medical service has been achieved by 2014, and the number of persons covered by basic medical insurance for urban employees, basic medical insurance for urban residents, and new rural cooperative medical insurance exceeded 1.3 billion, of which the coverage ratio reached as high as over 95%, establishing the largest basic medica...