Population Health Forum

Population Health Quizzes

Population Health Quiz [pdf]
Download the Answers [pdf]
More Questions and Answers [pdf]

Posters

Making America Healthy Again [pdf file, 50 Kb, Health Olympics 2005]

Readings

A summary of the data on the deteriorating health status of the US in comparison to other countries, as well as possible explanations, is covered in "The Hurrider I Go the Behinder I Get: The Deteriorating International Ranking of U.S. Health Status," a review article published in Annual Review of Public Health, 2012.

Basic ideas linking equality and health are contained in the chapter Epidemiologic Approaches to Population Health, by Stephen Bezruchka. It is the first chapter in the book Staying Alive: Critical Perspectives on Health, Illness and Health Care. Bryant T., D. Raphael, et al., Eds. (2010). Staying alive : critical perspectives on health, illness, and health care. Toronto, Canadian Scholars' Press. The book is available from Canadian Scholars' Press.

Health Equity in the USA This paper details how we die younger than we should for living in the US and suggests what might need to be done

Improving Economic Equality and Health: The Case of Postwar Japan. The US took part in making Japan the healthiest country in the world after the end of World War II, as described in this paper published in April 2008.

Various strategies that have been tried to get more people aware of population health concepts are in the chapter "Promoting Public Understanding of Population Health," by Stephen Bezruchka, in the book Social Inequality and Public Health, edited by Salvatore Babones and published by Policy Press, Bristol, 2009. The chapter is available for download through the kind permission of the publisher. The book is available at Policy Press.

Give U.S. children our best: Poor report card on child health should be our call to action. April 29, 2007. This Op-Ed piece from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer deals with the broader issues of hierarchy and health as well as the importance of early life. It asks why our poor standing doesn't make headlines the way it did in England. From the bottom of the site, there are commentaries that reflect opinions. They are worth reading to help us see why our poor health is not a concern in this country.

Economic equality is best medicine. June 25, 2006. This Op-Ed piece from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, also deals with the broader issues of hierarchy and health as well as the importance of early life. From the bottom of the site, there are commentaries that reflect opinions.

Societal hierarchy and the health Olympics, Stephen Bezruchka, MD (Canadian Medical Association Journal)

Mental Health Hits Home, Stephen Bezruchka, MD (Real Change)

Journals

Social Science and Medicine

How Healthy Are You? Stephen Bezruchka presented the key ideas behind the poor health status of Americans in contrast to other rich nations in 9 minutes at a TedxRainier session at Benaroya Hall on Oct 10 2010.

Six talks by Dr. Bezruchka. The following talks were originally aired on Alternative Radio. (Check out AR's Web site for other good material.)

Targeting Early Life to Make the Nation Healthy Again.
An eBriefing of the New York Academy of Sciences. This talk by Stephen Bezruchka at a symposium entitled Evolution, Health and Disease, held at Hunter College in New York on January 17, 2007, covers much of the basics of population health. On the Media tab scroll down to the slides and audio for the title (Targeting Childhood ...) close to the bottom). As well, under the Meeting Report tab toward the bottom is a summary of Bezruchka's concepts.

Health in the USA Today Text of a talk given by Stephen Bezruchka at the Coalition of Labor Union Women's 12th Biennial Convention. For further information about the Coalition of Labor Union Women, see CLUW's Web site.

Stephen Bezruchka spoke at the 2003 Washington State Labor Council Annual Convention, in Wenatchee, Washington, this year. The talk, including several excerpts from the Convention, can be heard on the TVW Web site, (search for "WA St Labor" to bring up the listing of Convention recordings. RealPlayer required.)

"Sickness and Wealth" Changesurfer Radio presents a Feb. 9, 2004 speech by Stephen Bezruchka at the Seattle University Lunch Forum. Listen or download Parts 1 and 2 here. (different bandwidths and options available). Read the transcript here.

An interview of Dr. Bezruchka with listener call-ins on Alaska's public radio station KSKA's program Line One, hosted by Dr. Thad Woodard, highlights a variety of ideas related to population health. December 7, 2009.

Interview of Dr. Bezruchka by C.S. Soong of Against the Grain on KPFA Berkeley's Pacifica Radio Station on the links between globalization and health.

Insitute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
This trove of treasure allows you to graphically display many population health indicators for selected countries and follow trends over time. Click on the lower right "Visualize IHME Data." It takes time to load and a bit of practice to use. On the main page there is much on county level US life expectancy trends.

Working Group on Extreme Inequality IPS Institute for Policy Studies
Coordinated by the Institute for Policy Studies, the Working Group on Extreme Inequality focuses on movilization, education, and advocacy to build support for public policies that address the concentration of wealth.

Measure of America American Human Development Project
A nonpartisan, nonprofit initiative to introduce to the United States an international approach and tool for measuring human well-being: the human development approach and the human development index.

Gapminder
This innovative website allows you to look at trends in various indicators over time.

Inequality.org
This site is a treasure of information on all aspects of hierarchy. You can't go wrong here.

L Curve
This site graphically represents the huge disparities in income in the United States. Large numbers are difficult to comprehend. But this is a step in the right direction.

Public Health and Social Justice
A clearinghouse for information and curricular materials relevant to public health and social justice.

Population Health Determinants
It is unusual for a country's government Web site to discuss this, but Canada's does.

Dennis Raphael's Web site at York University in Toronto, Canada. Dennis is a tireless health promoter, with many practical ideas for improving population health.

United for a Fair Economy
This organization is about building social movements for greater equality.

Nationmaster
A commercial web site where you can compare nations on various measures.

Centre for Social Justice
This is an advocacy organization that seeks to strengthen the struggle for social justice.

Pew Research Center
This is an independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics, and public policy issues. They chart trends in values and fundamental political and social attitudes.

WHO-EURO
The regional office of the World Health Organization for Europe has much information about health in European countries.

Community Coalition for Environmental Justice
This grass roots organization looks at environmental issues. A far-sighted approach recognizes that hierarchical societies care less about the physical environment, similar to their attitudes towards the social environment.

UNDP Human Development Report

UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre
This is the resource for league tables comparing nations on various indicators of child wellbeing.

Community Alliance for Global Justice is an alliance of individuals and organizations working in Seattle and the region for the transformation of the global economy to embody the core values of social justice, environmental sustainability, democracy, and self-determination.