It both documents the impact of war on public health and describes what health professionals can do to minimize the consequences of war and to help prevent war. The foreword is written by former US President Jimmy Carter. War and Public Health covers the effects of war on health, human rights, and the environment. The chapters on the health effects of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons systems discuss their public health consequences and the methods by which public health professionals can work for their abolition. The book deals with both the direct consequences of the use of conventional weapons and the role of the international arms trade, including the diversion of resources that could otherwise be used for health and human welfare.
Separate chapters cover especially vulnerable populations, including women, children, and refugees.
War and Public Health may be ordered directly from Oxford University Press. Health care personnel are often ill equipped to recognize, much less treat, illnesses with environmental causes, since medical education pays inadequate attention to the relationship between human health and the environment. A comprehensive awareness of that relationship requires an understanding that illness is not just an individual condition but also a public health concern. See Order Form for prices. A Post-Cold War Assessment Lachlan Forrow, MD, Bruce G. Blair, PhD, Ira Helfand, MD, et al.