Well : what we need to talk about when we talk about health

Well What we need to talk about when we talk about health

Sandro Galea

Book - 2019

"A deeply affecting work from one of the important and innovative voices in American health and medicine." -Arianna Huffington, physician Sandro Galea examines what Americans miss when they fixate on healthcare: health. Americans spend more money on health than people anywhere else in the world. And what do they get for it? Statistically, not much. Americans today live shorter, less healthy lives than citizens of other rich countries, and these trends show no signs of letting up. The problem, Sandro Galea argues, is that Americans focus on the wrong things when they think about health. Our national understanding of what constitutes "being well" is centered on medicine -- the lifestyles we adopt to stay healthy, the insur...ance plans and prescriptions we fall back on when we're not. And while all these things are important, they've not proven to be the difference between healthy and unhealthy on the large scale. Well is a radical examination of the subtle and not-so-subtle factors that determine who gets to be healthy in America. Galea shows how the country's failing health is a product of American history and character -- and how refocusing on our national health can usher enlightenment across American life and politics."--

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Subjects
Public health > United States.
Medical care > United States.
Published
New York, NY : Oxford University Press [2019]
Language
English
Main Author
Sandro Galea (author)
Physical Description
xxi, 274 pages ; 22 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9780190916831
  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • 1. The Past
  • 2. Money
  • 3. Power
  • 4. Politics
  • 5. Place
  • 6. People
  • 7. Love and Hate
  • 8. Compassion
  • 9. Knowledge
  • 10. Humility
  • 11. Freedom
  • 12. Choice
  • 13. Luck
  • 14. The Many
  • 15. The Few
  • 16. The Public Good
  • 17. Fairness and Justice
  • 18. Pain and Pleasure
  • 19. Death
  • 20. Values
  • Acknowledgments
  • References
  • Index
Review by Kirkus Book Review

An epidemiologist reframes the American health care crisis.Born in Malta and raised in Canada, Galea (Dean, Boston Univ. School of Public Health; Healthier: Fifty Thoughts on the Foundations of Population Health, 2017, etc.) has traveled the world treating patients in remote areas, experiences that shaped his impressions of what truly influences health and health care, two aspects of medicine that are often conflated. He underscores global statistical trends revealing that despite leading investments in health prevention, Americans still fall short on worldwide illness ratios. Galea faults a society that "is simply not oriented to keep[ing] us healthy" and seeks to gain a better understanding of how to achieve ultimate vitality and longevity. He offers a reassessment of the many elements of sustainable health and wellness, examining a wide variety of external, interconnected forces. While acknowledging that some influencese.g., intergenerational factors and certain environmental conditionsare unavoidable, he intensively addresses the building blocks of sustainable health while putting allegories and pop-culture references to effective use. These key pieces include creating solid financial foundations, including the use of redistributive economic programs; resisting corruption in high-level political and corporate arenas; encouraging the establishment of tightknit community networks; cultivating emotional well-being; advocating for knowledgeable personal choices that resist negative influences from social media networks, advertising, and "social contagion." Galea believes that all of these forces collectively affect the healthfulness of Americans and that each plays a role in fostering an important brand of preventative medicine that can be cultivated at home. He implores readers to take the steps to change their minds and bodies now rather than relying on medicine or chronically seeing doctors after we are already ill. While some areas of the author's research may seem like wishful thinking in today's world of greed, violence, and class inequities, his hopes for a healthier populace make for a compassionate, relevant book.Sharp, optimistic, and factually supported encouragement to boost societal attitudes about the power of salubrity. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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