Child Public Health

by Blair, Mitch; Stewart-Brown, Sarah; Waterston, Tony; Crowther, Rachel

• ISBN13: 9780192631923
• ISBN10: 0192631926
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-01-08
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This is the first book of its kind which focuses on a public health approach to the health and sickness of children and young people, who make up about a quarter of the population. The authors use their extensive clinical and academic experience to explore the current state of health of ourchildren, the historical roots of the speciality and the relationship between early infant and child health on later adult health. A chapter on key concepts in the field will help to orientate the reader and a number of practical examples are given for those who are faced with the challenges ofdealing with growing levels of mental ill health, obesity and health inequalities in their localities or practices. Child Public Health will be of interest to public health practitioners, paediatricians, general practitioners with a child health and commissioning interest and GP trainees. Whilst paediatricians are given a unique population perspective on their clinical specialty, public health professionalswill gain a specialist insight into a specific population group and primary care doctors, nurses and managers will find support for their commissioning and clinical governance agendas. Child public health is a rapidly developing field and is increasingly recognised throughout the world as a major area of focus for population health.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(11)
Child health in the UK	11	(42)
Children in the UK	11	(1)
The changing pattern of children's health	12	(2)
Measuring health and disease	14	(1)
Important child health problems	15	(12)
The determinants of health in children	27	(26)
Child health---the global context	53	(29)
Why is international child health important?	53	(2)
The global burden of childhood disease	55	(6)
Determinants of health in children in low-income countries	61	(12)
Making the links between north and south	73	(2)
Some solutions to global child health problems	75	(7)
Child public health---lessons from the past	82	(24)
Early times: history relates affairs of state, not so much affairs of the home	82	(1)
The eighteenth century: the emergence of more humanitarian attitudes	83	(1)
The nineteenth century: a time of ups and downs for child health	84	(6)
The twentieth century: interest in child public health waxes and wanes	90	(12)
The rediscovery of child public health	102	(1)
Reflections from the past and lessons for child public health practice today	103	(3)
Key concepts and definitions	106	(48)
Health and disease	106	(5)
Health promotion	111	(11)
Epidemiological concepts: causality and risk	122	(10)
Populations	132	(3)
Measuring poverty and social disadvantage	135	(3)
Disease prevention	138	(16)
Child health and adult health	154	(18)
History revisited	154	(1)
Different research paradigms	154	(2)
Policy implications of the different paradigms	156	(1)
The evidence base for biological programming	156	(4)
The evidence base for the impact of socio-economic circumstances	160	(4)
The evidence base for early care and nature	164	(5)
Bringing it all together	169	(3)
Techniques and resources for child public health practice	172	(20)
Community diagnosis	172	(9)
Evidence and evaluation	181	(4)
Data sources	185	(7)
Using child public health techniques---some practical examples	192	(53)
Karen `walks the patch'	192	(7)
Prevention of behaviour problems and the promotion of mental health	199	(5)
Reduction of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections through school-based approaches	204	(3)
Health promotion directed at reducing motor vechicle accidents involving school-age children	207	(3)
Promotion of breast-feeding	210	(5)
Child health surveillance programme---delay in diagnoses	215	(9)
Mitigating the health impact of social deprivation	224	(3)
Promoting vaccine uptake	227	(5)
Reviewing the system for investigating suspected child deaths from abuse	232	(5)
Obesity: a public health strategy	237	(8)
Index	245