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The proverbial benefits of prevention over cure are self-evident and yet we are reluctant to invest in protecting and improving our health. Resolution of this age-old dilemma begins with a timeless truth: the benefits of good health come at a cost; prevention is not better than cure at any price. Protecting health should be appealing when a high-risk, high-value hazard can be averted rapidly, with certainty, and at relatively low cost. Similar reasoning applies when the goal is to make health gains, not merely to avoid health losses. Health choices are rational, based on values that are personal. Investing in Health and Wellbeing: When Prevention Is Better than Cure, Second Edition provides a framework to promote and protect health as an asset, illustrating the principles with practical examples. Application of these ideas helps to explain why prevention is a low priority for health services, why the world was not ready for the COVID-19 pandemic, why deadly infections like tuberculosis are neglected, why cigarette smoking is still commonplace, why billions still do not have access to safe sanitation, and why the response to climate change has been so slow. Much more money and effort are invested in health promotion and disease prevention today than is commonly thought, but the enormous avoidable burden of illness is reason to look for ways of investing still more. Previously published as The Great Health Dilemma (ISBN: 9780198853824) in 2021, this second, updated edition makes prevention part of a broader vision for better health. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Alive With Vigor! compiles stories of surviving—and thriving—from a wide spectrum of contributors. Deeply personal essays recount matters of preventative health care, the hard decisions we each have to make, Do It Yourself health care, and how to deal with extracting health care from government/corporate health care systems. Alive With Vigor! has a special focus on queer, youth, and transgender people, recognizing that everyone has different health care needs. Finally a how to book where you can put the advice directly to use in your life!

For all of our advances in health care and achievements in public health that have contributed to an increased life expectancy, there still remain persistent problems in one's community that are public health in origin. These persistent public health problems are well-studied from an academic standpoint, yet they evade a solution that is practical, economical, and socially just. These are complex, community-based, public health problems that disproportionally impact minority and immigrant populations. This book explores this topic in greater detail. Specifically, what have we, as public health academicians and practitioners learned when partnering with minority and immigrant community members to help them address persistent public health issues that affect them and their families on a daily basis? These are lessons that need to be shared so disadvantaged populations can build their capacity to address and solve persistent public health problems in their communities.

Today, local, state, and federal funding agencies have recognized the importance of the role the community plays in assuring a healthy population. As a result, these funding sources have mandated that the community which is primarily affected by these persistent public health issues, be present at the working table with academicians, researchers, public health practitioners, and policymakers so their “voice” may be heard and they may contribute to effective solutions. For sustainability purposes, we need to help these communities build their capacity to address the episodic, as well as the persistent, public health issues that affect their health. How do we, as public health professionals, do that? How do we learn the skills and principles necessary to establish partnerships with our communities? How do we then teach our community partners to continue to improve the health status of their neighborhoods when the funding expires? This book explores this topic in greater detail.