Governing Global Health

December 1, 2016
Sridhar, a global public health professor at the University of Edinburgh's Medical School, and Clinton, vice chair for the Clinton Foundation, present an erudite, bordering on academic, examination of world health. They examine what works, what hasn't worked, and what twenty-first-century solutions can be applied to improve the health of people from Liberia to the slums of New Delhi. Taking into account the successes of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and other efforts that have sent major diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, measles, and HIV/AIDS into retreat, they scrutinize what has comprised success. Thornier, perhaps, is the threat of worldwide epidemics from, say, the Zika virus or Ebola. When such health hazards emerge, the call for swift and decisive transnational action is imperative. But beyond communicable diseases, there exists the goal to control the spread of noncommunicable diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. Who will oversee such initiatives, and how? As the authors pose crucial questions and posit solutions, they present readers with an invaluable global health overview and much to ponder about the need for international cooperation among private and governmental entities.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)