,Making Health Policy
Understanding Public Health
Series editors: Nick Black and Rosalind Raine, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Throughout the world, recognition of the importance of public health to sustainable, safe and healthy societies is
growing. The achievements of public health in nineteenth-century Europe were for much of the twentieth century
overshadowed by advances in personal care, in particular in hospital care. Now, with the dawning of a new century,
there is increasing understanding of the inevitable limits of individual health care and of the need to complement such
services with effective public health strategies. Major improvements in people’s health will come from controlling
communicable diseases, eradicating environmental hazards, improving people’s diets and enhancing the availability
and quality of effective health care. To achieve this, every country needs a cadre of knowledgeable public health
practitioners with social, political and organizational skills to lead and bring about changes at international, national
and local levels.
This is one of a series of 20 books that provides a foundation for those wishing to join in and contribute to the twenty-
first-century regeneration of public health, helping to put the concerns and perspectives of public health at the heart
of policy-making and service provision. While each book stands alone, together they provide a comprehensive
account of the three main aims of public health: protecting the public from environmental hazards, improving the
health of the public and ensuring high quality health services are available to all. Some of the books focus on methods,
others on key topics. They have been written by staff at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine with
,considerable experience of teaching public health to students from low, middle and high income countries. Much of
the material has been developed and tested with postgraduate students both in face-to-face teaching and through
distance learning.
The books are designed for self-directed learning. Each chapter has explicit learning objectives, key terms are
highlighted and the text contains many activities to enable the reader to test their own understanding of the ideas and
material covered. Written in a clear and accessible style, the series will be essential reading for students taking
postgraduate courses in public health and will also be of interest to public health practitioners and policy-makers.
Titles in the series
Analytical models for decision making: Colin Sanderson and Reinhold Gruen
Controlling communicable disease: Norman Noah
Economic analysis for management and policy: Stephen Jan, Lilani Kumaranayake, Jenny Roberts,
Kara Hanson and Kate Archibald
Economic evaluation: Julia Fox-Rushby and John Cairns (eds)
Environmental epidemiology: Paul Wilkinson (ed )
Environment, health and sustainable development: Megan Landon Environmental
health policy: Megan Landon and Tony Fletcher
Financial management in health services: Reinhold Gruen and Anne Howarth
Global change and health: Kelley Lee and Jeff Collin (eds )
Health care evaluation: Sarah Smith, Don Sinclair, Rosalind Raine and Barnaby Reeves Health
promotion practice: Maggie Davies, Wendy Macdowall and Chris Bonell (eds )
Health promotion theory: Maggie Davies and Wendy Macdowall (eds )
Introduction to epidemiology: Lucianne Bailey, Katerina Vardulaki, Julia Langham and Daniel
Chandramohan
Introduction to health economics: David Wonderling, Reinhold Gruen and Nick Black
Issues in public health: Joceline Pomerleau and Martin McKee (eds )
Making health policy: Kent Buse, Nicholas Mays and Gill Walt
Managing health services: Nick Goodwin, Reinhold Gruen and Valerie Iles
Medical anthropology: Robert Pool and Wenzel Geissler
Principles of social research: Judith Green and John Browne (eds )
Understanding health services: Nick Black and Reinhold Gruen
Making Health Policy
Kent Buse, Nicholas Mays and Gill Walt
, Open University Press
Open University Press
McGraw-Hill Education
McGraw-Hill House
Shoppenhangers Road
Maidenhead
Berkshire
England SL6 2QL
email: world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and Two
Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2289, USA
First published 2005
Copyright © London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine 2005
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence
from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be
obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP.
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0 335 21839 3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data CIP data applied for
Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in the UK by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow
Understanding Public Health
Series editors: Nick Black and Rosalind Raine, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Throughout the world, recognition of the importance of public health to sustainable, safe and healthy societies is
growing. The achievements of public health in nineteenth-century Europe were for much of the twentieth century
overshadowed by advances in personal care, in particular in hospital care. Now, with the dawning of a new century,
there is increasing understanding of the inevitable limits of individual health care and of the need to complement such
services with effective public health strategies. Major improvements in people’s health will come from controlling
communicable diseases, eradicating environmental hazards, improving people’s diets and enhancing the availability
and quality of effective health care. To achieve this, every country needs a cadre of knowledgeable public health
practitioners with social, political and organizational skills to lead and bring about changes at international, national
and local levels.
This is one of a series of 20 books that provides a foundation for those wishing to join in and contribute to the twenty-
first-century regeneration of public health, helping to put the concerns and perspectives of public health at the heart
of policy-making and service provision. While each book stands alone, together they provide a comprehensive
account of the three main aims of public health: protecting the public from environmental hazards, improving the
health of the public and ensuring high quality health services are available to all. Some of the books focus on methods,
others on key topics. They have been written by staff at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine with
,considerable experience of teaching public health to students from low, middle and high income countries. Much of
the material has been developed and tested with postgraduate students both in face-to-face teaching and through
distance learning.
The books are designed for self-directed learning. Each chapter has explicit learning objectives, key terms are
highlighted and the text contains many activities to enable the reader to test their own understanding of the ideas and
material covered. Written in a clear and accessible style, the series will be essential reading for students taking
postgraduate courses in public health and will also be of interest to public health practitioners and policy-makers.
Titles in the series
Analytical models for decision making: Colin Sanderson and Reinhold Gruen
Controlling communicable disease: Norman Noah
Economic analysis for management and policy: Stephen Jan, Lilani Kumaranayake, Jenny Roberts,
Kara Hanson and Kate Archibald
Economic evaluation: Julia Fox-Rushby and John Cairns (eds)
Environmental epidemiology: Paul Wilkinson (ed )
Environment, health and sustainable development: Megan Landon Environmental
health policy: Megan Landon and Tony Fletcher
Financial management in health services: Reinhold Gruen and Anne Howarth
Global change and health: Kelley Lee and Jeff Collin (eds )
Health care evaluation: Sarah Smith, Don Sinclair, Rosalind Raine and Barnaby Reeves Health
promotion practice: Maggie Davies, Wendy Macdowall and Chris Bonell (eds )
Health promotion theory: Maggie Davies and Wendy Macdowall (eds )
Introduction to epidemiology: Lucianne Bailey, Katerina Vardulaki, Julia Langham and Daniel
Chandramohan
Introduction to health economics: David Wonderling, Reinhold Gruen and Nick Black
Issues in public health: Joceline Pomerleau and Martin McKee (eds )
Making health policy: Kent Buse, Nicholas Mays and Gill Walt
Managing health services: Nick Goodwin, Reinhold Gruen and Valerie Iles
Medical anthropology: Robert Pool and Wenzel Geissler
Principles of social research: Judith Green and John Browne (eds )
Understanding health services: Nick Black and Reinhold Gruen
Making Health Policy
Kent Buse, Nicholas Mays and Gill Walt
, Open University Press
Open University Press
McGraw-Hill Education
McGraw-Hill House
Shoppenhangers Road
Maidenhead
Berkshire
England SL6 2QL
email: world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and Two
Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121-2289, USA
First published 2005
Copyright © London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine 2005
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence
from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be
obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP.
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0 335 21839 3
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data CIP data applied for
Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in the UK by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow
