Public health in the Americas: conceptual renewal, performance assessment, and bases for action

Abstract

[From the Preface]: This book represents the realization of a dream of a work on public health in the Americas that was worthy of being a Centennial publication of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). I did not wish this to be a document that analyzed the data on the characteristics of the health of the people of Latin America and the Caribbean. There are other publications that will show in great detail the health situation and the trends that are occurring. Therefore, I am pleased that we have in this book, a work that reflects on the context in which public health is perceived and practiced and sets out the extent to which those functions that are essential to promoting and preserving the public’s health are being discharged. No text on the people’s health is definitive, it can at best be one of the rivulets that join but enrich the stream of thinking about one of the most important problems of our time-how to improve the health of our people, how to ensure that people enjoy that “possession” that is universally valued above all others.