Prevention Diaries: The Practice and Pursuit of Health for All - Hardcover

Cohen, Larry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0190623829 ISBN 13: 9780190623821

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2016

Synopsis

How do trees help reduce violence? What do roads have to do with chronic disease? Prevention Diaries examines the unexpected yet empirically predictable relationships that shape our health, providing the keys to realizing vitality and health across our society. With passion, wisdom, and humor, internationally recognized prevention expert Larry Cohen draws on his three decades of experience to make a case for building health into the everyday fabric of our lives-from health care to workplaces, urban planning to agriculture.

Prevention Diaries envisions an alternate model of American health care, one less predicated on treating sickness and more focused on preventing it. Doing so requires a shift in how our society perceives and approaches health -- first recognizing our overreliance on individual solutions, then building an environment conducive to preventing problems before they occur.

Through first-person vignettes and scientific data, Cohen shows that prevention is the cure for what ails us. By creating greater opportunities for health and safety -- things like safe access to parks and healthful housing -- the US sets a foundation for a healthier country. Prevention Diaries makes it clear that as the US works to ensure everyone can access medical services, we also must make health, not just health care, the ultimate goal.

About this title

About the Author

Larry Cohen is founder and Executive Director of the Prevention Institute. A leading authority in developing practical prevention strategies for communities, Cohen's accomplishments include catalyzing the nation's first multi-city no-smoking laws; helping define violence as a preventable health issue; advancing chronic disease prevention through physical activity and healthy eating; and promoting better understanding of the underlying causes of illness, injury, and health inequities. His work has been recognized by the US Department of Health and Human Services, American Cancer Society, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Public Health Association, and Society for Public Health Education. He lives in Oakland, California.

Review

"Prevention Diaries presents a moving introduction to prevention, and why it is so important to begin addressing even the largest of problems." -- Family Medicine

For any epidemiologist who wants a taste of how prevention is currently being applied across a wide range of public health areas, Prevention Diaries offers a degustation menu. The Prevention Institute's work is impressive in its approaches, methods and achievements, and Cohen's description of it is engaging and comprehensive-Journal International Epidemiology

An engaging and well-documented exploration of America's gradual, and in some cases grudging, recognition that adopting individual and community prevention-oriented policies and practices is key to promoting health and health equity, reducing injuries, and preventing violence.- Health Affairs

Prevention Diaries is Larry Cohen's intensely personal and introspective account of why stopping health problems before they start makes sense for individuals and for societies - and is possible. His stories of how advocates have successfully intervened to prevent problems caused by unhealthy eating, cigarettes, automobiles, guns, violence, and system inequalities should inspire everyone interested in public health to get involved in prevention programs that will make a real difference in people's lives.- Food Politics, Marion Nestle

Cohen understands that change comes from the bottom up, and in Prevention Diaries he chronicles many wonderful success stories of people making a difference: communities coming together to get junk food out of schools; to make healthy food more affordable; to pass more taxes on sugary sodas; to build safer streets, more bike lanes and more play areas; and to lead a very significant shift toward community-centered health. - Energy Express, Marilynn Preston

Prevention Diaries should be required reading for every legislator who will vote on what comes next in health care. - Energy Express

Prevention Diaries by Larry Cohen is indispensable with its wise observations and simple approach to shaping policy with a personal flare. - Health News Digest

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0190623829
• ISBN 13: 9780190623821
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272