Sustainable Community Health

If we want to achieve the goal of sustainable community health, it is imperative to address the broad and multi-level context in which these communities are situated. This book provides a thoughtful and practical guide for how to build and sustain communities that are active agents in their own health and wellbeing.-Joshua M. Smyth, Distinguished Professor of Biobehavioral Health and Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, USAThis comprehensive yet highly readable text integrates health and behavioral theory with practical strategies, resulting in a roadmap for improving the health of communities in ways that prioritize sustainability. The approaches detailed by Mpofu and colleagues are grounded in principles of social justice, and intended to redress health inequities that have persisted for centuries.-Elizabeth R. Bertone-Johnson, Professor of Epidemiology and Chair of Health Promotion and Policy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USAApplying a trans-disciplinary approach, this book provides a comprehensive, research-based guide to understanding, implementing, and strengthening sustainable community health in diverse international settings. By examining the interdependence of environmental, economic, public health, community wellbeing, and development factors, the authors address the systemic factors impacting health disparities, inequality, and social justice issues. The book analyzes strategies based on a partnership view of health, in which communities determine their health and wellness working alongside local, state, and federal health agencies. Crucially, it demonstrates that communities are themselves health systems and their wellbeing capabilities affect the health of individuals and the collective alike. It identifies health indicators and tools that communities and policy makers can utilize to sustain truly inclusive health systems. This book offers a unique resource for researchers and practitioners working across psychology, mental health, rehabilitation, public health, epidemiology, social policy, healthcare, and allied health.Elias Mpofu, PhD, DEd, CRC, FASROC, MAPS, is Professor of Health Sciences at the University of North Texas, USA, Honorary Professor of Health Sciences at the University of Sydney, Australia, and Distinguished Visiting Professor at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Dr. Mpofu is editor of Community-Oriented Health Services: Practices Across Disciplines (2015) and several other community health related titles.