Critical Epidemiology and the People's Health

Jaime Breilh and Series edited by Nancy Krieger

Small Books Big Ideas in Population Health

Features an in-depth analysis of global contemporary health paradigms
Offers updated and creative collective health assessment and evaluation tools related to the social determinants of health and a critical analysis of health inequity
Proposes an alternative set of concepts and methodological tools to address a new understanding of health as a socially determined and distributed process
Authored by one of the founders of contemporary critical Latin American epidemiology and the Latin American Social Medicine Movement

Critical Epidemiology and the People's Health

Jaime Breilh and Series edited by Nancy Krieger

Small Books Big Ideas in Population Health

Description

An indispensable read for all those seeking to address the severe problems of local and global human health and environmental crises

The widespread growth of monopolies and big business has led to a fourth industrial revolution focused on producing fast, living fast, and dying fast for the sole benefit of accelerated profit. Despite unprecedented accumulations of wealth and industry, the world has watched as indicators of income inequality--a partial parameter of social inequity--have increased, while big business, with their nearly unrestricted influence, has increasingly distorted advancements in medical research.

Bold and incisive, Critical Epidemiology and the People's Health invites readers to the next great paradigm in public health by promoting a progressive, transdisciplinary, intercultural, community-building approach radically divergent from the presiding object-based, empiricist mode of thinking. A concise overview of the Latin American Social Medicine movement, this book introduces the work of leading scientist Jaime Breilh to a global English audience, focusing on key questions such as: What are the real challenges facing critical epidemiology during the current time of immense turmoil and inequity? How can we conduct responsible and sensitive public health research? What role does epidemiology play in addressing the societal ills of both the global North and South? And how can we create a more rigorous, updated, and effective epidemiology?

In addressing these questions, Critical Epidemiology and the People's Health offers readers a clear-eyed and much-needed perspective on how to overcome Cartesian reductionism with renewed methodological tools to address the rampant growth of injustices harming our global collective health and to subvert the reigning notions of health prevention and promotion.

Critical Epidemiology and the People's Health

Jaime Breilh and Series edited by Nancy Krieger

Small Books Big Ideas in Population Health

Foreword
Nancy Krieger

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Introduction: Critical epidemiology
1. Context, challenges and landmarks of critical epidemiology
2. Method and categories beyond the "knowledge illusion" of the Cartesian lineal causal bubble
3. The common good and the people´s awakening

BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

Critical Epidemiology and the People's Health

Jaime Breilh and Series edited by Nancy Krieger

Small Books Big Ideas in Population Health

Author Information

Jaime Breilh, Director, Center for Research and Evaluation of Collective Health and Environment

Jaime Breilh, MD, PhD, is Director of the Collective Health Research Center and Laboratories (CILABSalud) and former rector (2016-2018) at the Andean University of Ecuador (UASB-E); and former President of the Ecuadorian Academy of Medicine (2014-2016). Dr. Breilh is internationally recognized as one of the founders of Latin American critical epidemiology and the Latin American Movement of Social Medicine/Collective Health. His work has been lauded for its groundbreaking contributions to the understanding of the social determinants of health, critical health theory, and alternative research methodology. Various universities have nominated him as honorary professor. He has been granted academic awards by the International Students Organization, University of California San Diego (2004); the Peter Wall Advanced Studies Institute, University of British Columbia (2012); the National Congress of Students of Ecuador (2018); and the Rector's Award, University of Antioquia, Colombia (2018).

Critical Epidemiology and the People's Health

Jaime Breilh and Series edited by Nancy Krieger

Small Books Big Ideas in Population Health

Reviews and Awards

"This brilliant book is a model of both translation and transformation. It presents decades of research in Latin American critical epidemiology to English-speaking audiences and scholars in other fields and demonstrates that producing emancipatory, path-breaking analysis requires confronting deeply-entrenched quantitative and qualitative reductionisms." -- Charles L. Briggs, PhD, Distinguished Professor, University of California, Berkeley

"Jaime Breilh is arguably the most creative and influential critical epidemiologist in the world today. Through his brilliant publications, teaching, and public service, he has influenced three generations of scholars and activists with groundbreaking research studies that have challenged the dominant conceptual and methodological paradigms of public health. Drawing on this research and the tradition of Latin American social medicine, Critical Epidemiology and the People's Health offers an illuminating and inspiring guide for our scientific work and praxis during this transformative period of our planet's history." -- Howard Waitzkin, MD, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of New Mexico

"Jaime Breilh must be praised for calling attention to culture in disciplinary transformation by underscoring how the contribution of indigenous knowledge and thinking complements academic critical thinking. As we continue to advance our knowledge and methods in epidemiology and public health in diverse and multicultural contexts, this book offers a timely and much needed intellectual breeze of fresh air for our critical thinking and approaches in addressing and solving population health problems for years to come." -- Luisa N. Borrell, DDS, PhD, Distinguished Professor, Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health & Health Polic