Prevention Diaries

The Practice and Pursuit of Health for All

Larry Cohen

A personal but scientifically grounded case for prevention as our most important tool in both health and social change
Builds on recent research that finds environment accounts for 70% of individual health and well-being -- in short, that where we live defines how we live
Chapters on violence, racial and economic inequity, health care reform, food, and the built environment all relevant to current conversations
First-person vignettes make the arguments come alive, linking them to contemporary movements related to class, race, and social access
Argues for health as a social cause and individual right

Prevention Diaries

The Practice and Pursuit of Health for All

Larry Cohen

Description

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.

Prevention Diaries

The Practice and Pursuit of Health for All

Larry Cohen

Chapter 1: Prelude to Prevention
Chapter 2: Upstream
Chapter 3: Beyond Brochures-It's the Environment
Chapter 4: We Build Our Environment and Then it Builds Us
Chapter 5: The Burden of Unfairness
Chapter 6: Food For Thought
Chapter 7: Injuries Are Not Accidents
Chapter 8: Stay Safe
Chapter 9: When People Thrive Business Thrives
Chapter 10: Health Care-A Wide-Angle Lens As Well As a Microscope
Chapter 11: Government Should be for All
Chapter 12: It Takes a Flock to Make a Bird Soar

Prevention Diaries

The Practice and Pursuit of Health for All

Larry Cohen

Author Information

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.

Prevention Diaries

The Practice and Pursuit of Health for All

Larry Cohen

Reviews and Awards

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

Prevention Diaries

The Practice and Pursuit of Health for All

Larry Cohen

From Our Blog

Cities lead pushback against Big Soda

Hacked corporate emails that expose Coca-Cola's efforts to quash local health initiatives, a long-awaited statement from the World Health Organization expressing strong support for taxes on sugary drinks, and upcoming votes on four local soda tax proposals are keeping the grassroots movement to protect health over beverage industry profits front and center this fall.

Posted on October 29, 2016

Read the blog post