Fully revised and updated for the third edition, the Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice remains the first resort for all those working in this broad field. Structured to assist with practical tasks, translating evidence into policy, and providing concise summaries and real-world issues from across the globe, this literally provides a world of experience at your fingertips.

Easy-to-use, concise and practical, it is structured into seven parts that focus on the vital areas of assessment, data and information, direct action, policy, health-care systems, personal effectiveness and organisational development. Reflecting recent advances, the most promising developments in practical public health are presented, as well as maintaining essential summaries of core disciplines. This handbook is designed to assist students and practitioners around the world, for improved management of disasters, epidemics, health behaviour, acute and chronic disease prevention, community and government action, environmental health, vulnerable populations, and more.

About the Author:
Dr Charles Guest has worked in government and academic public health in Australia and elsewhere, following graduation from Melbourne, Deakin and Harvard Universities. After medical registration in 1980 and clinical practice in Melbourne, he joined the Epidemic Intelligence Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, posted to the New York City Department of Health in 1984. Subsequently, he undertook research on chronic disease in Australian Aborigines, communicable disease and environmental health. He is currently a Senior Specialist in Population Health, Australian Capital Territory Government, and Adjunct Professor in the College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australian National University.

Professor Walter Ricciardi is the Director of the Institute of Hygiene, Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome. He graduated from the University of Naples (Medicine and Surgery) in 1984, specialised in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine in 1988 and obtained his MSc (Community Medicine) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1989. Since 1993 he has held a number of key positions including President of the European Public Health Association, and has undertaken work with the World Health Organisation and the European Union. He is a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health Medicine, Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom and is a Member of the National Board of Medical Examiners, USA.

Dr Ichiro Kawachi is Professor of Social Epidemiology, and Chairman of the Department of Society, Human Development and Health, at the Harvard School of Public Health. Kawachi received his medical degree and Ph.D. (epidemiology) from the University of Otago, New Zealand. He is the author of over 400 articles on the social and economic determinants of population health. He was the co-editor (with Lisa Berkman) of the first textbook on Social Epidemiology, published by Oxford University Press in 2000. He is also Senior Editor of the Social Epidemiology section of the international journal Social Science & Medicine. He has served as an advisor to the WHO, the World Bank, and the Pan American Health Organization.

Dr Iain Lang is a Consultant in Public Health with NHS Devon Primary Care Trust and a Senior Lecturer in Public Health based at the National Institute for Health Research Peninsula Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (PenCLAHRC), Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry, Exeter, UK. His practice and research interests are in the health of middle-aged and older people, quality of care, and health service improvement.