Public Health

This book addresses for the first time, in a practical way, how public health professionals can help their clients to gain power. It offers sound theoretical principles and practical solutions for transforming power relations to improve public health practice. It also introduces readers to a new methodology to plan, implement and evaluate empowering public health programs.

Those who rely on public health facilities often feel they are the least powerful people in the world. Often they are treated rudely or even abused. All too often they and their concerns are dismissed as signs of lack of intelligence, untruthfulness, madness, or drug seeking. Even if they are believed, they often lack the skills to advocate for themselves. Laverack (health promotion, U. of Auckland) describes the power structure inherent in public health practice, the objectives of public health in context, the nature of power and empowerment, techniques to help individuals and groups to gain power (in particular marginalized groups), measuring and visually representing power, and making empowerment part of professional practice. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Glenn Laverack is Director of Health Promotion at the School of Population Health, University of Auckland, New Zealand. He has worked as a Public Health Consultant, and a specialist in health promotion and community capacity building for over 15 years in countries as diverse as Ghana, Fiji, Vanuatu, Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. His previous publications include Health Promotion: Power and Empowerment (2004).