As public health concerns and controversies have continued to evolve, the new Third Edition of this best-selling text offers new and updated discussions of current topics, recent events, and the most up-to-date data to illustrate the key issues that affect the public's health. Key Features: The author uses a reader-friendly, narrative style making the text engaging and accessible to a broad range of students. The text illustrates the multidisciplinary nature of public health and the complex ethical and political issues central to it. It includes discussions of epidemiological investigation, biomedical research, environmental assessment, analyses of individual and group behavior, massive data collection efforts, and policy developments. New to this Edition: New discussions about U.S. health care reform New discussions of the globalization of national economies and its effect on the health of populations Expanded discussions on health disparities New analysis of what went wrong just after Hurricane Katrina Updated discussions of developments in topics such are H1N1 Swine Flu, Hormone Replacement Therapy, FDA regulation, HPV vaccine controversy planning for Healthy People 2020 and much more.