Public Health and Preventive Medicine in Canada by Dr. Chandrakant Shah is a book that is well-known and highly respected by health sciences professionals, instructors, and students throughout the country. The book is an excellent primer for beginning healthcare professionals and an important reference for administrators and practitioners who must understand health and the health system in order to work effectively within it.

Dr. Shah has been diligent in updating previous versions of the text, thus making each edition essential reading for Canadians and their international colleagues who want to learn about health and health care in Canada. This edition is no exception. All of the chapters in this new fifth edition have been revised and updated to reflect the state of health care in Canada and the issues and trends faced by anyone involved with health care delivery across the country.

A unique feature of this text is that it connects health promotion and prevention models with the policy and history of the healthcare system. Dr. Shah leads the reader through the complex determinants of health and its measurement to the development of contemporary health care in Canada. The assiduous attention to detail ensures that the most current legislation, policy recommendations, and reports are included. Dr. Shah describes past and present thoughts and events that will influence the future development of health and health care in Canada.

Readers can progress one chapter at a time, or can easily reference facts about individual topics by referring to the detailed table of contents or the index. This comprehensive work about the Canadian healthcare system should be required reading for students in all health disciplines, including medicine and nursing.

NEW TO THIS EDITION:

* Health indicators

* Demography of Canadian population

* Telehealth

* Osteoporosis

* West Nile Virus

* SARS

* Mental health

* Environmental health issues including climate change, greenhouse gases, and ozone depletion

* Food quality

* Multiple chemical sensitivity

* Romanow Report

* Kirby Report

* First Ministers' Accord on Health Care Renewal, 2003