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<div class="gmail_quote">From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Ruggiero, Mrs. Ana Lucia (WDC)</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ruglucia@paho.org">ruglucia@paho.org</a>></span><br>crosposted from: <a href="mailto:EQUIDAD@listserv.paho.org">EQUIDAD@listserv.paho.org</a><br>
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<p align="left"><font face="Arial" color="#800000" size="3"><strong>Politics is nothing but medicine at a larger scale: <br>reflections on public health's biggest idea</strong></font></p></font><font size="4">
<p><font color="#000080"><font size="2"><font face="Arial"><strong>Prof. Johan P. Mackenbach, Department of Public Health<br></strong>Erasmus MC - University Medical Center Rotterdam - The Netherlands<br><strong>J Epidemiol Community Health 2009;63:181–184. doi:10.1136/jech.2008.077032</strong></font></font></font></p>
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<p><a href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/63/3/181?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=Mackenbach&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT" target="_blank"><strong><font face="Arial" color="#000080" size="2">Abstract</font></strong></a><font color="#000080"><font face="Arial"><font size="2"><strong> </strong>Website: </font><a href="http://jech.bmj.com/current.dtl" target="_blank"><font size="2">http://jech.bmj.com/current.dtl</font></a><font size="2"> </font></font></font></p>
<p></p></font><font color="#000080" size="2"><font face="Arial"><font color="#000080">".......This essay retraces the historical origins</font> and contemporary resonances of <strong>Rudolf Virchow's famous statement</strong> <br>
<strong><em>"Medicine is a social science, and politics nothing but medicine at a larger scale</em></strong>". <br>Virchow was convinced that social inequality was a root cause of ill-health, and that medicine therefore had to be a social science. <br>
Because of their intimate knowledge of the problems of society, doctors according to Virchow also were better statesmen.<br><br>Although Virchow's analogies between biology and sociology are out-of-date, some of his core ideas still resonate in public health.<br>
This applies particularly to the notion that whole populations can be sick, and that political action may be needed to cure them. <br>Aggregate population health may well be different from the sum (or average) of the health statuses of all individual members: <br>
populations sometimes operate as malfunctioning systems, and positive feedback loops will let population health diverge from t<br>he aggregate of individual health statuses.</font></font>
<p><font face="Arial" color="#000080" size="2">There is considerable controversy among epidemiologists and public health professionals about how far one should go in influencing<br>political processes. A "ladder of political activism" is proposed to help clarifying this issue, and examples of recent public health<br>
successes are given which show that some political action has often been required before effective public health policies and <br>interventions could be implemented........" </font></p>
<p><font face="Arial" color="#000080" size="2"><font color="#000080"><strong><font size="5">Commentaries</font></strong> </font>
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<td valign="top"><font color="#000080"><strong>Virchow, a model for epidemiologists</strong><br>Rodolfo Saracci<br>J Epidemiol Community Health 2009; 63: 185. doi:10.1136/jech.2008.083204 <a href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/63/3/185" target="_blank">[Extract]</a> </font></td>
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<td valign="top"><font color="#000080"><strong>Why is epidemiology necessary to policy-making?</strong><br>Paolo Vineis and Paul Elliott<br>J Epidemiol Community Health 2009; 63: 186-187. doi:10.1136/jech.2008.082941 <a href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/63/3/186" target="_blank">[Extract]</a> </font></td>
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<td valign="top"><font color="#000080"><strong>Is epidemiology nothing but politics at a different level?</strong><br>Alfredo Morabia<br>J Epidemiol Community Health 2009; 63: 188-190. doi:10.1136/jech.2008.083162 <a href="http://jech.bmj.com/cgi/content/extract/63/3/188" target="_blank">[Extract]</a> </font></td>
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