Book Review: Unhealthy Health Policy

A long, long time ago I made an old school website (don’t know how long it will be up) for HCSC, and our awesome LC alum Joey Alsberge wrote a book review for Unhealthy Health Policy. I encourage you to check the book out, and also consider writing a book review for this site if you recently read something very good.

cheers

Isaac Holeman

Unhealthy Health Policy presents a variety of studies that investigate the unintended consequences of health policies across the globe.  Using data derived from ethnographic research methods such as participant-observation and open-ended interviews, in addition to epidemiological and historical data, the contributors show how “health-related policies, which have the ostensive goal of improving and protecting the health of the general public or sectors thereof, may, in their service of other masters, harm rather than enhance public health” (xiv).  The studies address a wide range of topics and geographical regions, including: HIV treatment in Africa, Medicaid managed care in New Mexico, disaster relief in post-Soviet Tajikistan, alternative medicine in the United States, and many others.  This book is a great introduction for anyone who would like to know more about global and domestic health issues, the policies that are employed to address these issues, and how qualitative research methods can be used to evaluate and critique these policies.

- Joey Alsberge