Two critical junctures ten years apart introduce the main themes of the book.

This chapter analyzes various ways of interpreting “disability” in historical and cross-cultural perspectives.The nomenclature reflects negative attitudes toward persons with disabilities and adversely affected early attempts to draft international standards. After documenting some types of discrimination against persons with disabilities, the focus shifts to possible methods of addressing stigma in civil society. The extraordinary plight of some subgroups within the disability community, such as children with albinism, whose lives and well-being are at risk in countries like Tanzania, receives special attention.

There is much evidence that social movements have an effective alignment with democracy, but democratic systems provide resources and opportunities to both democratic and anti-democratic movements.

Starting with a discussion of genocide studies and the Genocide Convention, this chapter analyzes the definition and the theories of the causes of genocide. It presents the proposed and used strategies of how to intervene when there is a genocide and how to prevent genocide. It also examines several catastrophic examples, including those in Bosnia and Rwanda and the Darfur crisis.

Since the appearance of movements, there has been a polarity between hierarchical and decentralized movements, and shifts in movement trajectories in line with changes in states and capitalism. The most recent are the hybrids between movements and interest groups and movements and parties.

Population ageing is a result of increased life expectancy (lower mortality) and decreased fertility rates (UN, 2019). For the first time in history, in 2018, people aged 65 years or over outnumbered children under five years of age (UN, 2019). The world’s population is ageing. The United Nations (UN) (2019) estimates that, globally, the number of people aged 65 years and over will increase from 693 million in 2019 to 1.6 billion in 2050 and 2.5billion in 2100. Australia’s population is also ageing. In 2018, about 3.9 million Australians were aged 65 years and over, representing 16% of the total estimated population (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2020a). Healthy ageing is gaining momentum as an important goal for societies experiencing population ageing. This chapter presents the public health issues relevant to the wellbeing of older people, now and in the future.

The principles of public health promotion have been outlined in previous chapters within this textbook. Planning, implementation and evaluation should be viewed as three equally necessary and complementary components of any public health program. This chapter provides an introduction to planning and evaluation with respect to public health promotions and interventions. This chapter focuses primarily on overarching concepts. It identifies a simple, six-stage public health planning model that assists project teams to move from the initial identification of a need through implementation to assessment of the outcomes, with the evaluation also identifying any needs that remain partially or completely unmet. The concepts of planning and evaluation should be viewed as part of an ongoing process; the planning of public health interventions should be informed through reviewing outcomes of relevant previous projects while the evaluation phase should then provide observations and recommendations for future programs.

Many factors influence the health status of individuals or communities and create health inequalities. They are known as ‘determinants of health’. These determinants can affect health status positively or negatively, and include biological (for example, age), behavioural (for example, alcohol consumption), environmental (air quality) and social (employment status) factors. Not all of these determinants have an equal effect on health outcomes. Some may be affected by personal choices, while others require policy or structural interventions. Identifying the factors that influence health is important in preventing disease and promoting health. It is also necessary to differentiate the factors about which little can be done (for example, age and genetic inheritance) from those that may be modified (for example, built environments, social norms and individual behaviours). This chapter explores behavioural, nutritional and environmental determinants and describes the different levels of influence these have on health outcomes to illustrate key considerations when developing effective public health responses.

The health needs and experiences of rural residents are diverse. While common themes, such as limitation of access to health services are easily identified, also relevant is the diversity related to the geographic, social, economic and environmental factors that mould the character of a community. Rural people have poorer health outcomes, poorer health behaviours, and are more likely to experience the social determinants of health, particularly lower incomes, level of education and a higher proportion of First Nations’ populations (AIHW, 2019; Wakerman et al., 2017). This chapter employs a conceptual framework to assist in describing the complexity of rural health outcomes. The framework proposes that the interrelationships of six concepts can be used to interpret issues and scenarios in rural and remote health. These concepts are: geographical isolation, the rural locale and the social interactions of people in the local area, local health responses, broader health systems, broader social systems, and power relations. This chapter explores each of the six concepts in the framework to understand how public health measures at all levels can contribute to rural health outcomes.

This chapter introduces readers to primary health care (PHC) and community health in Australia. PHC is an integral part of health care provision and the first point of contact with the country’s health system. In this chapter, definitions of PHC and its rationale are described. Then an overview of current PHC in both Australian and global healthcare systems is provided including discussion of health reforms that have shaped PHC development and funding models. Finally, effective models of care within PHC and community health are examined using a range of examples in Australia and elsewhere. The final section of the chapter provides insights into some of the current challenges and future directions in PHC to respond to rising health care expenditure resulting from increasing costs of investigations, medications and health services and an epidemic of chronic diseases in a rapidly ageing population.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of epidemiology and public health. In addition to the intensified health challenges of the pandemic, the constantly changing environment, global warming, increased international travel, globalisation, and social, economic and political changes all contribute to the fluctuating nature and patterns of disease and health issues. To better address the complex interrelationships of various determinants and health/illness outcomes, multidisciplinary efforts, including epidemiology, are required to protect and promote the population’s health. Epidemiology uses quantitative methods to collect and analyse data to investigate disease occurrence and possible causes of disease in order to find solutions to health problems in different populations. This chapter introduces the basic concepts in and use of epidemiology, the common epidemiological study designs and the quantitative measures used to describe the health status of populations and identify potential determinants of ill health. It also draws on examples of international and Australian research and health data to strengthen the theoretical concepts and principles introduced.

In this chapter, we discuss drug use in Australia. We take a public health approach to the problems created by the use of drugs. Public health approaches to substance use focus on reducing harmful consequences of substance use, irrespective of the type of substance being used (Csete et al., 2016). Reducing population-level harms related to substance use can be achieved by reducing the numbers of people who use drugs, but also by reducing harmful patterns of use among those who choose to use. These two goals can be compatible. Public health responses to drug use acknowledge that some people will continue to use drugs regardless of legal or social sanctions. Consequently, policies aimed at reducing drug-related harm are central to a public health framework. Some public health policies (for example, appropriate taxation) work by reducing both the numbers of users and the harmful patterns of use (Anderson, Chisholm & Fuhr, 2009).