Healing Gotham: New York City's Public Health Policies for the Twenty-First Century

by Bruce F. Berg

Overview

New York City provides the ideal context for studying urban public health policy.

Throughout its history, New York City has been challenged by a variety of public health crises. Since the nineteenth century—when it became one of the first American cities to develop a comprehensive public health infrastructure—New York has also stood at the forefront of formulating and implementing urban health policy. Healing Gotham examines in depth how the city has responded to five serious contemporary public health threats: childhood lead poisoning, childhood asthma, HIV/AIDS, obesity, and West Nile virus.

Bruce F. Berg examines the rise and incidence of each condition in the city while explaining why the array of primary tools utilized by urban policy makers—including monitoring and surveillance, education, regulations, and the direct provision of services—have been successful in controlling public health problems. He also argues that forces such as race and ethnicity, New York City’s relationship to the state and federal government, the promotion of economic development, and the availability of knowledge related to preventing, treating, and managing illness all influence effective public health policy making.

By contrasting these five particular cases, this exciting study allows scholars and students to compare public health policy through time and across type. It also helps policy makers understand how best to develop and implement effective public health strategies around the United States.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421415994
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	03/01/2015
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Bruce F. Berg is an associate professor of political science at Fordham University. He is the author of New York City Politics: Governing Gotham.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
1. Introduction
2. Lead Poisoning in Children
3. Managing Asthma
4. Living with HIV/AIDS
5. Helping a City Lose Weight
6. The First Appearance of West Nile Virus
7. Conclusion
References
Index

What People are Saying About This

Frank J. Thompson

Berg systematically dissects the social, economic, and political forces shaping the policy responses of a leading public health department to five critical challenges—lead poisoning, asthma, AIDS, obesity, and West Nile virus. Both the policy specialist and more general reader will find this book absorbing and insightful.

Nicholas Freudenberg

For the past two centuries, New York City has been both the source of many of the world’s most challenging urban public health problems and the cradle of its most innovative health solutions. In this timely, well-written, and engaging book, Bruce F. Berg focuses on the role of political and governance systems, giving Healing Gotham a perspective distinct from other accounts. Few scholars have offered in-depth investigations of the lessons learned from the city’s experiences in public health, and fewer still have considered multiple health issues.

From the Publisher

For the past two centuries, New York City has been both the source of many of the world’s most challenging urban public health problems and the cradle of its most innovative health solutions. In this timely, well-written, and engaging book, Bruce F. Berg focuses on the role of political and governance systems, giving Healing Gotham a perspective distinct from other accounts. Few scholars have offered in-depth investigations of the lessons learned from the city’s experiences in public health, and fewer still have considered multiple health issues.
—Nicholas Freudenberg, City University of New York, coeditor of Cities and the Health of the Public

Berg systematically dissects the social, economic, and political forces shaping the policy responses of a leading public health department to five critical challenges—lead poisoning, asthma, AIDS, obesity, and West Nile virus. Both the policy specialist and more general reader will find this book absorbing and insightful.
—Frank J. Thompson, Rutgers University, author of Medicaid Politics: Federalism, Policy Durability, and Health Reform

Editorial Reviews

Berg's extensive research, keen analysis, and clear exposition, as well as his unique perspective as a political scientist, make this an invaluable resource for any policymaker, politician, health-care provider, or concerned citizen.
—Library Journal

Berg's book is important and useful—it shows what can be achieved in a complex, modern democracy, often against the odds.
—William Hatchett, Environmental Health News

Covers a wide range of important political perspectives—from neoliberal to libertarian—that influence public health policy . . . An enjoyable read, this volume will be valuable to those interested in public health, bioethics, and the role of government in health care.
—Choice

From the Publisher

Covers a wide range of important political perspectives—from neoliberal to libertarian—that influence public health policy . . . An enjoyable read, this volume will be valuable to those interested in public health, bioethics, and the role of government in health care.

Choice

Berg's book is important and useful—it shows what can be achieved in a complex, modern democracy, often against the odds.

Environmental Health News - William Hatchett

04/15/2015
In his 2007 study, New York City Politics: Governing Gotham, Berg (political science, Fordham Univ.) analyzed New York's intricate political system. Now, he looks at five serious contemporary public health threats facing the city—childhood lead poisoning, childhood asthma, HIV/AIDS, obesity, and West Nile virus—and assesses how city policymakers have successfully responded to these conditions, largely by monitoring and surveillance, education, regulations, and the direct provision of services. The Big Apple has long played a leading role in the development of U.S. public health policy, the author observes, and other large cities in the United States can learn much from the ways in which the city has approached these issues, while Gotham itself must keep these strategies in mind as it is faced with future problems. VERDICT Berg's extensive research, keen analysis, and clear exposition, as well as his unique perspective as a political scientist, make this an invaluable resource for any policymaker, politician, health-care provider, or concerned citizen.—Marcia G. Welsh, Dartmouth Coll. Lib., Hanover, NH

Library Journal