A comparison of five introductory textbooks in global health

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Acknowledgements

Neal Nathanson led the study design, oversaw the data collection, performed the data analysis, and drafted the report. Thomas Hall participated in the study design, provided volunteers to participate in the study, contributed evaluation of the books, and revised the report. Neither author has a conflict of interest.

Abigail Cohen designed the Surveymonkey© questionnaire and abstracted the raw data, and Amy Praestgaard provided statistical consultation, both courtesy of the Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Timothy Brewer, Committee on Education, and members of his committee, Global Health Education Consortium, provided advice and guidance in designing the study.

The following reviewers participated in the survey of individual chapters: faculty and experts – Andrea Boggio, Timothy Brewer, Connie Currier, Richard Deckelbaum, Edward Emmett, Suzinne Pak-Gorstein, Wayne Hale, Amy Lee, Graham Lister, Theresa Lynch, Sharon McDonnell, Nazanin Meshkat, Stephen Morris, Christopher Murray, Padmini Murthy, Thomas Novotny, Trevor Penning, Antonio Sarria-Santamera, Christopher Stewart, Anvar Velji and Calvin Wilson; students – Tonia Berg, Eileen Cheung, Alexa Coughlin, Jennifer Hulme, Sarah Hughes, Sirina Keesara, Farhad Modarai, Kim Mooney, Tej Nuthulaganti, Ian Pereira, Nitasha Puri, Trisha Rys and Beverly Wudel. We thank them for their invaluable assistance.

Notes

1. Books that were considered but not included in our study were: Birn, A.-E., Pillay, Y., and Holtz, T.H. Textbook of international health: Global health in a dynamic world. Oxford University Press, 2009; Drain, P.K., Huffman, S.A., Pirtle, S., and Chan, K. Caring for the world: A guidebook to global health opportunities. University of Toronto Press, 2009; Holtz, C. Global health care: Issues and policies. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2008; Johnson, J.A. and Stoskopf, C.H. Comparative health systems: Global perspectives for the 21st century. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2009; Levine, R. Case studies in global health: Millions saved. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2007; Merson, M., Black, R.E., and Mills, A.J. International public health. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2005; Murthy, P. and Smith, C.L. Women's global health and human rights. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2009; Perlman, D. and Roy, A. The practice of international health: A case-based orientation. Oxford University Press, 2008; Sharma, M. and Atri, A. Essentials of international health. Jones and Bartlett Publishers, 2009.

2. The full text of the qualitative comparisons of the books, along with additional supplementary information regarding our methodology and findings, can be found by accessing the link at the top of the online version of this review.

3. Jamison, D.T., et al. Disease control priorities in developing countries. Second edition. World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006.