Introduction
Section 1: Concepts
1. Defining the problem
2. On forgetting your principles
3. The world is a fast flowing river
4. Elephants on a train in Africa
5. Elephants and the prevention of infant deaths
6. Eating an elephant
7. The age of Hygieia
8. William Morris on health
9. ‘Doing health’: reclaiming the ‘H’ word
10. Foreseeing and forestalling
Section 2: Issues
11. A fish is the last one to see the water
12. Not invented here
13. Listen to the community
14. Beware of healthism
15. Go to the people
16. Conspiracies against the laity
17. We’re doing it already
18. Prophets are never recognised in their own country
19. Professionals should be on tap not on top
20. Primum non Nocere
Section 3: Getting to go
21. Less is usually more
22. Starting where they are
23. Don’t follow the yellow brick road
24. Caveat emptor
25. Community organisers beware
26. Self fulfilling prophecy kills
27. Politics is medicine on a large scale
28. Columbus on the need for strategy
29. Starting a rumour
30. Edwin Chadwick and The Times
Section 4: Making a difference
31. The half-life of evidence
32. Proof and evidence
33. The art and science of public health
34. On strategic underview
35. The hidden health care system
36. Be careful what you are selling
37. The conspiracy of silence
38. Achieving change
39. Let the dough rise slowly
40. A sense of place
Section 5: Reflections
41. Public health is an investment
42. William Henry Duncan’s establishment
43. On growing potatoes
44. Life and risk
45. The importance of humour
46. Killing with kindness
47. Every silver lining has a cloud
48. Making things happen
49. Success and failure
50. The dilemma of capital cities
Biography
John Ashton is one of Britain’s foremost public health consultants whose footprint is to be found on many of the most innovative public health initiatives of the last 40 years. Born in Liverpool, John was educated at the University of Newcastle Medical School and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, before returning to the north west where he was a pioneer of the New Public Health. In the 1980s he led work on health promotion, reducing teenage pregnancy, establishing the first large-scale syringe exchange programme in the face of epidemics of heroin injection and the arrival of the HIV virus, and was one of the originators of the World Health Organisation Healthy Cities Project, now a global programme. John has always bridged the worlds of academia and practice. He is acknowledged as a first-class communicator and inspirational teacher. He has been adviser to the Crown Prince of Bahrain’s Covid-19 Taskforce and wrote a book on the pandemic. John was awarded the CBE in 2000 for contributions to the NHS.
“A fascinating and intriguing book, which has the potential to inspire and instigate debate and argument about the most pressing challenges we face as earthlings. Written with humour, seriousness and experience, it is an essential addition to public health learning and practice.”
Richard LeeSenior Lecturer in Public Health, Northumbria University“John Ashton has always been a captivating storyteller, both through the power of the spoken and the written word. In this beautifully easy-to-read book, he has brought together some of the many stories that he and his dear friend and late colleague Lowell Levin, Emeritus Professor at Yale have shared with students and health professionals over the years.
Both Lowell and John have been instrumental in broadening the public health agenda, promoting the importance of the role of social determinants on health and in particular, thinking creatively about the role of health promotion and the importance of community action in creating a healthy society...”
Dr Debbi StanistreetInterim Head of Dept of Public Health and Epidemiology, RCSI“In this book, John Ashton and Lowell Levin take us on an enjoyable journey through different continents, countries and eras to demonstrate (with illustrative examples) how public health measures can make a tremendous difference to people’s lives and for the societies in which they live. A highly recommended reading of universal interest for a broad audience.”
Dr Piroska ÖstlinDirector of the Division of Policy and Governance for Health and Well-being, WHO Regional Office for EuropeJohn McKnight has often remarked that “Institutions learn from studies, but communities learn from stories”. So too can health professionals, as Lowell Levin and John Ashton demonstrated in their own careers and now in this book. Based on 50 favourite aphorisms published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, the book illustrates each of them with case studies (stories) and points for discussion. As John says in the introduction, this book communicates abstract ideas in tangible ways, helping public health professionals to also learn from stories.“
Dr Trevor Hancock, Hon FFPHRetired Professor and Senior Scholar, School of Public Health and Social Policy, University of Victoria
