'Today, statistics and the language of numbers dominates global health thinking and practice. Yi-Tang Lin's ground-breaking study provides a much-needed history of how this came to be. Wide ranging, well researched and clearly written, Lin's book traces the emergence of statistics in global health over the course of the 20th century.' Randall Packard, John Hopkins University
Introduction; 1. The call for a language of public health: Philanthropic foundations, bacteriologists, and health administrators; 2. The language and dialect of health science: Public health schools and their statistical practices; 3. The language of health administrations: The League of Nations Epidemiological Intelligence Service; 4. The language of policy-making: Research and advocacy through health demonstrations; 5. Popularization at a global scale: The WHO and the postwar health statistics reporting system; 6. The art of rhetoric: Statistical standards at work, from fieldwork to world policy-making; 7. Another way of speaking? Public health statistics in the People's Republic of China; Conclusion: Numbers, experts, and policy-making.