Public health strives to improve the health of human populations, and prevent disease, disability, and death. Statistics--the science of finding underlying patterns by analyzing variability and errors in collected data--is essential to the understanding of disease patterns in human populations. Other quantitative methods, such as economics, decision theory, and mathematics, now constitute integral parts of the scientific basis for priority-setting and evaluation in public health.
This book provides a broad conceptual treatment of the statistical issues underlying core public health...

As public accountability has increased and resources have become scarcer, public health, like clinical medicine, has been forced to re-examine the benefits and costs of its activities. Decision and economic analysis are basic tools in carrying out that mission. These methods have become standard practice in clinical medicine and health services research. This book, now in its second edition, was written in an effort to apply and adapt that experience with public health situations.
The book was originally written to introduce Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff to the concepts...

Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States, is home to 10 million people and 88 municipalities. It is larger than 41 of the 50 states. Comprising urban centers, extensive suburbs, and low-income, rural, and agricultural communities, it poses complex public health challenges that are diverse in scope and unmatched in scale.

In Public Health Practice: What Works, the leaders of LA County's Department of Public Health compile the lessons and best practices of working in a complex and evolving public health setting. Through stories of success (and challenges)...