A Handbook for Teachers, Researchers and Health Professionals (2nd edition)
Volume I
Health:
Systems – Lifestyle – Policies
Editors: Genc Burazeri and Lijana Zaletel Kragelj
Assistant editor: Kreshnik Petrela
Lage 2013, 455 p., ISBN 978-3-89918-806-6, free of charge
In order to develop the training and research capabilities for public health in South
Eastern Europe a project funded by the German Stability Pact started in 2000. It was meant to
support the reconstruction of postgraduate public health training programs through different
activities, including the development of teaching modules. Originally planned to be on an
Internet platform only, the Forum for Public Health in South Eastern Europe (FPH-SEE)1 and
the MetaNET project together with Hans Jacobs Publishing Company decided to publish this
training material also as hard copy volumes. The first book was published in 2004 and the
sixth one in 2010, together comprising around 3500 pages. After successful and widespread
use of the teaching modules of all six books between 2004 and 20112, the project coordinators
decided – again together with Hans Jacobs Publishing Company – to publish a 2nd fully revised
edition of selected modules as e-book.
The 2nd edition has been prepared for publication in two volumes under the titles
Health: systems – lifestyles – policies (Volume 1) and Health Investigation: analysis –
planning – evaluation (Volume 2). Volume 1 comprises the collection of 44 teaching
modules, written by 56 authors from 10 countries. The teaching modules in this book cover
the health care system, public health, lifestyles and health, environmental health, health
promotion, health policy, and global health. The authors had full autonomy in the preparation of
their teaching modules. They were asked to present their own teaching/training materials with
the idea to be as practical and lively as possible. Having that in mind, the reader and the user
of the modules of this book may sometimes find, that some areas of population health as well
as of the management and organization of health services are not covered, some are just
tackled and some are more deeply elaborated. The role of the editors was more to stimulate
the authors to write and to revise modules, than to amend or edit their content.
The project coordinators and the editors of the 2nd edition are very grateful for the
continuing interest of the authors to publish their materials and share their experience. We
look back to more than a decade of cooperation and networking and are happy to see the fruits
of this work grow ripe. We are confident that the selected 2nd edition will stabilize this success
and contribute to lead South Eastern European Public Health into a future of excellence and
stability.