The textbook aims to serve primarily all the undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental students, as well as postgraduate students of nursing, public health, health administration and public administration.

The special features that distinguish Foundations of Community Medicine in its present form are: Contains well-organized material which is singularly free from repetition, confusion and uncertainty and which ensures availability of all the relevant information on a topic at one place. Lays adequate stress on applied aspects of preventive medicine and public health with focus on Indian situation. Contains detailed description of public health practices, namely, immunization, disinfection and sterilization, notification, isolation and quarantine, public health surveillance and population screening. Extends a managerial treatment to the description of health organizations, health programmes and health care systems existing in the country. Incorporates a comprehensive coverage of physical, social and biological environments laying due stress on environmental pollution and its control. Provides adequate information on occupational hazards and industrial problems in consideration of the advancing industrialization in India. Encompasses an elaborate exposition on important issues concerning maternal health, infant health, child health, adolescent health and geriatric health in an exclusive section devoted to personal health care. Presents a uniquely simplified and readily intelligible discourse on basic concepts of epidemiology and statistics which are usually abhorred by medical students. Incorporates a detailed description of the National Population Policy and National Health Policy in consideration of their crucial importance in the formulation of National Health Care Programmes for the country. Contains numerous comparison tables, flowcharts, graphs and diagrams to improve comprehension and facilitate retention of the subject matter. Encloses multiple solved examples on epidemiology, vital statistics and basic statistics to enable the students to calculate rates, ratios and statistical values of applied significance. Contains elaborate discussion on Indian population problem, human disasters as well as emerging and re-emerging diseases. Provides adequate information on Indian health systems, hospital acquired infection and hospital waste management. Covers detailed discussion on adolescent health care, mental disorders and millennium development goals. About the Author : - G.M. Dhaar, Professor, Department of Community Medicine, SKIMS, Srinagar, India.Irfan Robbani, Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, SKIMS, Srinagar, India.