In recent decades, policymakers all over the world have sought to strengthen the meaning and effect of public, non-medical healthcare. This publication is the result of the research initiation project »Arteria Danubia ‒ Analysis and Discussion on the Implementation of Model Health Regions in the Upper and Lower Reaches of the Danube« (2017 to 2019), which focused on healthcare in Bulgaria, Germany and Hungary. In this book, researchers from the participating universities and organizations explore the topic of public health in all its facets: How can public policy and education influence people’s health? How are lifestyle-related diseases to be avoided? And how best to implement digital healthcare solutions?

In our complex, fast changing society, health is strongly influenced by the continuously changing interactions between organisations and their employees. Three major fields contribute to health-oriented improvements of these interactions: occupational health, organizational health and public health. As currently only partial links exist amongst these fields, the book aims to explore potential synergies more systematically. Considering the high mental and social demands in a service and knowledge sector economy, the first part of the book focuses on work-related psychosocial factors. As a large proportion of inequalities in health in developed countries can be explained by inequalities in working conditions, those psychosocial factors with a particularly high public health impact are highlighted. As addressing these psychosocial factors requires to involve the organization as the key change agent, the second part covers approaches to improve public health through organizational level health interventions. The last section takes a look into the future of occupational, organizational and public health: what are the future challenges regarding occupational health and how can they be tackled within and beyond the organizational level. Overall, this integrating book will help to broaden the evidence-base, legitimacy and efficacy of occupational- and organizational-level health interventions and thus increase their public health impact.

As urban populations grow, new health problems evolve in tandem with longstanding issues. And as a welter of social, environmental, and access factors further complicate the picture, workable solutions require increasingly sophisticated understanding and innovative methods—generally beyond the scope of one professional field. Converging Disciplines introduces the concept of transdisciplinary research as a multidimensional, research-to-practice approach to urban health issues, not only bringing researchers together but also linking stakeholders, from practitioners to policymakers to community members. This immediately accessible volume differentiates transdisciplinary research from multi- and interdisciplinary strategies, as well as from popular community-based models, and brings a uniquely North American set of perspectives to the concept. Chapter authors explore the theory behind the methods as well as their application in meeting chronic problems (e.g., domestic violence, substance abuse) and working with vulnerable populations (e.g., homeless individuals, refugees) in ways that are ecologically based, ethically sound, and eminently practical. Key areas of coverage: Benefits and challenges of transdisciplinary research in the urban health setting. Transdisciplinary research process, including methodologies, collaboration, and information sharing. Detailed case examples of transdisciplinary research used in addressing health issues among marginalized urban populations. An overview of training programs in the U.S. and Canada. The view from funding agencies. Preparing the university, researchers, and the job market for a transdisciplinary future researchers and graduate students in urban and public health will find inspiring reading in Converging Disciplines: a bold framework for transforming their fields, and the tools for meeting the new generation of urban health challenges.

Demonstrating how a university can, in a very practical and pragmatic way, be re-envisioned through a transdisciplinary informed frame, this book shows how through an open and collegiate spirit of inquiry the most pressing and multifaceted issue of contemporary societal (un)sustainability can be addressed and understood in a way that transcends narrow disciplinary work. It also provides a practical exemplar of how far more meaningful deliberation, understandings and options for action in relation to contemporary sustainability-related crises can emerge than could otherwise be achieved. Indeed it helps demonstrate how only through a transdisciplinary ethos and approach can real progress be achieved. The fact that this can be done in parallel to (or perhaps underneath) the day-to-day business of the university serves to highlight how even micro seed initiatives can further the process of breaking down silos and reuniting C.P. Snow’s ‘two cultures’ after some four centuries of the relentless project of modernity. While much has been written and talked about with respect to both sustainability and transdisciplinarity, this book offers a pragmatic example which hopefully will signpost the ways others can, will and indeed must follow in our common quest for real progress.

Integrating recent research and existing knowledge on food marketing and its effects on the eating behaviour of children, adolescents, and adults, this timely collection explores how food promotion techniques can be used to promote healthier foods. Numerous factors influence what, when, and how we eat, but one of the main drivers behind the unhealthy dietary intake of people is food marketing. Bringing together important trends from different areas of study, with state-of-the-art insights from multiple disciplines, the book examines the important factors and psychological processes that explain the effects of food marketing in a range of contexts, including social media platforms. The book also provides guidelines for future research by critically examining interventions and their effectiveness in reducing the impact of food marketing on dietary intake, in order to help develop new research programs, legislation, and techniques about what can be done about unhealthy food marketing. With research conducted by leading scholars from across the world, this is essential reading for students and academics in psychology and related areas, as well as professionals interested in food marketing and healthy eating.

This book focuses on the closely interlinked areas of refugee migration and health. It discusses the main challenges of the recent unprecedented, extremely diverse and mostly unregulated refugee migration wave for Germany and Europe, and offers a broader view of refugee health from a European perspective. Health issues can lead to several challenges for refugees as well as healthcare providers, and as such the book also examines the requirements for the management of migrant populations in terms of medical care and health system adaptations, and includes theoretical aspects of refugee migration and health as well as various perspectives on the latest developments. Lastly, it describes the healthcare system demands and responses for short- and long-term care of refugees.

This detailed and comprehensive study examines nutrition and health in the World Health Organization (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean Region, presenting the six game-changing food systems actions proposed by the WHO and the progress of their implementation in the region. The WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region is a particularly complex place to study: an area of economic contrasts with changing dietary patterns and stark differences between high levels of malnutrition and a prevalence of overweight and obesity. As a result, actions to improve the nutritional situation of the population are urgently sought. The strategies explored in this book offer a unique opportunity to change food systems all over the world, addressing aspects including sustainable food production, the impact of marketing and labelling on behaviour, and the effect of global events such as climate change, war and the COVID-19 pandemic. Reshaping Food Systems is an essential read at a time when malnutrition in all its forms, including undernourishment, micronutrient deficiencies and overweight and obesity, pose a serious threat to global health, and is of particular interest for policymakers working in nutrition and public health.