Ethnicity, Race, and Health in Multicultural Societies: Foundations for Better Epidemiology, Public Health, and Health Care

Most of the industrialized world now comprises multi-ethnic societies, with people from widely varying ancestry, cultures, languages, and beliefs. With the globalization of trade, increasing international travel, and migration, the whole world is destined to become multi-ethnic within the next 20 or 30 years. This change poses huge challenges for doctors, nurses, public health practitioners, health-care managers, and policy makers who have to meet legal and policy obligations to deliver health outcomes, and provide health-care of equal quality and effectiveness. To achieve this, they need a solid understanding of the underlying concepts of race and ethnicity, and how these are applied to achieve better health for ethnic-minority populations. They also need to have an awareness of the misuses of these concepts, particularly taking into account the history of racism that permeates many societies to this day.

Written in non-technical language, with all terminology explained and defined, this book provides an accessible introduction to these complex issues. The key concepts of race and ethnicity are explained, including their uses and misuses. The strengths and weaknesses of these concepts in terms of epidemiology, policy-making, health service planning, research, health-care, and health promotion are illustrated. The book emphasizes theory, ideas, and principles, and counters the study of ethnicity and race in a theoretical way.

Practical application of the theory is demonstrated through the use of extensive examples. The conceptual frameworks of ethnicity and race required by practitioners and researchers are slightly different, including the nature of research questions, the relative value of various methods of classification, and the approach to data analysis, presentation, and interpretation, and these differences are made explicit. Overall, the interdependence of theory and practice is demonstrated, making this an ideal foundation text or refresher for those involved in race and ethnicity from a health care perspective.