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The debate surrounding the civilizational model of Western modernity, with its economy of concentration and exclusion based in oil energy and unsustainable resource extraction, has revived, in the political and academic arenas of the health field, discussion of the "good life" ideal inscribed in the new constitutions of Bolivia and Ecuador. In light of this social, health, and environmental crisis spurred by the imposition of an economy of death, and the consequential proliferation of unhealthy ways of life, Bolívar Echeverría's theses on the material base of life and culture are discussed as a tool to evaluate historically the performance of the governments of the actually existing lefts, to develop a model of historical transition and to radically renew critical consciousness with a perspective devoid of dogmatism and mythic stridencies, imbued with a profound capacity for self-criticism. ; El debate sobre el modelo civilizatorio de la modernidad de Occidente, con su economía concentradora y excluyente, y su matriz económico energética petrolera y extractivista no sustentable, ha reavivado en los escenarios políticos y académicos de la salud la discusión de la propuesta del buen vivir inscrita en las nuevas constituciones de Bolivia y Ecuador. Ante la crisis social, sanitaria y ambiental producida por la imposición de una economía de la muerte, y la consiguiente multiplicación de modos de vivir malsanos, se discuten aquí las tesis de Bolívar Echeverría sobre la base material de la vida y la cultura, como una herramienta para evaluar históricamente los desempeños de los gobiernos de las izquierdas realmente existentes, y trabajar un modelo de transición histórica y el indispensable remozamiento de la conciencia crítica desde una visión radicalmente renovadora, pero que mire la realidad sin dogmatismo, sin estridencias míticas y con un sentido de profunda autocrítica.

Empirical-analytic epidemiology builds its interpretive framework around categories like "place" and constructs layers of empirical association through modern GIS software. Critical epidemiology in Latin America questions this approach and articulates an innovative view of spatial health analysis that intertwines the contributions of philosophy, political economy, and social geography to rethink the social determination of urban-rural relationships and health. The dramatic loss of urban sustainability and the unhealthy relationship between industrialized conurbations and agro-industrial rural areas imply a loss of space for the healthy and sustainable reproduction of people and ecosystems. The acceleration of the development of economic monopolies on both sides of the urban-rural divide is transforming that conventional spatial-social distinction and blending the perverse effects of a greedy organization of social life in both agricultural and urban settings. ; La epidemiología empírico-analítica asume como un pilar interpretativo la noción de "lugar" para las descripciones que construye. La epidemiología crítica supera esa noción restrictiva y propone una construcción innovadora del espacio de la salud urbana retomando los aportes de la teoría crítica del espacio y la geografía, y articulando estos avances con los de la propia epidemiología desde una perspectiva de la determinación social de la salud. Desde esta óptica se repiensa la relación urbano-rural a la luz de los procesos históricos de aceleración, drástica pérdida de sustentabilidad y profunda inequidad urbanas, así como del papel de la nueva ruralidad capitalista monopólica, en avivar el cierre del espacio de la vida en nuestras ciudades. Se busca superar el mito de la dualidad urbano rural, se cuestiona el paradigma dominante de la modernidad que impuso la comprensión de dos mundos prácticamente contrapuestos: la ciudad como rectora, cosmopolita, avanzada y pujante, y lo rural como un mundo atrasado, local, más simple, y secundario, pues en años más recientes, la distinción clásica entre lo urbano y lo rural se hace cada vez más difícil, lamentablemente con una perversa dialéctica de deterioro e influjos malsanos de uno a otro espacio.

A framework is presented which describes, from 1550 onward, the structural roots & sociopolitical conditions of medical practices & prevalent governmental policies toward medicine. At the turn of the nineteenth century, scientific medicine became institutionalized, beginning in the United States. This institutionalization led to a vast growth in the cost of medical care, which in the past decade reached crisis proportions. Communitarian medicine has been proposed as an alternative. It is implied that this, despite its 'social' orientation, is an imperialist alternative, based on imperialist conceptualizations. It is not a replica of the control & policing function of medicine in the eighteenth century, but a more refined, less manifest type of policing. Instead of explicit forceful control, it exerts control surreptitiously, calling on the participation of the people. It is seen to serve as a mechanism to stimulate productivity, facilitate rationalization, serve as an instrument for redistribution benefiting the bourgeoisie & as a means of legitimizing monopoly capitalism. It is a repressive-coercive mechanism of the advanced capitalist state. S. Whittle.

How can we create a more rigorous and effective epidemiology? Critical Epidemiology and the People's Health invites readers to the next great paradigm in public health by promoting a progressive, transdisciplinary, intercultural, community-building approach--one that is radically divergent from the presiding object-based, empiricist mode of thinking.

Abstract: Globalization has been accompanied by the rapid spread of infectious diseases, and further strain on working conditions for health workers globally. Post-SARS, Canadian occupational health and infection control researchers got together to study how to better protect health workers, and found that training was indeed perceived as key to a positive safety culture. This led to developing information and communication technology (ICT) tools. The research conducted also showed the need for better workplace inspections, so a workplace audit tool was also developed to supplement worker questionnaires and the ICT. When invited to join Ecuadorean colleagues to promote occupational health and infection control, these tools were collectively adapted and improved, including face-to-face as well as on-line problem-based learning scenarios. The South African government then invited the team to work with local colleagues to improve occupational health and infection control, resulting in an improved web-based health information system to track incidents, exposures, and occupational injury and diseases. As the H1N1 pandemic struck, the online infection control course was adapted and translated into Spanish, as was a novel skill-building learning tool that permits health workers to practice selecting personal protective equipment. This tool was originally developed in collaboration with the countries from the Caribbean region and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Research from these experiences led to strengthened focus on building capacity of health and safety committees, and new modules are thus being created, informed by that work. The products developed have been widely heralded as innovative and interactive, leading to their inclusion into "toolkits" used internationally. The tools used in Canada were substantially improved from the collaborative adaptation process for South and Central America and South Africa. This international collaboration between occupational health and infection control researchers led to the improvement of the research framework and development of tools, guidelines and information systems. Furthermore, the research and knowledge-transfer experience highlighted the value of partnership amongst Northern and Southern researchers in terms of sharing resources, experiences and knowledge. ; Population and Public Health (SPPH), School of ; Non UBC ; Medicine, Faculty of ; Reviewed ; Faculty

Abstract Globalization has been accompanied by the rapid spread of infectious diseases, and further strain on working conditions for health workers globally. Post-SARS, Canadian occupational health and infection control researchers got together to study how to better protect health workers, and found that training was indeed perceived as key to a positive safety culture. This led to developing information and communication technology (ICT) tools. The research conducted also showed the need for better workplace inspections, so a workplace audit tool was also developed to supplement worker questionnaires and the ICT. When invited to join Ecuadorean colleagues to promote occupational health and infection control, these tools were collectively adapted and improved, including face-to-face as well as on-line problem-based learning scenarios. The South African government then invited the team to work with local colleagues to improve occupational health and infection control, resulting in an improved web-based health information system to track incidents, exposures, and occupational injury and diseases. As the H1N1 pandemic struck, the online infection control course was adapted and translated into Spanish, as was a novel skill-building learning tool that permits health workers to practice selecting personal protective equipment. This tool was originally developed in collaboration with the countries from the Caribbean region and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). Research from these experiences led to strengthened focus on building capacity of health and safety committees, and new modules are thus being created, informed by that work. The products developed have been widely heralded as innovative and interactive, leading to their inclusion into "toolkits" used internationally. The tools used in Canada were substantially improved from the collaborative adaptation process for South and Central America and South Africa. This international collaboration between occupational health and infection control researchers led to the improvement of the research framework and development of tools, guidelines and information systems. Furthermore, the research and knowledge-transfer experience highlighted the value of partnership amongst Northern and Southern researchers in terms of sharing resources, experiences and knowledge.