"We at last have, in this moving book and in a companion volume, an authoritative overview that allows the reader to understand not only how poverty and inequality shorten lives in a time of medical miracles but also what can be done about it...I know of no other project that has been able to link such sound analysis to the pragmatic advice that all of need as we ask and answer (sometimes without ever learning the lessons of those who've gone before us) the what's-to-be-done question."
-Paul Farmer, MD, PhD "...written with impressive knowledge and with the compassion of a medical doctor who has worked in the poorest countries of the world and whose life has been marked by the miseries he has come across. This book is a moving and pressing appeal to all people of good will." -Rhena Schweitzer Miller, former director of the Schweitzer-Bresslau Hospital in Lambarene, Gabon, and daughter of Albert Schweitzer, MD
"These two books (Awakening Hippocrates and A Practical Guide to Global Health Service) should comprise an important tool in what I hope will be a genuine global movement both to understand and to remedy the great disparities in global health that afflict our times." -Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer-prize winning author of Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World
"Few books have mastered such a breadth of complex issues and done so in such clear and readily understandable prose. ...essential reading for every medical student and resident in the country, as well as anyone else who cares enough to address directly the health inequalities that plague so much of humanity." -Robert Sparks, MD, Dean Emeritus Tulane University School of Medicine, President Emeritus and Senior Consultant for the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, former Chancellor of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, member Institute of Medicine.
"All health professionals should read this book: there may be no clearer mission for the medical profession today. This book should inspire a revolution within the health profession, in which international health becomes a staple of every medical school. It is a clarion call for action that will ultimately change our world." -Jim Yong Kim, MD, PhD, Chief, Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities, Brigham and Women's Hospital at Harvard Medical School
"Edward O’Neil, Jr. has packed a lifetime of experience, reflection, and insight into these works on global health. Anyone who wants to deepen their understanding of poverty and health in the world or who is contemplating service in global health will find in these books both inspiration and highly practical guidance. Dr. O’Neil celebrates the achievements and dedication of heroes in global health, and his own life’s work serves as a model for those who will come after." -Harvey Fineberg, MD, President, Institute of Medicine; former Provost of Harvard University; former Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health, and Consultant to the World Health Organization
"This timely book should be embraced by anyone entering the international service arena with the goal of improving the health of populations living in the most deprived conditions in resource-constrained settings...We believe that this inspiration book achieves its main goal, to revisit the basic ethical and moral principles stated in the Hippocratic Oath in an era of persistent and devastating health inequalities and to awaken the medical community's moral attention to the world's most vulnerable populations." -JAMA, August 2, 2006 - Vol 296, No. 5
"The time is right for these two wonderful books by Edward O'Neil, Jr, MD. Recent years have witnessed the expansion of tools, vaccines, drugs and diagnostic abilities in global health as well as new resources, interest and political support. These books are written for the legion of people who would like to respond in using these new opportunities to actually change the health of people around the world.
O'Neil provides in the first book, AWAKENING HIPPOCRATES - A Primer on Health, Poverty and Global Service, a thoughtful look at the world to provide a rationale for the absolute obscenity of a world where health discrepancies are the logical result of poverty, structural problems and forces that cause disparities to become ever larger. The book is well organized, compelling as well as inspirational. The review of the life of Albert Schweitzer, as an example and hero, contains new information not previously seen even by those who have eagerly devoured everything previously written about him. His correspondence with Helene Bresslau, before their marriage, reveals the doubts and worries that accompanied his decision to work in Africa.
The second book, A Practical Guide to Global Health Service provides the help needed for students and practitioners alike to study the many possibilities available and figure out how to pursue short term or long term involvement to meet the many needs for health assistance in other countries. Decades ago, a medical student, Robert Farley (now Kim-Farley) recognized the need for such a guide for students. His summary brought some order into a confusing field. But global health work has never had a well-defined career path and many have been discouraged in finding support, subsequently abandoning their efforts. This book celebrates the many avenues to the work in global health making it easier than ever before to plan a personal journey based on past experiences, interests and skills. As the number of public health students with an interest in global health expands, they will find this one of the most useful books in planning their futures.
Rarely has global health been provided with such a needed guide at just the moment when a tipping point has been reached in visualizing the possibility of narrowing the health equity gap in the world. We can be grateful for O’Neil for assembling the material and to the American Medical Association for its publication." -William Foege, MD, MPH, Emeritus Professor of Global Health at Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Senior Advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, and Former Executive Director of The Carter Center