A new e-book, This is Public Health: A Canadian History, by Christopher Rutty and Sue Sullivan is now available. Follow the link to access the book and take part in the richly illustrated and interactive history of public health from the time before Canada was a nation until 1986.

Photos and illustrations bring the story of public health alive. The history is dotted with profiles of the people who mobilized communities to promote health and to prevent disease and injury over the past 100 years. Decade by decade, the history tells the stories of sanitary reformers who fought to improve the living conditions of the whole community and prevent disease and injury. Environmental pollution, contaminated food and water, birth control, vaccination and nutrition were challenges 100 years ago and remain important and sometimes controversial issues today. The history ends with the development of the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion and what many consider to be the launch of a new era in public health. It’s striking how so many public health stories from the past still resonate today and this book is dedicated to Canada’s public health reformers, past and present, who strive to build a better, healthier future for all.