Morbid Symptoms sees health as a major field of political economy, one that focuses on the struggle between commercial forces seeking to make it into a field of profit, and popular forces fighting to keep it–or make it–a public service with equal access for all.

Central to this volume is an analysis of the global health industry–the pharmaceutical, insurance, medical technology, and healthcare provider corporations. Essays by leading authorities in the field include Vicente Navarro on the impact of globalization on health services, Julian Tudor Hart on mental health in sick societies, Meri Koivusalo on international organizations and capitalist health policies, Sanjay Basu on HIV/AIDS and the resurrection of comprehensive primary care in the south, and Julie Feinsilver on Cuba’s health care system and its role in Cuba’s foreign policy. Separate essays review the state of health care around the world, while others deal with a variety of key issues such as obesity, the fitness industry, and the significance of ever-popular hospital-based television programs.

Contributors: Robert Albritton, Julian Ammirante, Kalman Applbaum, Pat and Hugh Armstrong, Sanjay Basu, David Coburn, Hans Ulrich Deppe, Julie Feinsilver, Marie Gottschalk, Julian Tudor Hart, Lesley Henderson, Christoph Herman, Meri Koivusalo, Colin Leys, Roddy Loeppky, Maureen Mackintosh, Vicente Navarro, Mohan Rao, Thomas Seibert, and Wang Shaoguang.