Social Marketing for Public Health

Prologue: At a time when the Clinton administration is promoting fundamental reform of the U.S. health care system, far less attention is being paid to perhaps the most important challenge any country faces when it seeks to improve the health status of its population: changing behavior. In most instances the problems posed by excessive drinking, unhealthy diets, and the use of tobacco products and other harmful substances have more to do with a country's health status than do acute but short-lived illnesses. In this paper Diana Walsh and colleagues explore the potential of social marketing as an approach to changing behavior and thus improving public health. Walsh, who holds a doctorate in health policy from Boston University, is professor and chair of the Department of Health and Social Behavior at the Harvard School of Public Health. The department is working with the New England Medical Center to develop a joint program to study social determinants of health and well-being. Rima Rudd holds a doctorate ...