This book addresses the dynamic and interactive process of sharing knowledge of international health among colleagues and students. My primary mission is to offer a user-friendly text that covers crucial global health issues of the twenty-first century. Each chapter includes thought-provoking summary questions to stimu-late and extend the discussion of topics that have been covered. To accompany the constantly evolving nature of international health issues, specific chapters include links to Websites to connect the reader directly to updated resources.

As commerce, international travel, and the Internet continue to accelerate the globalization of human life, health has become less of an isolated phenomenon. A new influenza virus emerging in central China can quickly spread to Europe and North America. Resistant strains of bacteria can travel across the globe in mere weeks. Global warming increases the range of disease vectors such as contagious mosquitoes, spreading malaria and other epidemics with increasing speed. To-bacco companies exporting cigarettes to developing companies add to chronic dis-ease burdens and worsen their epidemiologic transition. And the pace of human and disease interactions continues to accelerate.

The mission of this book is to highlight the dimensions of international health and define the nature of health problems so that solutions can be found. Be-cause they are becoming more and more global, health problems will increasingly necessitate international cooperative solutions.

A Primer on International Health book aspires to reduce human suffering and premature death. We are bound by our common humanity, and we must collec-tively commit ourselves to making a healthier world so that each generation can achieve the highest possible potential within the human spirit.