The Politics of Health Knowledge Network http://www.politicsofhealth.org is a forum for the exploration of the impact of political decisions on health � and the search for healthier, more equitable alternatives. We are concerned with how politics affect health on all levels � from individuals, to social groups, to the earth itself as a living system.

The POH site does not attempt to keep up with breaking news. Our articles and discussions are aimed at discovering and clarifying the underlying principles that we need to keep in mind as we work together to build a healthier world.

After more than thirty years of work in the field, our work has evolved from the curative, to the preventive, to the political dimensions of health and well-being. Children's need for adequate food, clean water, basic health services, and education are only likely to be met through focused political action to assert a community's legal and ethical rights. In today's top-heavy globalized world, efforts to approach Health for All will need to focus on organizing and networking globally from the bottom up.

On today's troubled planet it is increasingly necessary to address the environmental determinants of health. As David Werner stated in a recent evaluation of a health program that was attempting to connect the issues of personal and ecological health, "if humanity is ever to overcome the enormous problems we naked apes have created through selfishness and disconnection, from one another and from the web of life, we must learn to live in harmony, with ourselves and with the ecosphere that surrounds us. We must affirm a oneness that, in a paradoxical way, supports our rich diversity."

At regular intervals a fresh and original editorial is posted on the site. In this one David Werner quotes a group of village mother in the Philippines, who came to realize that "what's been killing our babies is modern medical care!!" Then, practical suggestions are made as to what might be done about this.

In the POH "What's New" section, articles that lay bare the links between political issues and health problems are posted, with an introduction by the HealthWrights staff. This timely, well-researched article suggests that common forms of radiation to which we are all exposed on a daily basis may be a much greater health problem than is generally recognized. In the introduction to the article HealthWrights asks why our modern society has become so carcinogenic.

Psychiatric Imperialism -- The Medicalisation of Modern Living, by Joanna Moncrieff, M.D.

In the "Radical Edge" section of the POH page we post articles that challenge us to examine our fundamental assumptions about health, politics and society. In her article, Janna Moncrieff points out that the psychiatric profession is driven by social, political and economic agendas that are not generally recognized.

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