In recent weeks, headlines and broadcasts have been dominated by news surrounding the outbreak of a dreadful new strain of coronavirus, officially designated as COVID-19.

Originating in the Chinese city of Wuhan on December 31st, 2019, the virus has sparked global health advisories and concerns regarding the prospect of a global pandemic. Several industries—such as airlines canceling all flights to China and Chinese manufacturing sectors ceasing all production—have already been adversely affected by the global response to the virus.

Like past global outbreaks, the response to COVID-19 includes a variety of motivations, implications, and likely outcomes, some warranted, others less so. For example, travel advisories and voluntary quarantines can stymie the spread of the disease, while some have used the outbreak as an opportunity to exalt xenophobic views.

For our part, UC Press offers to highlight our publishing on the topics of global health, pandemic response readiness, and the intersectionality of race and disease, with the hope of contributing to a measured and level-headed response to this latest global health crisis.

Public Health in East and Southeast Asia
Challenges and Opportunities in the Twenty-First Century

edited by Roger Detels, Sheena G. Sullivan, and Chorh Chuan Tan

“This volume is unique in its comprehensive investigation of the changing face of public health in East and Southeast Asia. The region’s countries have experienced major challenges resulting from colonialism, conflicts, economic and technological development, varying levels of government stability, widening disparities between social classes, uneven distribution of wealth, emerging epidemics, chronic diseases, occupational hazards, and changing health services. All of these issues are ably addressed by the authors, firsthand experts in their respective countries and fields. With its useful summaries and wealth of international sources, it will be an excellent resource for scholars and practitioners seeking an introduction to the region’s complex context and development.”
—Chitr Sitthi-amorn, former president, International Epidemiological Association

The Pandemic Perhaps
Dramatic Events in a Public Culture of Danger

by Carlo Caduff

“Carlo Caduff’s The Pandemic Perhaps is a story of the influenza pandemic that never was. Caduff tells this story from an American perspective through his encounters with scientists and other actors who engage in the august work of “preparedness,” but in doing so, often draw upon and amplify an apocalyptic imaginary that doubtless shapes scientific and public priorities (and fears). With lucid and critical detail Caduff shows how forms of prophecy (new and old) push catastrophe towards further and further horizons.”
—Todd Meyers, NYU Shanghai

Reimagining Global Health
An Introduction

edited by by Paul Farmer, Arthur Kleinman, Jim Kim, and Matthew Basilico

“An excellent, well-structured introduction to thoughtful global health practices . . . Reimagining Global Health provides a wealth of insights that would benefit seasoned professionals, scholars, and activists.”
—Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics

Public Health Law
Power, Duty, Restraint

by Lawrence O. Gostin and Lindsay F. Wiley

“Public Health Law: Power, Duty, Restraint does not disappoint. It presents not only a comprehensive overview of public health law but also a compelling case for why it is more vital than ever in our modern world.”
—Margaret Hamburg, former U.S. Commissioner of Food and Drugs

Real Collaboration
What It Takes for Global Health to Succeed

by Mark L. Rosenberg, Elisabeth Hayes, Margaret McIntyre, and Nancy Wall Neill

“This book addresses one of the major problems facing global health: leadership without cooperation.”
—President Jimmy Carter

Contagious Divides
Epidemics and Race in San Francisco’s Chinatown

by Nayan Shah

“Contagious Divides is an ambitious contribution to our understanding of the troubled history of race in America. Nayan Shah offers new insight into the ways that race was inscribed on the streets, the bodies, and the institutions of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Above all, he offers powerful examples of the impact of ideas about disease, sexuality, and place on the rhetoric and practice of racial inequality in modern America.”
—Thomas J. Sugrue, author of The Origins of the Urban Crisis