Covers all aspects of global health, including physical and mental health, biographies of major doctors and researchers, profiles of medical institutions, organizations, and corporations, descriptions of drugs and operations, articles on national health policies, and thematic health topics.

The book presents a comprehensive overview of the many genetic, neurological, social, and psychological factors that affect mental health, also describing the impact of mental health on the individual and society, and illustrating the factors that aid positive mental health.

Topic areas will include sleep across the life cycle and in other species, sleep and women, sleep and the elderly, pediatric sleep, sleep deprivation and loss, sleep mechanisms, sleep physiology and pathophysiology, sleep disorders, neurobiology, chronobiology, pharmacology, and impact of other disorders.

Entries explore the theory, research, and application of psychology as it relates to sport and fitness in a manner that is accessible and jargon-free to help readers better understand human behavior in sport and exercise settings.

Cover topics in body systems and functions, conditions and common diseases, contemporary health care issues and theories, techniques and practices, and devices and equipment. Covers all major health professions, including nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and respiratory therapy.

Topics focus on health crises affecting the public at large, ranging from epidemic (local) and pandemic (widespread) diseases (H1N1, Malaria, food-borne illnesses, West Nile etc.); chronic conditions such as famine, malnutrition, cancer and diabetes; and social issues such as sexual abuse, obesity, bullying and new substance abuse issues, plus much more.

Featuring more than 700 entries across 20 sub-disciplines, this encyclopedia offers the first comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and international reference work on all aspects of the social scientific study of health and illness.