Review of The China-US partnership to Prevent Spina Bifida – The Evolution of a Landmark Epidemiological Study, by Deborah Kowal”

Abstract

简介：Deborah Kowal所著《中美合作小儿脊椎裂预防项目—一个重要流行病学研究的演变》一书介绍了中美合作开展社区预防小儿脊椎裂的研究及其中的一些逸事，并为有兴趣开展类似研究的学者提供不少中美合作的相关经验。书中也提到叶酸干预的成本效益分析。美中不足是缺少一个中英文姓名对照。

Let me say it right here: The China-US Partnership to Prevent Spina Bifida – The Evolution of a Landmark Epidemiological Study, by Deborah Kowal, is a monumental work. And here is why.

The book is a vivid account of a large epidemiological study spanning roughly sixteen years, from the conversation that started the project in 1983 to the first published results in 1999. There were new cultural and physical environments to get used to, bureaucratic hurdles to overcome, and miscommunications to clear up. The dedicated public health professionals from the U.S. and China overcame these issues in order to achieve the common goal of preventing neural tube defects (NTDs), which can happen early in a pregnancy. All this is chronicled in the book, along with revealing anecdotes and side-stories. Kowal, for example, notes how The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) visitors reacted to hearing the American cowboy song "Home on the Range" played on Chinese instruments — namely, “strange and eerily out of place.”