Attempts to secure the health of the population of a given place are one of the oldest forms of government action. Such efforts necessarily require the involvement of the publics they aim to protect - but up to now surprisingly little attention has been paid to who or what these publics consist of.

This collection addresses the gap by considering who the public of 'public health' was in an array of places and for a variety of illnesses. It deconstructs the notion of a single unitary public while illustrating the processes that go in to making 'problem publics' and 'public health problems'. Presenting examples from contexts as diverse as the USA in the interwar period, East Germany in the 1980s and contemporary Argentina, contributors identify what is general and what is specific to the processes that make certain kinds of publics appear problematic.

Offering new perspectives on the history of public health in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Publics and their health opens out beyond purely national studies. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it offers fresh insights into the nature of public health problems and practices.