Monday, September 17, 2007

[EQ] Canadian medicare and the global health care bazaar

Canadian medicare and the global health care bazaar

 

Leigh Turner is associate professor and William Dawson Scholar at the Biomedical Ethics Unit and the Department of Social Studies of Medicine, McGill University. This article was written while he was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow in the Comparative Program on Health and Society at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies

POLICY OPTIONS- Montreal, Quebec, Canada- September 2007
Institute for Research on Public Policy - IRPP

 

Available online PDF [5p.] at:  http://www.irpp.org/po/archive/sep07/turner.pdf

 

“….In a world where inexpensive air travel, low cost telecommunications and digitized patient records make traveling for health care increasingly easy,
there is now a global health care marketplace..


The author reviews the scattered evidence regarding these new international health options, notably the rapid emergence of medical tourism companies across

Canada. Unfortunately, says Turner, “politicians and health policy-makers pay surprisingly little attention to the ready availability of health care in other

countries,” and no one knows precisely how many Canadians travel abroad specifically for this reason. But given the implications for our universal health

care system and our health, he argues that better documentation and investigation of health-related travel outside Canada will be an important part of improving public policy in this field…..”

 

As globalization changes the delivery of health care, researchers will need to better understand the movement of patients across provincial and national borders.

The lack of research on the experiences of Canadians buying treatment in the global health care bazaar is perhaps connected to the relatively modest number of Canadians traveling beyond Canada’s borders for health care. It is also possible that the purchase of treatment abroad by wealthy and middle-class Canadians

poses a direct challenge to Canada’s egalitarian ethos and there is widespread reluctance to acknowledge with candor the ease with which upper-income Canadians can escape the queues in which lower-income Canadians wait for care…..”

 

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
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[EQ] Educating Health Workers: A Statistical Portrait

Educating Health Workers: A Statistical Portrait

2000 to 2004

 

Mary K. Allen, Rita Ceolin, Sylvie Ouellette, Johanne Plante and Chantal Vaillancourt

Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics Division - Ottawa, Canada - August 2007

 

Available online as PDF [431p.] at: http://www.statcan.ca/english/research/81-595-MIE/81-595-MIE2007049.pdf

 

“….There has been much talk recently about looming shortages in Canada’s supply of individuals working in health occupations. In Canada and internationally, a great deal of work is being done to monitor and to understand the degree to which the supply of workers in health occupations is meeting (and will meet) the health needs of the population. A common theme throughout this work is the need for new and improved information for monitoring health human resources to assist in planning for future requirements.

…as part of the work coordinated through the Advisory Committee on Health Delivery and Human Resources (ACHDHR), Health Canada contracted the Centre for Education Statistics at Statistics Canada to study the relationship between education and training and the supply of entrants into health occupations….

 

“…..this report reveals some important information about what happens before, during and after health education. It focuses on interest in health occupations, the characteristics of students and faculty in postsecondary health programs, the labour market experiences of recent graduates from these programs, as well as the ongoing participation of health workers in formal and informal training.

“….The first sections of the analysis present information related to what happens before entry into health education programs, which encompass questions related

to interest in health occupations. Questions on recognition of foreign credentials by educational institutions are also addressed in this section.


This is followed by information on the period “during” health education, which covers questions about educators teaching in health education programs

and characteristics of students enrolled in such programs.


The final sections of the report encompass information about the period immediately following graduation. They include basic information on the characteristics of graduates from health education programs and detailed information on their transitions into the labour market, including work activity, earnings and pursuit of additional education. The second part of this section encompasses information on the supply of continuing education in workplaces and participation of adults in such training….”

 

Table of contents

Executive summary

1. Introduction

2. Interest in health occupations

3. Prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) of foreign credentials

4. Full-time faculty in university health education programs

5. Students in university health education programs

6. Graduates from health education programs

7. Activities after graduation

    7.1 Pursuit of additional education (including graduate studies) after completion of a health education program

    7.2 Labour market outcomes of graduates from health education programs

8. Supply of continuing education in workplaces

9. Participation in continuing education

10. Summary and concluding remarks
References

 

 

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
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[EQ] Grand Challenges in Global Health: ethical, social, and cultural (ESC) issues

Grand Challenges in Global Health:

 

“….This week PLoS Medicine publishes four policy papers from the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative, a partnership dedicated to supporting scientific and technical research to solve critical health problems in the developing world. The papers explore the ethical, social, and cultural issues that the initiative faces; the concerns of key informants from the developing world; the effectiveness of community engagement in developing countries; and engaging civil society organizations in biomedical research….”

 

 

The Ethical, Social and Cultural Program

 

Peter A. Singer, Andrew D. Taylor, Abdallah S. Daar, Ross E. G. Upshur, Jerome A. Singh, James V. Lavery
PloS Med 4(9): e265. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040265 - September 2007- Volume 4 - Issue 9 -  e265

 

PDF at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/archive/1549-1676/4/9/pdf/10.1371_journal.pmed.0040265-L.pdf

 

“….The Grand Challenges in Global Health (GCGH) initiative is a major effort to achieve scientific breakthroughs against diseases that kill millions of people each year in the world’s poorest countries. With 44 projects, more than US$450 million in funding, and scientists from 33 countries, it has the potential to greatly reduce the suffering and death that disproportionately affect the 2 billion poorest people on earth. The 14 Grand Challenges serve seven long-term goals in global health [1],

 

Such a significant investment in scientific research must be accompanied by a program addressing the ethical, social, and cultural (ESC) issues that may arise—either in the development and implementation of the research projects themselves, or in the subsequent appropriate use of resultant knowledge and technologies by communities in need…”

 

 

Grand Challenges in Global Health:

Ethical, Social, and Cultural Issues Based on Key Informant Perspectives

 

Kathryn Berndtson, Tina Daid, C. Shawn Tracy, Anant Bhan, Emma R. M. Cohen, Ross E. G. Upshur, Jerome A. Singh, Abdallah S. Daar, James V. Lavery, Peter A. Singer

PLoS Med 4(9): e268.doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040268

 

PDF [6p.] at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/archive/1549-1676/4/9/pdf/10.1371_journal.pmed.0040268-L.pdf

 

To identify key ESC issues, we conducted group discussions with investigators and program offi cers from

the GCGH projects, as well as interviews with developing world experts. Our approach is shown in Box 1.

This compilation of views from investigators and developing world experts is the first description of ESC issues for the GCGH initiative. To our knowledge, it is also the fi rst analysis of ESC issues related to a large-scale science program in the developing world. In this article we outline the ESC issues identifi ed by these key informants. ….”

 

Grand Challenges in Global Health: Community Engagement in Research in Developing Countries

Paulina O. Tindana, Jerome A. Singh, C. Shawn Tracy, Ross E. G. Upshur, Abdallah S. Daar, Peter A. Singer, Janet Frohlich,

James V. Lavery

PLoS Med 4(9): e273. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040273

 

Available online PDF [5p.] at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/archive/1549-1676/4/9/pdf/10.1371_journal.pmed.0040273-L.pdf

 

The investigators and key informants placed particular emphasis upon the importance of community engagement, and therefore we prepared a conceptual paper on this topic, which we distributed as a working paper to GCGH investigators and program staff at the 2nd Annual GCGH Meeting. In this article, we summarize

this conceptual paper. We first examine the concept of CE in research in developing countries, then we describe published models of CE, and finally we discuss two relevant examples of CE….”

 

Grand Challenges in Global Health: Engaging Civil Society Organizations in Biomedical Research in Developing Countries

Anant Bhan, Jerome A. Singh, Ross E. G. Upshur, Peter A. Singer, Abdallah S. Daar

PLoS Med 4(9):e272. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0040272

 

Available online PDF [4p.] at: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/archive/1549-1676/4/9/pdf/10.1371_journal.pmed.0040272-L.pdf

 

The full benefit of working with CSOs in biomedical research in the developing world is largely untapped, and it needs to be better understood. Where appropriate, researchers working in the developing world, including the GCGH investigators, should take advantage of working with CSOs. Engaging with CSOs has several benefits for researchers, especially in approaching and working with communities, and for post-research adoption of innovative findings and products. CSOs could play a key role in fostering understanding of how communities currently access technology and how they could do so in the future

 

The Ethical, Social and Cultural Program of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative is based at the Program on Life Sciences, Ethics, and Policy at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, University Health Network/McLaughlin Centre for Molecular Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Kathryn Berndtson is at the Program on Life Sciences, Ethics, and Policy, McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Tina Daid is at the Centre for Global Health Research, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. C. Shawn Tracy is at the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics and the Primary Care Research Unit at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Anant Bhan is an independent researcher in Pune, India and bioethicist in the Ethical, Social and Cultural Program for the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative.

Emma R. M. Cohen is at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Ross E. G. Upshur is at the Joint Centre for Bioethics, and the Departments of Family and Community Medicine and Public Health Sciences at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Jerome A. Singh is at the Department of Public Health Sciences, and the Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; and the Howard College School of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Abdallah S. Daar is at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health and the Department of Public Health Sciences and Massey College at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. James V. Lavery is at the Centre for Research on Inner City Health and Centre for Global Health Research, the Keenan Research Centre in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute of St. Michael’s Hospital, the Department of Public Health Sciences and Joint Centre for Bioethics at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Peter A. Singer is at the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health and the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ IKM Area] 

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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