Wednesday, October 17, 2007

[EQ] Understanding Population Health Terminology

Understanding Population Health Terminology

 

David A. Kindig, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
The Milbank Quarterly Volume 85 Issue 1 Page 139-161, January 2007

 

Available online at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-0009.2007.00479.x

 

PDF file [23p.] at: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1468-0009.2007.00479.x

 

“….Population health is a relatively new term, with no agreement about whether it refers to a concept of health or a field of study of health determinants. There is debate, sometimes heated, about whether population health and public health are identical or different.

 

Discussions of population health involve many terms, such as outcomes, disparities, determinants, and risk factors, which may be used imprecisely, particularly across different disciplines, such as medicine, epidemiology, economics, and sociology. Nonetheless, thinking and communicating clearly about population health concepts are essential for public and private policymakers to improve the population's health and reduce disparities. This article defines and discusses many of the terms and concepts characterizing this emerging field…” (au)

 

Categories of Determinants

The following categories of specific determinants follow the general field model of Evans and Stoddart (Evans, Barer, and Marmour 1994), but because the model offers no precise definitions, I have supplied them myself.

 

Social determinant: A proposed or established causal factor in the social environment that affects health outcomes (e.g., income, education, occupation, class, social support).

 

Physical environmental determinant: A proposed or established causal factor in the natural and built environment that affects health outcomes (e.g., air and water quality, lead exposure, the design of neighborhoods).

 

Health care determinant: A proposed or established causal factor in health care that affects health outcomes (e.g., access, quantity, and quality of health care services).

 

Genetic determinant: A proposed or established causal factor from the genetic composition of individuals or populations that affects health outcomes.

 

Behavioral determinant: A proposed or established causal factor based on individual personal choices of lifestyle or habits (either spontaneously or in response to incentives), such as diet, exercise, and substance abuse.

 

Biological determinant: Often, a biological mediator variable between a determinant and an outcome, such as the role of endocrine and immunologic processes in stress. In any case, all determinants must have biological mediator variables in order to affect the organism to produce the health outcomes.

 

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
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"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
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[EQ] Report: Equitable Access to Health Care and Infectious Disease Control: Concepts, Measurement and Interventions

Equitable Access to Health Care and Infectious Disease Control:
Concepts, Measurement and Interventions


Report of an International Symposium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (CN19)

Pub. Date: 25 Sep 2007  Geneva ISSN: 1020-8054  UNRISD

 

The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) in collaboration with the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD).

 

Available online PDF [30p.] at:

http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BCCF9/(search)/85B229CD6C973919C125736F002862D8?Opendocument&highlight=2,travassos&fromsearch=yes&query=travassos

 

The objective of the symposium was to stimulate critical debate on current concepts and measurement tools related to access to health care, its relationship to social determinants of health, and the focus on pro-poor programmes.

 

To this end, sessions were devoted to reviewing approaches, definitions and measurements of access in relation to various dimensions of health care; discussing the relationship between access to health care and social determinants of health; reviewing operational approaches for measuring and improving inequities in access; summarizing existing approaches within the United Nations (UN) system to the construction of indicators and measurement tools around access; highlighting the critical role of research on access to health care for reaching the Millennium Development Goals; and identifying research gaps from a social science research perspective.

 

 

 

 

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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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[EQ] Epidemiology in the Construction of Health for All: Tools for a Changing World - World Congress of Epidemiology

XVIII IEA World Congress of Epidemiology
Epidemiology in the Construction of Health for All: Tools for a Changing World

September 20-24, 2008 Porto AlegreBrazil

IEA International Epidemiological Association
ABRASCO, the Brazilian Association of Collective Health

Website: http://www.epi2008.com.br/ingles/index.php

Call for abstracts: http://www.epi2008.com.br/ingles/trabalhos/index.php

Construction: Epidemiology is one of several disciplines, and epidemiologists one of several categories of social actors involved in improving population health. The word construction emphasizes the key role of epidemiology, a discipline which integrates those around it, in this multi- and trans-disciplinarity task.

Health for All: In reemphasizing this now traditional motto, we highlight epidemiology’s role at national and local levels in developing, maintaining and renovating systems offering health care to whole populations. Within this context, issues related to equity and to inclusion of disadvantaged population groups are essential. The recent Brazilian experience with a universal health system will be highlighted.

Tools: Epidemiology is largely about tools for studying disease frequency, for establishing exposure-disease relationships, for testing health interventions and for evaluating health systems. The idea of tools also extends to the construction and evaluation of preventive and curative health services, so as to permit health workers at all levels to provide evidence-based care.

Changing World: The Congress will highlight the many changes occurring in the early 21st Century: demographic and epidemiological transitions; environmental alterations; the growth in research capacity for addressing health problems around the world; and the widening gap in health status between the rich and poor found both between and within nations and accompanied by a global divide in access to the benefits of scientific progress.

Possible topics are:.

·         Collaboration between epidemiology and other research disciplines

·         Epidemiologists and policy-makers: how to work together

·         Access to scientific information

·         Epidemiology and the Millennium Development Goals

·         Epidemiology and primary health care

·         International and intra-national inequalities in health

·         What can other countries learn from the successes and failures of the Brazilian experience?

·         Epidemiology in health systems and policy research

·         Epidemiology in the development, implementation and evaluation of clinical and public health guidelines

·         Epidemiological methods for decentralized health management

·         Translation of research findings into practice

·         Health promotion, disease prevention and surveillance for non-communicable diseases

·         New paradigms for disease causation: from the molecule to the population

·         Life course epidemiology

·         Global trends in health and in its determinants

·         New exposures and new diseases

·         Terrorism and violence: threats to public health

·         The eminence of new pandemics

·         Environmental change and public health

·         Managing noncommunicable diseases in low and middle-income countries

 

 

Alvaro Matida, Secretário Executivo da Abrasco

R. Leopoldo Bulhões 1480, sala 208

Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro - RJ – Brasil 21041-210

Tel. 55-21-2598-2527  Tel.Fax. 55-21-25608699 ou 2560-8403 www.abrasco.org.br

 

 

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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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    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.