Health Equity: 01/14/08

Monday, January 14, 2008

[EQ] Health, development, and equity - call for papers - Global Ministerial Forum: Research for Health - Bamako Mali 2008

Health, development, and equity—call for papers

Richard Horton, The Lancet, London, UK
Tikki Pang, WHO Geneva, Switzerland
The Lancet, Volume 371, Number 9607, 12 January 2008

Website: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673608600860/fulltext

“……..Research can lead to more cost-effective interventions, better delivery strategies, improved management practices, rational health-system policies, and optimum ways to increase health-seeking behaviour. Research is essential to ensure that new strategies are adapted to fit local political, cultural, and economic contexts. Ultimately, the only truly sustainable way to improve health outcomes is to build local research and innovation capacity so that developing countries can continually improve the effectiveness, equity, and efficiency of their own health systems.4

To address these issues, a Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health will be held in Bamako, Mali, Nov 17–19, 2008, that will convene ministers of health, science, and technology, to discuss research and innovation with leading experts and stakeholders in the research process from around the world.

The theme “research for health” reflects a desire to link discussions on health research with the broader science and technology community, especially research on education, water, the environment, food, and agriculture sectors. Health goals cannot be seen in isolation: reducing poverty and increasing education and gender equity are tied to good health, better nutrition, and clean water.

Research on social determinants of health, new directions in e-health, implementation research and participatory research will be explored through panel discussions and debates, round-tables for in-depth participation, and networking to catalyse more effective national, regional, and global efforts in research for health.

Six partners have come together to organise the Bamako 2008 Forum: the Council on Health Research for Development, Global Forum for Health Research, Government of Mali, UNESCO, World Bank, and WHO.

The Lancet plans to produce a theme issue on research for health, development, and equity, and is inviting papers that address the core themes of the conference, which include:

Strengthening of leadership for health, development, and equity—empowering governments to develop structured and prioritised policies for research for health as part of their broader research strategies and to improve systems capacities for the implementation of those policies; and enhancing international collaboration to address global and national health-research challenges

Engagement of all relevant constituencies in research and innovation for health—ensuring inclusion of public and private actors, different sectors and disciplines, civil society, and local, national, and international organisations in both the content and process of such research in a coherent and coordinated manner to improve the governance of global health research

Increased accountability of research systems—measure outcomes and assess the impact of research for health, monitor initiatives and partnerships involved in research for health, and earn public confidence by setting standards for fair, transparent, and equitable research processes

Manuscripts should be submitted online: http://ees.elsevier.com/thelancet to The Lancet by June 2, 2008. In your covering note, please state that your submission is in response to this call for papers. The bulk of manuscripts should follow the usual journal format for original research papers, but can also include case studies and other less research-oriented submissions.

We will serve as co-editors of this themed issue in collaboration with the Steering Committee for the Bamako 2008 Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health…..”

* * * *

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”.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PAHO/WHO Website: http://www.paho.org/

EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

    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.

[EQ] The Global Challenge of Health Systems

The Global Challenge of Health Systems - Summary of Pocantico Discussions

Pocantico II - New York, USA - September 20–21, 2007
The Rockefeller Foundation

Available online as PDF file [50p.] at: http://www.rockfound.org/library/0907pocantico_brochure.pdf

Surveillance systems and the threat of new pandemics. With the ongoing threat of new diseases— and the impact of globalization and travel

in accelerating the spread of such diseases—the group agreed it was important to help build country capacity in health surveillance and rapid

response, particularly in the regional epicenters of emerging pandemics, as well as to increase linkages between animal and human health.

New competencies for public health professionals. The group recognized the need to update cadres of leaders and health workers facing

new paradigms in complex health systems, identified new dimensions for the work of public health professionals, and suggested more

experiential learning in Schools of Public Health Schools on new area—from traditional epidemiology to the financing and management of

health services and the social determinants of health.

Access and distribution of health products and technologies. The group agreed that, without a good grasp of supply chain management,

there was a risk of an “innovation pileup” in the next 5 to 10 years as the Public/Private Partnerships’ initiatives in research and development

bear fruit, and discussed how to ensure that health systems can best get those innovations to the target populations and on the need to build

on a fuller understanding of what has worked effectively in the past.

eHealth—the use of information technology to strengthen health systems. In this frontier area, the group discussed ways that IT could improve

health services and public health in the developing world, where wireless connectivity is increasing and there is little legacy system fragmentation.

Participants called for an overall architecture of information and a set of “open standards” to ensure that such systems can quickly and effectively

be deployed and scaled, and for new capabilities and partnerships to support eHealth in the developing world.

The role of the private sector in developing country health systems. The private sector is a major component of health care systems throughout the developing world—in many developing countries 80 percent of health care delivery is provided by the private sector—yet it has been neglected in global health and policy thinking. The group discussed the need for a better understanding of the dimensions of, and the challenges and opportunities to engage the private

sector on expanding access to care, improving training and quality, and exploring new risk-pooling mechanisms in poor countries (i.e. health insurance).

Content:

INTRODUCTION - Ariel Pablos-Méndez, Managing Director, The Rockefeller Foundation

THE GLOBAL CHALLENGE OF HEALTH SYSTEMS: SUMMARY OF POCANTICO DISCUSSIONS

- Overall Trends in Global Health

- Pandemic Threats and Public Health Surveillance

- Defining the Required Competencies for Public Health Professionals

- Ensuring Access to Technologies and Social Innovations

- Using Information Technology to Improve Health Care Delivery and Health Systems—eHealth

- Leveraging the Private Sector

- Looking for Leadership

APPENDICES

Participants

Tara Acharya, The Rockefeller Foundation

Seth Berkley, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI)

Jo Ivey Boufford, New York Academy of Medicine

Karl Brown, The Rockefeller Foundation

Charlanne Burke, The Rockefeller Foundation

Paulo Buss, FIOCRUZ

Lincoln Chen, China Medical Board

Nils Daulaire, Global Health Council

Neil de Crescenzo, Oracle Corporation

David de Ferranti, The Brookings Institution, Global Health Financing Initiative

Christopher J. Elias, PATH

Tim Evans, World Health Organization (WHO)

Harvey V. Fineberg, Institute of Medicine (IOM) of The National Academies

Julio Frenk, Ministry of Health

Laurie Garrett, Council on Foreign Affairs

Margaret A. Hamburg, Nuclear Threat Initiative/Global Health and Security Initiative

Jim Yong Kim, Harvard Medical School/Harvard School of Public Health

Robert M. Kolodner, United States Department of Health and Human Services

S. Yunkap Kwankam, World Health Organization (WHO) EIP/KMS

Asha-Rose Migiro, United Nations

Anne Mills, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Arnon A. Mishkin, Mitchell Madison Group

Robert Orr, United Nations

Ariel Pablos-Méndez, The Rockefeller Foundation

Joy Phumaphi, World Bank

K. Srinath Reddy, Public Health Foundation of India

Judith Rodin, The Rockefeller Foundation

Mirta Roses Periago, Pan American Health Organization, Regional Office of the WHO

John W. Rowe, Columbia University

Sally Stansfield, Health Metrics Network, WHO

Mark J. Walport, Wellcome Trust

Suwit Wibulpolprasert, WHO/Thailand Ministry of Public Health

* * * *

PAHO/WHO Website: http://www.paho.org/

EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

    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.

[EQ] Achieving a High-Performance Health Care System with Universal Access

Achieving a High-Performance Health Care System with Universal Access:
What the United States Can Learn from Other Countries

American College of Physicians

Annals of Internal Medicine - Ann Intern Med. 2008;148:55-75 - 1 January 2008 Volume 148 Issue 1

Available online at: http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/148/1/55?ck=nck

“……This position paper concerns improving health care in the United States. Unlike previous highly focused policy papers by the American

College of Physicians, this article takes a comprehensive approach to improving access, quality, and efficiency of care

The first part describes health care in the United States. The second compares it with health care in other countries. The concluding section

proposes lessons that the United States can learn from these countries and recommendations for achieving a high-performance health

care system in the United States.

The articles are based on a position paper developed by the American College of Physicians’ Health and Public Policy Committee.
This policy paper (not included in this article) also provides a detailed analysis of health care systems in 12 other industrialized countries.

Although we can learn much from other health systems, the College recognizes that our political and social culture, demographics,

and form of government will shape any solution for the United States. This caution notwithstanding, we have identified several

approaches that have worked well for countries like ours and could probably be adapted to the unique circumstances in the United

States…..”

This paper, written by Jack A. Ginsburg, Robert B. Doherty, J. Fred Ralston Jr., MD, and Naomi Senkeeto, was developed for the Health and Public Policy Committee of the American

College of Physicians (ACP): J. Fred Ralston Jr., MD (Chair); Molly Cooke, MD (Vice Chair); Charles Cutler, MD; David A. Fleming, MD; Brian P. Freeman, MD; Robert A.

Gluckman, MD; Mark Liebow, MD; Robert M. McLean, MD; Kenneth A. Musana, MBChB; Patrick M. Nichols; Mark W. Purtle, MD; P. Preston Reynolds, MD; and Kathleen M.

Weaver, MD; with contributions from David C. Dale, MD (ACP President, ex officio); Joel S. Levine, MD (Chair, ACP Board of Regents); and Joseph W. Stubbs, MD (Chair, ACP

Medical Service Committee). It was approved by the ACP Board of Regents on 27 October 2007.

Learning from the Health Care Systems of Other Countries

Harold C. Sox: http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/148/1/78
Editor, Annals of Internal Medicine

“…..This issue includes a policy paper from the American College of Physicians on effective health care systems in other countries and what the United States might learn from them. During 2008, Annals will publish a series of articles and commentaries that further discuss the health care systems of some exemplar countries. These successful national health care systems share one essential characteristic: The government guarantees that every citizen will have health insurance….”

* * * *

PAHO/WHO Website: http://www.paho.org/

EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

    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.

[EQ] Improving Population Health: The Uses of Systematic Reviews

Improving Population Health: The Uses of Systematic Reviews

Melissa Sweet and Ray Moynihan
Milbank Memorial Fund - Produced in collaboration with the US Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC)
December 2007

Available online as PDF file [84p.] at: http://www.milbank.org/reports/0712populationhealth/0712ImprovingPopulationHealthFinal.pdf

“…..Efforts to improve population health will yield better returns if there is more effective integration of reliable scientific evidence into policymaking. Increasing the use and usefulness of systematic reviews is one powerful mechanism for improving the evidence available to inform population health decision making.

Systematic reviews provide a systematic, transparent means for gathering, synthesizing, and appraising the findings of studies on a particular topic or question. They aim to minimize the bias associated with single studies and nonsystematic reviews. They can include many types of studies from diverse disciplines.

Systematic reviews can help provide information useful to policymakers, practitioners, and researchers, including the extent of a health problem and whether interventions work, at what cost, and for whom. They can help policymakers make the most efficient use of scarce resources and evaluate the relative merits of competing policies or programs—though for the most part current reviews compare an innovative intervention with some sort of “usual care” scenario rather than compare two different interventions or strategies. Systematic reviews can also help policymakers resist pressures from vested or competing interests, and they can help identify gaps in the evidence and priorities for future research. …”

“….. However, scientific evidence is only one of many forces and many types of information that influence policymaking. Systematic reviews face tough competition for policymakers’ attention. They cannot always provide information that is useful or relevant to policymakers’ needs, and policymakers often must make decisions on the basis of incomplete evidence within a very short time frame.

Evidence-based public/population health differs from evidence-based medicine because it bridges complex systems and populations rather than homogenous patient populations. Many methodological issues confront those who produce and use systematic reviews relevant to public/population health, and concerted efforts are under way to improve the quality of systematic reviews in this area.

David MacLean, professor and dean of the faculty of health sciences at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, has expressed concerns that overreliance on systematic reviews or unquestioning use of them might stifle creativity and innovation or lead to useful programs being sidelined because of their inadequate evidence base.

This report includes case studies—ranging from tobacco control to binge drinking among college students to the mental health challenges of the Indian Ocean tsunami—that bear many lessons for those seeking to improve population health. First and foremost they suggest there is significant room to enhance the role of evidence in policymaking. They also reveal the importance of

· taking a systems, environmental, or policy approach to changing human behavior, rather than strategies focused solely on individuals,

· the role of social norms in influencing behavior,

· the power of legislative, regulatory, and financial incentives to encourage the implementation of evidence-based policies,

· and the value of a reliable and relevant evidence base to help set political and public agendas and to shape interventions. ….”

Table of Contents

Foreword

Executive Summary

Key Messages

Introduction: The Potential of Systematic Reviews . . . and the Limitations

Traffic Safety Interventions: Successes and Setbacks—Implementing the Evidence Saves Lives

Tackling Youth Drinking: Collaboration Counts—When the Evidence Engages Communities

Tobacco Control: The Long War—When the Evidence Has to Be Created

Obesity: Dealing with Uncertainty and Complexity—When There Are Gaps in the Evidence

The Mental Health Aftermath of the Tsunami: Levels of Chaos—When the Evidence Is Not Relevant or Applicable

Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE): Lessons Learned—When the Evidence Is Lacking

The Washington State Institute for Public Policy: Connecting Policy and Science—When the Infrastructure Supports Evidence

Conclusion and Recommendations of the Authors of This Report

Notes - References - For Further Reading

* * * *

PAHO/WHO Website: http://www.paho.org/

EQUITY List - Archives - Join/remove: http://listserv.paho.org/Archives/equidad.html

    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.