[EQ] Priority setting in health care

Priority setting in health care:

Lessons from the experiences of eight countries

 

Lindsay M. Sabik (2); Reidar K. Lie (1, 2)

1. Department of Philosophy University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

2. Department of Bioethics, Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD USA

International Journal for Equity in Health – January 2008

 

Available online as PDF file [33p.] at: http://www.equityhealthj.com/content/pdf/1475-9276-7-4.pdf

 

“……All health care systems face problems of justice and efficiency related to setting priorities for allocating a limited pool of resources to a population. Because many of the central issues are the same in all systems, the United States and other countries can learn from the successes and failures of countries that have explicitly addressed the question of health care priorities.

 

We review explicit priority setting efforts in Norway, Sweden, Israel, the Netherlands, Denmark, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the state of Oregon in the US. The approaches used can be divided into those centered on outlining principles versus those that define practices. In order to establish the main lessons from their experiences we consider:
(1) the process each country used,
(2) criteria to judge the success of these efforts,
(3) which approaches seem to have met these criteria, and
(4) using their successes and failures as a guide, how to proceed in setting priorities.

We demonstrate that there is little evidence that establishment of a values framework for priority setting has had any effect on health policy, nor is there evidence that priority setting exercises have led to the envisaged ideal of an open and participatory public involvement in decision making….”

 

 

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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
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[EQ] Effective international action against undernutrition

            The Lancet Series, Maternal and child undernutrition

 

Effective international action against undernutrition:
why has it proven so difficult and what can be done to accelerate progress?

 

Saul S Morris, Bruce Cogill and Ricardo Uauy for the Maternal and Child Undernutrition Study Group Members

The Lancet, Volume 371, Number 9612, 16 February 2008

 

Available online at: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS014067360761695X/fulltext

[Free subscription required]

“…..Many transnational organisations work to support efforts to eliminate maternal and child undernutrition in high-burden countries. Financial, intellectual, and personal linkages bind these organisations loosely together as components of an international nutrition system. In this paper, we argue that such a system should deliver in four functional areas: stewardship, mobilisation of financial resources, direct provision of nutrition services at times of natural disaster or conflict, and human and institutional resource strengthening. We review quantitative and qualitative data from various sources to assess the performance of the system in each of these areas, and find substantial shortcomings.

Fragmentation, lack of an evidence base for prioritised action, institutional inertia, and failure to join up with promising developments in parallel sectors are recurrent themes. Many of these weaknesses can be attributed to systemic problems affecting most organisations working in the field; these are analysed using a problem tree approach. We also make recommendations to overcome some of the most important problems, and we propose five priority actions for the development of a new international architecture….”

 

Maternal and child undernutrition: effective action at national level

Jennifer Bryce, Denise Coitinho, Ian Darnton-Hill, David Pelletier, Per Pinstrup-Andersen

The Lancet,  Volume 371, Number 9611, 9 February 2008

Available at: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607616948/fulltext

 

What works? Interventions for maternal and child undernutrition and survival

Zulfiqar A Bhutta,  Tahmeed Ahmed,    Robert E Black,   Simon Cousens  Kathryn Dewey, Elsa Giugliani,   Batool A Haider ,  Betty Kirkwood,   Saul S Morris,  HPS Sachdev   and   Meera Shekar

The Lancet, Volume 371, Number 9610, 2 February 2008

Full text available online at: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607616936/fulltext

Maternal and child undernutrition: consequences for adult health and human capital

Cesar G Victora, Linda Adair, Caroline Fall, Pedro C Hallal,  Reynaldo Martorell, Linda Richter, Harshpal Singh Sachdev
The Lancet, Volume 371, Number 9609, 26 January 2008

 

Available online at; http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607616924/fulltext

 

 

Maternal and child undernutrition: global and regional exposures and health consequences

 

Robert E Black, Lindsay H Allen,  Zulfiqar A Bhutta, Laura E Caulfield, Mercedes de Onis, Majid Ezzati, Colin Mathers, Juan Rivera
The Lancet,  Volume 371, Number 9608, 19 January 2008

 

Available online at: http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673607616900/fulltext

 

 

 

 *      *      *     *

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
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[EQ] Responding to the challenge of cancer in Europe

Responding to the challenge of cancer in Europe

Editors:

Michel P Coleman is Professor of Epidemiology and Vital Statistics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Delia-Marina Alexe is a Research Fellow in the Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology Unit at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Tit Albreht is a researcher in health services and Adviser to the Director of the Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia
Martin McKee is Professor of European Public Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies, 2008

Available online at:

PDF file [361p.] at: http://www.euro.who.int/Document/E91137.pdf

                    

“…..At present, with more than 3 million new cases and 1.7 million deaths each year, cancer represents the second most important cause of death and morbidity in Europe. Without effective interventions, the cancer burden will increase dramatically. However, comprehensive cancer prevention and control policies can bring significant benefits. For these reasons, Slovenia decided to focus on cancer as the key public health priority during its Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2008. A key step was to review the current status of cancer control in the EU in order to produce policy recommendations for those concerned with the prevention, management and palliation of cancer. This book is the result. It has been produced as a collaboration between internationally recognized public health institutes in the EU, under the umbrella Fighting Against Cancer Today (FACT).

The book provides an overview of the epidemiology of cancer, including a discussion of the major risk factors. Comprehensive cancer plans are discussed as an approach to cancer control. Contributors examine the current status and plausible future developments for cancer screening in the EU; drug discovery, evaluation and deployment; the role of psychosocial oncology; and the provision of palliative care. Current patterns of cancer survival and the challenges facing cancer researchers in Europe today are examined.

Three case-studies are provided. One focuses on changes in the clinical management of cancer, using the example of colorectal cancer in France. Two broader descriptions of cancer control evoke the current situation, recent achievements and continuing challenges in eastern Europe and in Slovenia….”

 

            Content:

Foreword

Chapter 1  Responding to the challenge of cancer in Europe

Chapter 2  The burden of cancer in Europe

Chapter 3  The causes of cancer and policies for prevention

Chapter 4  Cancer screening

Chapter 5  Drugs for cancer

Chapter 6  Organizing a comprehensive framework for cancer control

Chapter 7  Changes in the management of cancer: the example of colorectal cancer

Chapter 8  Survival of European cancer patients

Chapter 9  Information on cancer

Chapter 10 Cancer patients - partners for change

Chapter 11 The role of psychosocial oncology in cancer care

Chapter 12 Dying with cancer, living well with advanced

Chapter 13 Closing the gap: cancer in central and eastern Europe

Chapter 14 Cancer control in Slovenia: achievements, shortcomings and opportunities

Chapter 15 Researching cancer

            Chapter 16 Making progress against cancer

 

This publication arises from the project FACT – Fighting Against Cancer Today – which has received funding from the European Union, in the framework of the Public Health Programme

 

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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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and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
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