Monday, April 28, 2008

[EQ] Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation Job Announcement

From: SEAN P. LASSITER [mailto:seanpl@u.washington.edu]

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation – Post-Graduate Fellowship announcement

 

Post-Graduate Fellowship at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

 

Call for applications at: http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/you/ops.html

 

“….The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington is accepting applications for the Post-Graduate Fellowship program.

The vision of IHME is to make available high-quality information on population health, its determinants, and the performance of health systems for all countries.

 

We seek to achieve this directly, by catalyzing the work of others and by training researchers and policy makers. Our goal is to improve the health of the world’s populations by providing the best information.

 

The IHME Post-Graduate Fellowship Program provides a unique opportunity for individuals with graduate-level training and a strong quantitative background to conduct in-depth, methodological research on a variety of global health topics with the mentorship of faculty and senior researchers. Through research, training workshops and mentorship, the program is intended to enhance the analytical skills of future academics and professional leaders in the field of global health measurement and evaluation.

 

Post-Graduate Fellows will contribute directly to the overall research agenda of IHME and will be involved in all aspects of projects including analyzing and synthesizing existing data, catalyzing new data collection, building statistical models and validating new analytical methods, interpreting of findings, and reporting and disseminating results.

 

Post-Graduate Fellows will be involved in research in one of five key areas of work: health outcomes, health services, resource inputs, evaluations and decision analytics.

 

Examples of ongoing research projects in these areas are listed below.

 

Health outcomes:

• Estimation of child mortality levels for each country since 1970, forecasted 10 years into the future and updated every six months.

• Development and testing of new methods for estimating adult mortality and estimation of levels for each country.

• Assessment of major causes of death for each country every three years.

• Development of cross-country comparable methods for the estimation of healthy life expectancy, including methods to arrive at valuations of health states.

• Estimation of the global burden of disease for 1990 and 2005.

 

Health services:

• Measurement of the effective coverage of the twenty most important health improving technologies by country every year, with the selection of priority interventions varying by regional epidemiology.

• Estimation of the quality of inpatient and outpatient care, including the development and refinement of standardized methods for undertaking risk adjusted outcomes measurement.

 

Resource inputs:

• Annual assessment from 1990 to 2006 of resource flows for global health, including an estimation of the gap between commitment and disbursement.

• Systematic review of the quality of available data on public expenditures on health.

• Estimation of household health expenditures and proportion of households that incur catastrophic health payments.

• Landscape analysis of sources of data and methods for tracking human resources for health.

 

Decision Analytics:

• Measurement of the costs and benefits of health interventions, service delivery platforms and research and development in order to guide resource allocation

decisions.

• Development of statistical models for missing data, internally consistent epidemiological parameter estimation and forecasting.

• Measurement of within- and across-country inequalities in coverage, health outcomes and health expenditures.

• Development of methods for local area estimation of health outcomes and coverage.

• Assessment of statistical methods for analyzing program effectiveness in nonrandomized settings.

 

Evaluations:

• Development of guidelines for prospective impact evaluation.

• Impact evaluation of global health initiatives and strategies.

• Assessment of the performance of national health systems for countries with sufficient data.

• Evaluations of selected national health system reforms.

 

Post-Graduate Fellowships are appointed at IHME for one year with the possibility of renewal for a second year upon mutual agreement. PGFs receive full salary and benefits. The salary is $45,000 during the first year and $48,000 during the second year of the fellowship. Fellowships begin on September 1 and February 1 of each year.

 

Qualifications

In order to be considered for a Post-Graduate Fellowship, candidates must have the following:

• MD or PhD in the fields of quantitative methodology, statistics, health economics, health policy, demography, epidemiology, biostatistics,
  health services or other related field. Candidates with an MSc/MPH degree and at least three years of related research experience will also be considered.

• Strong quantitative background.

• Research experience, especially with data analysis and statistical methods.

• Proficiency in the English language.

 

When and how to apply

Fall cohort: Applications must be received by June 1. Interviews with selected applicants will occur in June or early July. Candidates will be notified in July and will begin the fellowship on September 1.

Winter cohort: Applications must be received by September 1. Interviews with selected applicants will occur in September. Candidates will be notified in October and will begin the fellowship on February 1.

 

All application materials must be received at IHME by the deadlines stated.

 

Application requirements

One copy of the following non-returnable materials must be submitted to IHME.

1. A cover letter. Please ensure that your cover letter includes:

• your full contact information (address, phone number and email),

• the name, affiliation and full contact information of three references,

• which cohort you wish to be considered for (Fall or Winter),

• which of IHME’s five areas of work you are most interested in,

• how you became aware of the program.

2. Curriculum Vitae or Resume

3. Personal statement describing your interest in IHME and your professional and academic interests and objectives. Please explain how participation in this program would advance these objectives and contribute to the goal of IHME.

Refer to the specific area of work that you are most interested in and discuss how your background qualifies you to contribute to IHME’s research agenda in this area. Please limit this statement to 1000 words.

4. Three sealed letters of recommendation which address the quality and originality of your work, and your potential for an academic, research or policy career.

5. Educational transcript from your highest degree attained. If your transcripts are not in English, please also provide a listing of all coursework with grade and

credit hour information.

6. One reprint of your most significant research paper, including a description of your role in the research. If the paper is not in English, please provide an English

translation.

 

7. Proof of proficiency in English for candidates whose native language is not English. Candidates who have completed a degree wholly in English can provide a copy of their degree as proof of proficiency. All other candidates should send a copy of their scores in an approved English Language Test. Details of the English tests accepted by IHME are as follows:
(i) Princeton Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) – for the paper-based test, minimum overall score of at 600 including a minimum score of 5.0 in the test of written English; for the computer based test, minimum overall score of at least 250 including a minimum score of 5.0 in the test of written English; for the internet-based test, a minimum overall score of at least 100 including a minimum score of 24 in the test of written English.
(ii) British Council International English Language Testing System (IELTS) - a minimum score of 7.0 overall, including a minimum score of 7.0 in the written component.

 

Complete applications should be mailed to:

Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

Attention: Post-Graduate Fellowship Program

2301 5th Avenue, Suite 600 Seattle, WA 98121 USA

For more information, please contact us by email at: pgf@healthmetricsandevaluation.org

 

Sean Lassiter - Education and Training Project Officer - Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

University of Washington (206) 897-2832 seanpl@u.washington.edu

 

 

 

 *      *      *     *

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/ KM
S 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] Essay competition: Climate change and health: research challenges for vulnerable populations - The Global Forum for Health Research and The Lancet

Young voices in research for health

The Global Forum for Health Research and The Lancet

 

Theme: Climate change and health: research challenges for vulnerable populations


The deadline for receipt of entries is 30 April 2008

 

Website: http://www.globalforumhealth.org/Site/005__Get%20involved/009__Essay%20Competition/003__Home.php

 

Rules and guidelines

· Authors must have been born on or after 1 January 1978.

· Each author may submit one essay only.

· Essays may be submitted in English or French and should be 1500 words maximum.

· Essays must be based on the author’s own ideas and not be derived from another source.

· Essays must not have been previously published.

· Entries are individual (i.e., the work of a single author).

· They should include original, even provocative ideas and not be technical or academic texts: tables, charts and
   figures are probably not necessary; references should be limited.

· Authors are free to be idealistic, passionate, to take established practices to task, albeit in a constructive fashion.

· Within the context of research for health, the theme allows authors to include any aspect that interests them particularly
  for example, extreme weather, natural disasters, fuels and energy, transport, water management, vectors, food production,
  demographics, urban planning, security.

 

Deadlines

· The deadline for receipt of entries is 30 April 2008.

· A shortlist will be announced by the end of June.
  Shortlisted authors will be asked to provide a high quality photograph and to confirm original authorship and date of birth.

· The winners will be notified by the beginning of August 2008. The judges’ decision will be final.

 

Prizes

· A selection of shortlisted essays will be published in an anthology as well as on the Global Forum and Lancet websites.

· Winners will be invited to take part (with all expenses paid) in the Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health,
   which will take place in Bamako, Mali, from 17 to 19 November 2008.


Staff members of the Global Forum or of the Lancet or their immediate families are ineligible to enter the competition, as are authors of shortlisted essays published in 2006 and 2007.

 

For any questions, please contact susan.jupp@globalforumhealth.org or f.mclellan@elsevier.com

Susan Jupp Head, External Relations - Global Forum for Health Research
1-5 route des Morillons, PO Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
www.globalforumhealth.org T + 41 22 791 3450 F + 41 22 791 4394

 

 

 

 *      *      *     *

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/ KM
S 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] Private Financing and High-level Functioning: Some International Approaches to Health Reform

Private Financing and High-level Functioning: Some International Approaches to Health Reform


The Alliance for Health Reform - April 2008


Website: http://www.allhealth.org/briefing_detail.asp?bi=126

 

“…..While the United States delivers some of the best medical care in the world, there are major inefficiencies: High rates of medical errors, millions without health insurance coverage, and lower utilization of advanced health information technology than most western European nations. Costs are the highest anywhere, by any measure.

What can we learn about coverage patterns and cost in other systems that might help inform our choices? What traits in other countries’ delivery systems might be instructive? Are lessons from abroad useful to our efforts to improve efficiency and improve the quality of health care in the United States? What are the respective roles of government and the private market in other systems? ….”

Videos:

 Reinhard Busse, Berlin University of Technology, Speaker
 Stuart Butler, The Heritage Foundation, Speaker
 Patricia Danzon, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Speaker
 Robin Osborn, The Commonwealth Fund, Speaker
 Wynand P.M.M. van de Ven, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Speaker

Transcript – PDF: Private Financing and High-level Functioning: Some International Approaches to Health Reform

Full Webcast/Podcast: http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/hcast_index.cfm?display=detail&hc=2572

 

Speakers presentations:

Van de Ven Presentation (PowerPoint)
Busse Presentation (PowerPoint)
Osborn Presentation (PowerPoint)

 

Profiles of German and Dutch Health Care Systems (Adobe Acrobat PDF), The Commonwealth Fund, 4/11/2008

 

A Comparative Analysis of Avoidable Mortality in Three Nations and Their World Cities
European Journal of Public Health, 3/1/2008
Access to timely and effective medical services can reduce rates of premature mortality attributed to certain conditions.
We investigate rates of total and avoidable mortality (AM) and the percentage of avoidable deaths in France, England
and Wales and the United States, three wealthy nations with different health systems, and in the urban cores of their world cities,
Paris, Inner London and Manhattan.
We examine the association between AM and an income-related variable among neighborhoods of the three cities.

 

 

 

 *      *      *     *

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/ KM
S 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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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] Health Technology Assessment Handbook

Health Technology Assessment Handbook

 

Danish Centre for Health Technology Assessment, National Board of Health

National Board of Health, Denmark, March 2008 - 2nd edition

 

Available online PDF [189p.] at: http://www.sst.dk/publ/Publ2008/MTV/Metode/HTA_Handbook_net_final.pdf

 

Editors:

Finn Børlum Kristensen, Director, Adjunct Professor

Helga Sigmund, Special adviser

DACEHTA – Danish Centre for Health Technology Assessment, National Board of Health

 

“…The contents of the handbook are designed with a goal of  Highlighting the importance of optimal use of existing studies and data material before any primary data generation – where strictly necessary – is initiated

Presenting up-to-date, research-based methods within not only the development areas of ethics, patient and organisation, but also the more established HTA elements of technology and economy.


- Supporting the HTA process by focusing on current questions such as:

- How are decision-makers’ questions formulated as HTA questions?

- How is literature sought and assessed and how can supplementary studies be designed?

 -How can the material be analysed and synthesised with a goal of formulating conclusions that can answer the questions
  asked and form the basis for concrete guidance
?...”

 

Content

1  Introduction

2 Ethical considerations

3 Literature searches

4 Assessment of literature

5 Data generation, analysis and assessment

6 The technology

7 The patient

8 The organisation

9 The economy

10 Synthesis and utilization

11 Quality assurance and presentation

 

 

 

 

 *      *      *     *

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/ KM
S 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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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.