[EQ] Equity and child-survival strategies

Equity and child-survival strategies

EK Mulholland ^a, L Smith ^b, I Carneiro ^b, H Becher ^c, D Lehmann ^d

Bulletin of the World Health Organization - Volume 86, Number 5, May 2008, 321-416

Available online at: http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/5/07-044545/en/index.html

“……In human rights law, the term “equity” is used to represent equality with fairness. This is synonymous with the notion of distributive justice, or fair distribution of good things within a society, whether they be material possessions, access to health care, or simply survival. There is nothing that highlights the inequity of our world more starkly than child mortality, and we believe that pneumonia is the cause of childhood death that most strongly reflects this inequity.

Between countries the differences in child mortality rates are enormous and well documented. For a child born today, the risk of death in the first 5 years of life in Japan is 6 per 1000, while in Afghanistan, Angola and Sierra Leone the risk is over 40 times as great.¹ This is considering survival only; the chances of a child fulfilling their cognitive and growth potential are similarly inequitable….”

Affiliations

a.        Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, England.

b.        Department of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, England.

c.        Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.

d.        Telethon Institute for Child Health Research, Centre for Child Health Research, University of Western Australia, West Perth, Australia.

 

 

May 2008 - Bulletin table of content at: http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/86/5/en/

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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/ KMS 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] The expanding global health agenda

The expanding global health agenda: a welcome development

Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland  USA
Nature Medicine 13, 1169 - 1171 – September 2007 - doi:10.1038/nm1646

Available online at: http://www.nature.com/nm/journal/v13/n10/full/nm1646.html

 "…If you think research is expensive, try disease…." Mary Lasker

“…..Over the past decade, issues related to the health of people in resource-poor countries have captured the attention of world leaders, governments, philanthropies, policy makers and the general public as never before. This attention has focused on scientific, public health and humanitarian challenges, and involves biomedical research on vaccine and drug development, implementation of public health measures and a growing realization of the deleterious effects of disease on economic development and political stability¹.

“….International bodies such as the United Nations, the World Economic Forum and the G-8 have made the improvement of global health a priority. Attention to global health issues has been unprecedented in both the current US administration and in a bipartisan manner in the US Congress. Organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the William J. Clinton Foundation and Médecins Sans Frontières have helped build health programs for patients throughout the world. Dozens of public-private health partnerships have been formed to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other 'tropical diseases' that predominantly affect countries with low and middle incomes. Activists, including prominent entertainment celebrities, have heightened public awareness of global health issues in the media and have helped educate the public about the disparities in health between rich and poor countries….”

- Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. The international declaration of health rights
Health Requires Peaceful and Equitable Development and Collaboration of All Peoples.
http://www.jhsph.edu/school_at_a_glance/health_rights/  (1992).

 

 *      *      *     *

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/ KMS 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] Delivering cost-efficient public services in health care, education and housing in Chile

Delivering cost-efficient public services in health care, education and housing in Chile

 

Moccero, D.

OECD Economics Department Working Papers, No. 606, April 2008

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD Publishing doi:10.1787/242121837336

 

Available online PDF [40p.] at: http://fiordiliji.sourceoecd.org/vl=1913085/cl=25/nw=1/rpsv/cgi-bin/wppdf?file=5kzn35dkgtf5.pdf

 

“…….The Chilean authorities plan to raise budgetary allocations over the medium term for a variety of social programmes, including education, health care and housing. This incremental spending will need to be carried out in a cost-efficient manner to make sure that it yields commensurate improvements in social outcomes.

Chile’s health indicators show that it fares relatively well in relation to comparator countries in the OECD area and in Latin America. But this is less so in the case of education, where secondary and tertiary educational attainment remain low, despite a significant increase over the years, and performance is poor on the basis of standardised test scores, such as PISA.

 

Even though comparison with countries in the OECD area is difficult, a sizeable housing deficit has yet to be closed in Chile. To meet these various challenges, efforts will need to be stepped up to:

i)                     narrow the disparities in performance that currently exist among schools with students from varying backgrounds through use of the “differentiated” voucher scheme and additional measures to improve the quality of teaching and management;

ii)                   improve risk sharing among private and public health insurers, while increasing the coverage of health insurance to a broader variety of pathologies under AUGE; and

iii)                  continue to tackle the shortage of housing, while enhancing the quality of subsidised housing units and their surrounding neighbourhoods for the poorest segments of society. This paper relates to the 2007 Economic Survey of Chile (www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/chile ).....”

 *      *      *     *

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/ KMS 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.