Health Equity: 05/19/08

Monday, May 19, 2008

[EQ] Strategies to reduce the harmful use of alcohol

Strategies to reduce the harmful use of alcohol

Report by the Secretariat
Provisional agenda item 11.10 20 March 2008

SIXTY-FIRST WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY A61/13 –WHO Geneva - May 2008

Available online at: http://www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/A61/A61_13-en.pdf

“….Public health problems caused by harmful use of alcohol are considerable in countries with different levels of development and effectiveness of health systems. Globally, among 20 selected risk factors to health, harmful use of alcohol is the leading cause of death and disability in developing countries with low mortality, the third among the leading risk factors in developed countries, after tobacco and blood pressure, and eleventh in developing countries with high mortality rates. Awareness is growing of the impact of harmful use o and interference with effective treatment regimens and procedures…”

Staggering Toward a Global Strategy on Alcohol Abuse

David Grimm

SCIENCE VOL 320 16 MAY 2008

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/320/5878/862

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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] 25 years of HIV

25 years of HIV

Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the US National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and chief of the NIAID Laboratory of Immuno regulation.

Nature 453, 289-290 (15 May 2008) | doi:10.1038/453289a; Published online 14 May 2008

Website: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v453/n7193/full/453289a.html

“…..The HIV/AIDS catastrophe has been one of the defining features of the past quarter of a century. Although it is short-lived in the scheme of public-health crises, the pandemic ranks among the most devastating microbial scourges in human history, one whose full impact has yet to be realized.

Sixty million people have been infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); nearly half have died, and the toll on families, communities and even entire nations has been profound. Meanwhile, the biomedical research effort directed at HIV/AIDS has resulted in some breathtaking successes. Unlike many other diseases that affect mostly the poor, marginalized and disenfranchised, HIV/AIDS captured the attention of world leaders, the medical, public-health and activist communities, funding agencies, philanthropists and many celebrities. This resulted in an unprecedented scientific and public-health response to the disease, and in welcome attention to some of the many other problems endemic in those populations most severely afflicted with HIV/AIDS, such as malaria, tuberculosis and gender inequality.

Much remains to be accomplished in the global fight against HIV. There are many more scientific and medical hurdles to be cleared and numerous logistical and operational obstacles to making therapies and other interventions available to poor countries, where per capita income is sometimes only a few hundred dollars a year and health-care spending a tiny fraction of that. Reflecting on the era of HIV/AIDS, we must learn from our mis-steps, build on our successes in treatment and prevention, and renew our commitment to developing the truly transforming tools that will one day put this scourge behind us….”

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[EQ] Health inequalities - Understanding the essentials

Health inequalities – Understanding the essentials

London Health Observatory LHO - Association of Public Health Observatories (APHO)

Website: http://www.lho.org.uk/HEALTH_INEQUALITIES/HealthInequalities.aspx

In order to tackle health inequalities together, we need to share a common understanding of what we mean when we talk of "inequity" and unfairness in health and health care. This introduction to tackling health inequalities aims to explain some of the thinking behind policy and practice on tackling health inequalities.

The London Health Observatory (LHO) has a national lead role on behalf of the Association of Public Health Observatories on health inequalities and ethnicity.

Types of inequality

Inequalities exist throughout the health system from causes to outcomes, and include inequalities in:

· health outcomes such as the differences in life expectancy in the example, or in death or disease
http://www.lho.org.uk/viewResource.aspx?id=11106

· access to services such as health care http://www.lho.org.uk/viewResource.aspx?id=10569

· lifestyle factors which influence health, such as smoking or diet

1. http://www.lho.org.uk/viewResource.aspx?id=9007

2. http://www.lho.org.uk/viewResource.aspx?id=9044

3. http://www.lho.org.uk/HIL/Determinants_Of_Health/Income.aspx

4. http://www.lho.org.uk/HIL/Determinants_Of_Health/Housing.aspx

5. http://www.lho.org.uk/HIL/Determinants_Of_Health/Employment.aspx

6. http://www.lho.org.uk/HIL/Determinants_Of_Health/Education.aspx

The Dimensions of inequality

Within any level in the system, inequalities may be found between many types of community or population group, but national policy focuses on a few important ones:

· Socio-economic status such as income, area based measures of deprivation or deprivation, such as the example from London’s Jubilee line.

· Ethnicity: In London there were 5.8 deaths per 1,000 live births in the general population in 2001-2003, but 10.9 deaths per 1,000 live births to mothers born in West Africa and 8.5 in births to mothers born in the Caribbean commonwealth.http://www.lho.org.uk/Download/Public/12371/1/Infant_Mortality_ExecutiveSummary.pdf

· Gender: Deaths from suicide and homicide in men greatly exceed the rate in women at every age.
http://www.lho.org.uk/viewResource.aspx?id=7956

· Age: Older people have been shown to have poorer access to health services even when they have the same need as a younger person. http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Policyandguidance/Healthandsocialcaretopics/Olderpeoplesservices/DH_4071271

· Disability: People with disability in London have twice the level of unemployment as those without a disability. http://www.londonshealth.gov.uk/hinl2003.htm#Top

Policy and Interventions

Health Inequalities the intervention tool: http://www.lho.org.uk/HEALTH_INEQUALITIES/Health_Inequalities_Tool.aspx

Health Inequalities - Datasets & Reports

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